Greg Asimakoupoulos
Greg Asimakoupoulos is a Covenant pastor, author, and chaplain at Covenant Living at the Shores in suburban Seattle, Washington. His most recent book, Sheltering in Grace, is a collection of meditations and sermons written for Covenant Living residents during Covid-19.
Commentary
Senior Health: What’s Faith Got to do With It?
For the past three years, I’ve been the full-time chaplain at Covenant Shores Retirement Community in suburban Seattle. Three decades as a local church pastor prepared me for the best ministry assignment I’ve ever had. Going to the office is like being on vacation.
But that’s not why I wear Hawaiian shirts to work. Rather, I enjoy saying as I encounter residents on campus, “I bring you God’s, ‘Aloha!’” I love that South Pacific expression. If you’ve spent time in The Islands, you know it means hello, goodbye, peace and love.
The ancient Hebrews had a word similar to “aloha.” Shalom not only means peace, it also suggests wholeness, balance and integrity. Some refer to this desired state of being as “wellness.” And among the aging population where I am privileged to minister, wellness is consistently personified.
William Danforth, who founded the Ralston Purina Company in the late 1800s, saw a correspondence between faith and wellness. Danforth was struck by the description of Jesus’ holistic development as recorded in Luke 2:52. “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and with people.” The business executive called the four elements of a faith-based life “four square living.” He created a checkerboard logo for his product line to symbolize what he believed to be the key to a healthy life. On the campus where I serve, I see these four elements of wellness lived out in spades.
An Exercise of Wellness
I have come to see that wellness is much more than being fit.
A healthy body needs a healthy soul.
While dieting and exercise can do a body good,
a person really needs a higher goal.
It’s great to run a marathon or jog five times a week,
but running after peace has merit, too.
And while walking before supper can burn dreaded calories,
a daily walk with God is good for you.
To bend and flex has merit. So, we strive to stay in shape.
As we age we must maintain agility.
But God also wants to stretch us to expand our usefulness.
It’s His will that we become all we can be.
Yes, our bodies are a temple that deserve refurbishment
lest (through disrepair) they start to fall apart.
But a temple’s just a building if it’s just an empty shell.
So let’s exercise our souls and guard our hearts.
Greg Asimakoupoulos
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