Chaplaincy – A Trinitarian Prayer

Kate Bradford
December 2015

The day began for John Stott, (1921 – 2011) Anglican minister and theologian, at 5 a.m. Each day he swung his legs over the side of his bed and started the day in prayer:

Good morning, heavenly Father;
good morning, Lord Jesus;
good morning, Holy Spirit.
Heavenly Father, I worship you as the Creator and Sustainer of the universe.
Lord Jesus, I worship you, Saviour and Lord of the world.
Holy Spirit, I worship you, Sanctifier of the people of God.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Heavenly Father, I pray that I may live this day in your presence and please you more and more.
Lord Jesus, I pray that this day I may take up my cross and follow you.
Holy Spirit, I pray that this day you will fill me with yourself and cause your fruit to ripen in my life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity, three persons in one God, have mercy upon me. Amen.

For decades, Stott began each day with a version of this Trinitarian prayer.[i]

―◊―◊―◊―

John Stott was a man of prayer, of scholarship and practice. Stott was committed to alleviating physical and emotional pain of temporal loss, and the deeper spiritual pain of eternal lost-ness. His Christian faith was lived out though his head, heart and hands― in thought word and deed.

Stott’s prayer encompasses and frames the whole ministry of Chaplaincy.

He begins with creator and creation; there is nowhere and no one beyond the Heavenly Father’s creation: no prison, no hospital, no war zone, no mental illness, not crisis that can remove someone from God’s concern. There is no heartbeat, no breath, no sunrise, no season. All are provided and sustained by our Heavenly Father.

Yet for all its beauty, creation is a fallen and broken place, a place inhabited by suffering, illness, evil and death. It is a deeply sin-sick world. It was into this world that the Lord Jesus came. His glory hidden, he experienced suffering, brokenness. He was subjected to evil and a suffering, tortuous death.

It was not a pointless death. He lay down his mortality so that he was able to offer a life beyond, eternity, to others. Though the outward body is wasting away, the possibility now exists for the renewing of the inward spirit.

Stott anchored his prayer firmly into the three persons of the Trinity. He had a particular way of viewing reality. In the way he broke it into segments or perspectives, he saw his faith and the world in relationship to the separate ministries of the three persons of the Trinity.

John Frame (also working from a Trinitarian perspective) observed that we could view events from several perspectives: the normative, situational and existential. For example, the normative looks back to the doctrinal elements (i.e. what does God’s word say?). The situational takes account of the particular present events at this time in this place to these people etc. The existential perspective takes account of the subjective experience of those involved in the events.[ii]

Situations can be complex and ever changing in which each person responds differently. Chaplaincy ministry requires the chaplain to be internally thinking and praying trinitarianly, and to be thinking theologically, observing situations and hearing deeply the existential experience of another, in order to take us closer to the truth of an event.

What does this look like on an ordinary day in ordinary language?

A chaplaincy visit is a chat that takes the form of a reflective discussion where the chaplain listens deeply to the sufferer. When I visit, I am listening particularly for points of 'heat' or emotion that might lead the discussion to a deeper level - getting closer to areas which give a clearer idea of the sufferer’s meaning, belonging and significance.

I am also interested as to whether the perceived events function at a more horizontal (i.e. social/ cultural/ emotional) level or whether there is a vertical (i.e. transcendent/ spiritual/ faith) dimension. Further to this I ask the question, “is the presenting vertical dimension leading to consolation or desolation?”

I am also trying to be aware of my own ‘stuff’ so I am also engaging in personal ‘conversation’ with my own feelings, beliefs and 'agendas'.

As I listen deeply to the other (and myself), I work very hard to consciously listen to God.[iii] It is out of this process that I form my theological evaluation, taking into account Biblical norms, the circumstances of the particular situation and the emotional state of the sufferer, and this consciously suggests a suitable course of ministry/care.

As we minister, we abide in the Father’s presence. We pray that our fear and anxiety will be taken away, allowing us to rest in his deep joy and peace, allowing us to carry other’s burdens without being overwhelmed.

None of us is perfect. Chaplaincy is difficult mentally and spiritually. So therefore we pray for patience, that we might be able to sit still and listen and to be able to give concentrated mental energy to the other’s story and needs. Patience to hear the same story over and over if need be. We pray for kindness, gentleness and self-control to care without favour, that we might love both those who are lovely, and the unlovely. We also ask for forgiveness and greater insight into others and ourselves on those occasions when a visit does not go so well.

We pray also for faithfulness, that we might present each person to our Heavenly Father in prayer, that we see their eternal horizons, that we might variously hear their deep concerns and lament with them, hear confession, intercede, make supplications and give thanks and praise to the Lord.[iv]

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[i] John W. Yates III, ‘Pottering and Prayer’ http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2001/april2/4.60.html

[ii] John Frame, ‘Primer on Perspectivalism’  http://www.frame-poythress.org/a-primer-on-perspectivalism/

[iii] Deborah van Deusen Hunsinger, Pray without Ceasing: Revitalising Spiritual Care, Eerdmans 2006.  Listening to God, others and self is a theme throughout the book.

[iv] This final list is also drawn from Deborah van Deusen Hunsinger’s book Pray without Ceasing.