Holy Ground

The word ‘holiday’ comes from an old English term, ‘holy day’’ when days off work were allowed for religious or holy purposes. Then about six hundred years ago it morphed into ‘holiday’ as ‘commoners’ were given time off from their labour. Now holidays can include our holy days, such as Christmas and Easter. It’s exactly what happens each year in Northern Ireland, when thousands of people travel to Coleraine to take part in New Horizon, a seven-day Christian festival in the grounds of Ulster University. Many make it an annual family holiday, staying at one of the holiday parks along the coast, enjoying New Horizon in the morning and evenings and the beaches and walks in the afternoon. They come for the ‘whole enchilada’ as my Mexican friends would say: the fellowship, the worship, the Bible teaching, the kids’ groups, the bookshop, and the morning seminars. I had been invited to talk about the best way of caring for people living with dementia and their caregivers.

The whole week is run by an army of dedicated volunteers. Alice collected me from Belfast in her car and took a detour along the coast along the sparkling sea and the sandy beaches. Coleraine was also baking in 30 degrees heat, so we were grateful for the car air conditioning. When she introduced me to the team later Alice said we’d had a great journey and that I was good with the ‘craic,’ which I took to be a compliment. Then in the evening, when the first song in worship in the big tent was Matt Redman’s ‘Ten Thousand Reasons’, one of my favourites, played by an incredibly talented worship group I thought I had been ‘promoted to Glory,’ as the Salvation Army puts it. (First Irish Arts is a professional Christian group worth looking out for).

The seminars were held every morning in different venues around the site, starting at 11.45 and finishing at 12.45. As I picked up my briefcase with laptop and notes the old song about only mad dogs and Englishmen going out in the midday sun came to mind, although my seminar was under canvas with big panels open at the back to let some air through. It was fairly full, and in spite of the heat everyone was alert and responsive. My main host, Alison, sat at the back and said she noticed how attentive people were, nodding in agreement as different topics were unpacked.

Before beginning the seminar, I asked how many participants were making the Dementia Journey in one way or another. About two thirds of hands were raised, and knowing that they are often looking for insight into their own individual circumstances, I said there would be time for their questions after the presentation. Dementia is unique to each person, a mixture of the pathology and the personality shaped by life experiences. We know, too, that the spirit of the person, the essence of who they are remains. Sometimes, even in the deepest dementia, the person reappears briefly through the fog with capabilities they seem to have lost, momentarily themselves. There is no medical explanation for it, but there is Biblical insight. Scriptures like 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 remind us that our bodies are ‘temples of the Holy Spirit which is given to us by God’. Our brains are part of the ‘earthly’ tent that can be damaged by dementia, but our spirits are not. For this reason, it’s important to give spiritual support to Christians living with dementia. No doubt it’s happening all over the world, even as this is being read.

Knowing this helps to reassure a son who is grieving that his mother doesn’t recognise him anymore that he still needs to visit her. He takes Christ in Him to the Christ in her, and there is a blessed resonance in her spirit that’s invisible, but very real.

Listening to the family caregivers who are caring for loved ones with dementia I realised afresh how they embody Matthew 25:40, persevering even when their loved one seems to have disappeared and they are left caring for a stranger as the disease progressed. Matthew 25:40 says, “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ They are truly standing on Holy ground.