GOING FURTHER - Written by Canon Frank Watts

Study Five - The Church and Hope


“God has given us five things for the journey: water, bread, wine, a book, and each other.”


CHURCH WITHOUT DOORS.
Ernest Gordon in his book “Through the valley of the Kwai’ describes a church at one of the prison camps as a clearing in the jungle to which there were no doors “one could enter at any point. It was all door. It was hard to know when one was in church and when one was not.”
There needs to be something of that quality about our religion. What goes on in our everyday life is as much a part of our religious expression as what we sing or say in church on Sunday. Our attitude on the job, our actions and participation in community organisations, social and fraternal groups, our so called private life is far more an indication of our religion than the words we say or the prayers we offer inside the walls.
God simply will not be enclosed .
Carl Price.


Differences between stress and burn out.
• Burn out is a defence characterised by disengagement.
• Stress is characterised by over engagement.

• In burn out the emotions become blunted.
• In Stress the emotions become over reactive.

• In Burn out the emotional damage is primary.
• In stress physical damage is primary.

• The exhaustion of burn out affects motivation and drive.
•The exhaustion of stress affects physical energy.

• Burn out produces demoralization.
• Stress produces disintegration.

• Burn out can best be understood as a loss of ideals and hope.
• Stress can best be understood as a loss of fuel and energy.

• The depression of burn out is caused by the grief engendered by the loss of ideals and hope.
• The depression of stress is produced by the body’s need to protect itself and conserve energy.

• Burn out produces a sense of helplessness and hopelessness.
• Stress produces a sense of urgency and hyperactivity.

• Burn out produces paranoia, depersonalisation and detachment.
• Stress produces panic, phobic, and anxiety-type disorders.

• Burn out may never kill you but your long life may not seem worth living.
• Stress my kill you prematurely, and you won’t have enough time to finish what you started.
Dr. Arch Hart.