“The Dance of Life –
Between desire and happiness”
Nordic Healthcare Chaplaincy Conference
25-28 August 2004
Norway invites healthcare chaplains from Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway
to the Nordic Healthcare Chaplaincy Conference at the end of August 2004.
Every 3rd year, one of the Nordic countries hosts the Nordic Healthcare Chaplaincy Conference. This year's conference will be held in the town
of Horten,
at the west side of the Oslofjord. There are apparently many conferences now
and even smaller budgets for travelling, so it seems now that there will be
approximatley 60-70 chaplaincy workers attending from all four Nordic countries.
Near by Horten we find the little village Åsgårdstrand. The world famous
Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, did much of his work here – and that gave us
inspiration for our conference. Edvard Munch showed through his paintings how
he dealt with existential questions in rather naturalistic paintings. His
paintings describe both in a symbolic way, deep human aspects and also in a
mystical way, themes from the nature itself.
We started our work on themes for the conference, with the words “desire and
happiness”. There is a fundamental tension – and connection - between those
words and we might say that in our experience with illness, disease, death,
we touch in an existential way, our desire to live, to be happy, to be
helped and to have totally control over life itself. The hi-tech and very
modern healthcare institution, based on a positivistic view, gives us much
hope when we are in pain and illness and that makes us full of hope and
desire for what hi-tech medicine can do for us. But as we know,
modernistic expectations for full control over life and happiness, is not
possible to meet.
Integrated in this positivistic healthcare context, we are placed as
spiritual caregivers, taking care of all the broken pieces, all the broken
expectations.
Edvard Munch's painting, used as a symbol of our conference, is called “The
Dance of Life” He describes through his work the tension in human life
between the young innocents and the old, with no more desire for life. We
used the theme from his painting as a framework for the conference and we
will look into our theological, ethical and spiritual role as pastoral
caregivers in an context where desire for happiness also can end up with
loss of control, health and even life itself. From his painting, came our conference title: “The Dance of Life – between desire and happiness.”
Our lecturers are:
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Coordionator of the Network sends Greetings to
the Nordic Conference
To the Participants of the Nordic
Healthcare Chaplaincy Conference,
Åsgårdstrand, Norway
Dear Fellow Chaplains,
On behalf of the European Network of Health Care Chaplaincy, allow me to
greet all of you who are taking part in The Nordic Healthcare Chaplaincy
Conference. Your gathering is most significant in that it brings together
the Chaplaincies from the neighbouring countries of Norway, Finland and
Sweden, countries that share many common aspects on many levels. It is
indeed reassuring that such gathering are taking place, gathering which
afford the development of communication and exchange on a theological,
clinical, organizational and interpersonal level.
Your theme, “The Dance of Life – Between desire and happiness” strikes a
very important issue which all of us face in dealing with pain, suffering,
illness and the desire to live. What we must keep in mind is that parallel
to the tension between desire and happiness, there is also the difference
between fun and joy. We live in a society which seeks much fun in the hope
to find joy. Here though, we must note that there is also a difference
between joy and happiness. In Greek, one of the meanings for the English
word “happiness” is “hedone”, which is synonymous to pleasure. Joy means
chara. Very often the desire for happiness (“hedone”) can be a self-centered
and individualistic pursuit for pleasure. In Christian thought, true joy
(chara) can only be reached in living a life in the Holy Spirit, a pursuit
to attaining union with God in His Kingdom. St. Polycarp of Smyrna (60-155
A.D.) points out that true joy is a result of living rightly in a spirit of
Christ-like love for neighbor, friend and even our enemy. Rejoicing follows
love! St. Chrysostom adds that even in our suffering, we can rejoice in that
our sufferings bring us closer to our God who rejoices always. If one lives
in the spirit of Christ’s suffering and selfless love for mankind, then,
“even if one is afflicted, yes whatever one may suffer, such a person always
rejoices!”
In Edvard Munch’s beautiful and meaningful painting, joy and desire is
expressed in a dance of unity. True life and joy cannot be attained in any
other way. Your Conference is a dance of unity and thus is an expression of
love – love for your ministry, for each other, and mostly for those for
those to whom you care. We in the ENHCC are dancing together with you in the
desire and hope that our Chaplaincies will be a true expression and bearers
of rejoicing that follows love.
May your conference be successful in every way.
Rev. Dr. Stavros Kofinas
Coordinator of the European Network of Healthcare Chaplaincy
(Representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate)
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