Warp and Weft of Chaplaincy

Kate Bradford
Oct 2015

Warp and weft are weaving terms for threads in fabric production. The warp threads are the longitudinal threads that run the length of a roll of cloth. Weft threads are the latitudinal threads that cross from side to side, passing above and below the long warp threads. Weft is an old English word meaning ‘that which is woven’. The weft threads create patterns by weaving above and below the warp threads.

As a metaphor, warp and weft refers to the entire fabric of something. When chaplains minister they are working with the fabric of another’s life.

In the fabric of people’s lives, the lengthwise warp threads run from eternity to eternity carrying the deep structure of universe and beyond. Christian care aligns with the great themes of scripture and the way in which God is reaching out to people with his message of hope. These long threads carry doctrines, narrative theologies, systematisations of themes and overarching narratives.  

The weft are threads of life woven through the eternal longitudinal threads. These threads move across, in and out, in front and behind of unseen realities that delineate all that is both seen, and unseen. Warp threads are tied to human history. They are situated within culture; language; society; geography; families; worshipping communities; and places of work and recreation. The social sciences provide insights into the objective facts of the warp threads; however, the fields of psychology and spirituality provide us with insights into the subjective experiences of lived realities. 

The Bible itself is a book of warp and weft. It is woven along the eternal threads of the grand themes of salvation and redemption, yet in many places these themes are told through the rich deposits of lived lives ─ situated in history, culture, language and events ─ many of which are told through the personal responses of individuals. The ‘law’ correlates to the warp and the ‘prophets’ and ‘writings’ contain the residue of lives threaded through eternal structures.  The narratives and wisdom writings of Scripture illuminate the weft threads of Israel and the infant church and individual experience as in the Psalms.

As chaplains minister, they help people align their weaving around and along the deep structures of the universe, working deftly with eternal truths, observable objective facts and subjective realities of individual experience and existence.

At the heart of chaplaincy formation and training is the art of working with the weft threads of another’s life, in the God-created reality of the world. The chaplain is listening to God, attuning to the warp threads, which set times, limits and boundaries. They are also listening deeply to the sufferer, to their situational and emotional worlds while being mindful of their own thoughts and reactions.

The chaplain’s only access to knowledge of the warp threads is through revelation from God himself, ultimately in Jesus Christ as revealed in scripture, illuminating the deep structure of the reality we see and responded to, and experienced through a rich personal devotional life embedded in Scripture and prayer.  It is the chaplain’s own understanding of the revealed Biblical themes of creation, fall, sin, brokenness, sacrifice, grace, repentance, forgiveness, redemption, image, light, life, love, hospitality and self-giving service that will chart the course of care and support.

The weft threads are guided by a well-informed understanding of situations. This understanding is gained from a firm grasp of situational understandings from scripture: how do societies, families and relationships work? What does it look like when things are intact, and what is it like when these structure breakdown?

The social sciences of anthropology, geography and sociology can give insight into the external data of a situation of the weft through studies of religious phenomena, cross-cultural studies and family systems theories. The more subjective fields of psychology and spirituality give insight into people’s emotion and experience. Particularly helpful are insights gained from studies such as Bowlby’s attachment theory or Fowler’s stages of faith.

In chaplaincy training, the purpose of writing up and presenting Verbatim case studies is to methodically review actual pastoral practice.

The introduction of the case study catches general sociological information and the conversation captures emotions, feelings and further facts that illuminate the state of the weft. As the conversation unfolds, the sufferer reveals more of themselves and their specific situation or crisis, and the chaplain helps the sufferer weave their weft according to deep eternal truths, concrete realities of the situation and individual emotional responses to which are tied even deeper needs.

In writing up a verbatim the data is evaluated through several lenses. One such lens is commonly known as ‘Spiritual Assessment’, which is both a horizontal and vertical assessment. The horizontal review collects sociological and emotional data, which gives some insight in to the patient’s underlying meaning, belonging/relationships and desires and fears; the vertical review assesses the sufferer’s transcendent faith system, loves and hopes.

Another lens, often referred to as a ‘Theological Reflection’, reviews the situation from the point of view of the chaplain. The first part is a personal assessment which involves an activity of ‘free thought association’ to see what images, feelings, thoughts, scripture verses etc. come to mind, and to check if  biases or prejudices in the chaplain’s thinking emerge, and then review  any hunches or possible ways forward that come to mind.

The second part involves theological assessment which identifies which warp threads or theological themes or issues are defining the sufferer’s case, and then thinking creatively for possible ways forward given the actual situation on view, and the sufferer’s personal experience and resources to weave a new weft pattern in and around the warp threads in place.

The ministry is always a ministry of working warp and weft of fabric that bears God’s image and seeks to see the fabric align with its eternal weaver.