{"id":20,"date":"2011-04-14T05:32:09","date_gmt":"2011-04-14T09:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simpletruths\/?p=20"},"modified":"2011-04-16T06:46:55","modified_gmt":"2011-04-16T10:46:55","slug":"the-benefit-of-simplicity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/04\/the-benefit-of-simplicity.html","title":{"rendered":"The Benefit of Simplicity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Two years ago, Special Gathering pastor, area director and elders met together to investigate what our members who are mentally challenged need to know and understand\u00a0about the Christian faith and theology.\u00a0 It was boiled down to three things that are found within the liturgical worship.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Let us proclaim the mystery of faith:<\/li>\n<li><em>Christ has died.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Christ is risen.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Christ will come again.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For our members, we added short sentences of explanation of the three statements.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Why did Christ die?<\/li>\n<li><em>To take away my sins.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Why is Christ risen?<\/li>\n<li><em>To prove that we do not have to fear death.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Why will Christ come again?<\/li>\n<li><em>To do away with evil forever!<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>At each chapel worship service, we repeat this simple declaration.\u00a0 During the past few weeks, these proclamations have become extremely personal to me.\u00a0 Though my husband does not have a disease, his body is slowly shutting down.\u00a0 While it won&#8217;t be tomorrow or even next month, he is dying.<\/p>\n<p>A month ago, I knew this but I could not have written it or even admitted this fact to myself.\u00a0 However, over the past weeks, the simple phrase that I repeat twice a week at Special Gathering worship:\u00a0 &#8220;To prove we do not have to fear death&#8221;\u00a0 has grown in my heart.\u00a0 Slowly, it has\u00a0been transplanted into my every day life.<\/p>\n<p>Each night as we say good night, my husband and I have a simple conversation of a sentence or two.\u00a0 Part of what is happening is that he sleeps 24 hours a day.\u00a0 He\u00a0is no longer able to carry on a conversation, even with me.\u00a0 Nevertheless, it is apparent that neither of us are afraid of death.\u00a0While I&#8217;ve not feared death, I have\u00a0feared being left alone.\u00a0 But that is gone.<\/p>\n<p>What has replaced the fear is a sweetness that is hard to explain.\u00a0 Peace reigns in our home, especially in his bedroom.\u00a0 Sure the work of caring for him\u00a0is hard.\u00a0 Additionally, it seems to never end.\u00a0\u00a0But the sweetness that we are experiencing brings its own benefits.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;To prove we do not have to fear death&#8221; has become\u00a0the essence of our\u00a0daily life.\u00a0 It \u00a0is a profoundly\u00a0simple\u00a0promise that has transformed our life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two years ago, Special Gathering pastor, area director and elders met together to investigate what our members who are mentally challenged need to know and understand\u00a0about the Christian faith and theology.\u00a0 It was boiled down to three things that are found within the liturgical worship. Let us proclaim the mystery of faith: Christ has died.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,5,3,10,11,12,4,1],"tags":[690,688,14,7,693,691,13,689,6],"class_list":["post-20","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autism-spectrum","category-christianity","category-developmental-disabilities","category-inspirational","category-intellectually-disabled","category-religion","category-simple-truths","category-uncategorized","tag-autism-spectrum","tag-christianity","tag-death-and-dying","tag-developmental-disabilities-2","tag-grief","tag-inspirational","tag-intellectual-disabilities","tag-mentally-challenged-community","tag-simple-scriptural-truths"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Benefit of Simplicity - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Benefit of Simplicity - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Two years ago, Special Gathering pastor, area director and elders met together to investigate what our members who are mentally challenged need to know and understand\u00a0about the Christian faith and theology.\u00a0 It was boiled down to three things that are found within the liturgical worship. Let us proclaim the mystery of faith: Christ has died.&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/04\/the-benefit-of-simplicity.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-04-14T09:32:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-04-16T10:46:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda G. Howard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Benefit of Simplicity - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Benefit of Simplicity - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","og_description":"Two years ago, Special Gathering pastor, area director and elders met together to investigate what our members who are mentally challenged need to know and understand\u00a0about the Christian faith and theology.\u00a0 It was boiled down to three things that are found within the liturgical worship. 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