Chaplains as Boundary Riders

By Kate Bradford

Boundary-rider,  noun: a person employed to ride round the fences etc. of a cattle or sheep station and keep them in good order.

Historically, in rural Australia, from the 1860’s there was a solitary occupation – boundary-riding. The boundary-rider was responsible for maintaining the outer fences on sheep and cattle stations (cf ranches), which comprise vast tracts of remote land. The duties of the boundary-rider consisted of riding along the fences on a daily basis; seeing that they were in good order; repairing stretched fences broken by stock; putting out stock from other stations that had strayed in; and keeping the owner’s stock contained.[1]

Some riders lived in shacks out along the boundary that they maintained. Additional tasks of the rider included searching for stock and moving herds and flocks to better pastures. Many boundary riders only came into the station to report in, convey information to stockmen and collect supplies returning back to the boundaries. Life could be very lonely, depending on the size of station and the length of the boundary.

The work of a chaplain has some intense similarities to that of boundary riding. For many chaplains the work is a solitary occupation carried out far away from the supporting religious agency. Some chaplains have the privilege of working in teams. However, even for those chaplains, chaplaincy is one-to-one ministry and each chaplain spends large amounts of the day caring for individuals and families in various circumstances of need and distress. Ideally when alone, a chaplain becomes more available to others, creating space and time around themselves. As the chaplain moves through the institution within which they work, conducting rounds and following up requests, they become openly available to those in need: patients, staff, families, residents, inmates, clients, members, passengers, armed forces’ personnel. It is at this time, when they are riding the boundaries, they come across those who need a visit today. The chaplain ‘touches base’ to sign in or out, collect supplies, convey information to staff or other chaplains, make some notes, and then returns once more out to the boundary.

In a major hospital, with a large multi-faith chaplaincy department, the chaplains from various Christian traditions meet for a short reflection from the Bible and to spend some time praying for the day, the patients, their families and the staff and volunteers. Each day they pray that they would be led to those, throughout the hospital, who need a visit. They also pray daily that God would intervene and help meet the deepest needs of those within the hospital who need a chat, and of those who will visit the chaplaincy office.[2]

For the chaplain to meet people, many of whom do not have a faith community, it is necessary to go out and visit, to be available, and to be generous with time allowing people ‘to be’, to share and explore the things on their soul. Not everyone needs a visit but as the chaplain moves around those who need a chat identify themselves and the chaplain is mutually drawn into conversation. But like boundary riding, if the chaplain did not go, they would neither see the need nor be there to address it. The ‘need’ or the ‘gap’ would simply sit there like a great gaping unattended wound.

The chaplain follows a Lord who searches for outcasts, heals the broken hearted and binds up sorrows. (Ps 147) The biblical image of the shepherd also has similarities to the boundary rider. The Lord is described as gathering lambs in his arms, gently leading those with young, (Is 40:11). Good shepherds are contrasted with bad shepherds who allow vineyards to be ruined and fields to be trampled and become desolate wastelands because the boundaries have fallen into disrepair (Jer 12:10). In such circumstances the flock has scattered (Jer 23:2) and they have been caused to roam on the mountain tops (Jer 50:6). The scattered sheep become food for wild animals all because of the neglect of the shepherd (Ez 34:8).

Occasionally it is noted that these Old Testament verses refer only to the Israelites, not to everyone. There are several verses, however, that refer to the Lord seeking after those who do not seek him (Is 65:1; Rom 10:20) and Jesus himself expressed deep compassion for those who feel without hope or help, and he has a self-identifying responsibility and concern to seek and save the lost. This identity reflected an idea expressed in the book Ezekiel, ‘I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak’ (Ez 34:16). It is within this compassionate framework that the work of chaplaincy happens in places of deep need.

Like the boundary riders, chaplains face isolation, and risk feeling disconnected from a wider community and may become dispirited. There are dangers too, that the freedom of the job and the wide ranging nature of the task – without immediate accountability – opens up the opportunity of becoming a negligent boundary-rider. Such a boundary-rider simply goes through the motions – after all, who really knows what happens in a day? It is only after a time when the fences have not been maintained and sheep begin to scatter and others begin to notice that, ‘it has been a long time since this boundary was really cared for’. Sadly it is often secular work colleagues who notice first.   

The peculiar difficulties around the ministry of chaplaincy cannot be overlooked; chaplains absorb large amounts of stress and grief from other people. As chaplains compassionately care and help carry burdens for other people in crisis, or suffering pain, trauma, loss, grief, loneliness and isolation, these conditions can begin to manifest in the chaplain’s own life.  These things are too big to carry alone. Chaplains need a supportive prayerful Christian community, good professional supervision to provide adequate support, and they need a close and real Christian faith. As with the cost of isolation and the harsh terrain in boundary-riding[3], the cost of chaplaincy and the alien nature of the landscape, in which the ministry happens, is not always acknowledged.

The risks are real but they do not negate the real and wonderful opportunities to care. The chaplain knows that not everyone will feel the need for a chaplain to visit, but for those who feel lost, lonely, scared, without hope or just needing a chat, our government intuitions, in co-operation with religious agencies, who provide chaplains. Chaplains follow a many centuries’ old, heritage of compassionate Christian care, following in the steps of the ultimate boundary-rider, Jesus Christ.

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[1] Australian Concise Oxford Dictionary 5th Edition

[2] The World Health Organisation identifies the necessity and importance of addressing people’s spiritual needs together with physical, mental and social needs in order to provide holistic care. 

[3] See the poem, ‘The boundary Rider’, by Thomas William Heney  http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-boundary-rider/