Come Have Lunch with Us!! Seriously – You’re Invited!

Here at the UAB Support Team Network, we’ve begun a new lunch series. It’s called “Community is Medicine.” Isn’t that cool?! Now, you’re not only being invited to read these columns but you can come and get something tasty to eat, hobnob with others who feel called to make a difference in their community, and become part of this process of nurturing a healing community.

What’s it all about? Well, as I say on the little piece of propaganda I conjured up to promote it, “Because heath isn’t just the absence of disease, but working, playing, loving, and rejoicing in the community where you live, we gather to build friendships that empower local congregations and UAB Pastoral Care to be partners together in bringing health to our community.”

We’re doing this at the Lister Hill Medical Sciences Library on the campus of UAB Medicine, in a cool place called “The Edge of Chaos Cafe.” We welcome anyone and everyone who might be interested! All you need to do is call and reserve your spot and we’ll take care of your lunch and your parking – and send you detailed, easy-to-follow instructions on how to get there. (It’s easy.)

We’re doing this, also, because it’s important to shine a new light on an old and venerable concept: there’s healing power in a group of people who team up to provide loving support for their friends. We won’t just talk theory, though. We’ll also talk about a practice we’ve developed and tested over time that’ll facilitate putting feet to this notion.

As readers to the Support Team blog already know, I frequently use the phrase, “Community is Medicine.” I first heard it spoken by Mark Hyman, the director of the Functional Medical Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. I repeat that concept so often because its wisdom lies at the heart of what we do in pastoral care. It also lies at the heart of the kind of world our faith communities envision, where we “love our neighbor as ourselves,” and where we “do unto others the way we’d have them do unto us.” As our society suffers increasingly from the Epidemic of Loneliness, we need to unpack, examine, and absorb the powerful healing effects of living in an embracing and loving community.

So, if you live in the Birmingham region, come join us! The next lunch will be May 26 at 12:00 noon. We’ll also gather on June 23 and July 28, same time, same place.

We hope to hear from you!

email for directions: rdrayford@uabmc.org.
telephone: 205-934-2477