In my previous article, I wrote about the
tensions faced by a Christian chaplain who strives to bring the uniqueness of
Christ into the pastoral encounter while ministering in the multi-cultural,
multi-faith, public square. This tension is often faced by a chaplain who
ministers in a public hospital or prison where the requirements of Government
forbid chaplains to proselytise. A chaplain may well be the only chaplain of
any Faith in a particular institution and, by the nature of the role, is
expected to bring sensitive spiritual care to people of all Faiths and none. The
question then is how does a Christian chaplain, who believes that God’s final
word to humanity is in Christ, effectively minister to all people without compromising
his or her own beliefs.
When Deborah van Deusen Hunsinger gave the
keynote address at the New South Wales CPE annual conference in 2014 she began
by saying that it is when she is fully and deeply grounded in her own Faith she
is then able to reach out to people of other Faiths. To be an effective
chaplain this attitude of being deeply rooted in your own Faith is essential. It
demands and demonstrates integrity. It generates a confidence in one’s own
ministry that is not threatened by strong beliefs of another Faith tradition.
It is also not threatened by deeply held personal beliefs of another person. At
the same time, it communicates to the other that this chaplain is a person of
integrity and is also someone who has something valuable to offer in the
pastoral encounter.
The chaplain takes the person they are into
the pastoral encounter. Being comfortable with who you are and the Faith
position you personally hold tends to communicate hope and strength if it is
held without any sense of superiority. Your comfort with yourself and your
position will enable you to bring comfort to others.
The apostle Paul describes the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ as the “Father of compassion and the God of all
comfort.” (2 Cor. 1:3) It is this compassion of the Father the Christian
chaplain seeks to bring to the pastoral encounter. Its purpose is to bring
comfort.
Paul describes himself in this passage as
sharing “abundantly in the sufferings of Christ” (v.5). He is here describing
himself as deeply rooted in the Christian Faith. “Abundantly sharing in the
sufferings of Christ” enables him to bring comfort to others. As he does this,
others may also see that, even in their own sufferings, they are able to share
the same comfort the Apostle has. A comfort that comes from the “Father of compassion
and all comfort.”
Clearly, Paul is speaking to believers in
this passage.[1]
The suffering that a non-Christian person has, cannot be described as a “sharing
in the sufferings of Christ”. And yet, as the chaplain shares themselves with
others who are suffering, the other can see that this person, the Christian
sharing the sufferings of Christ, knows what suffering is about and, perhaps
more importantly, knows what comfort in the midst of suffering is about. This
comfort, which comes from God the Father, can speak to the person the chaplain
seeks to bring comfort to. To bring this comfort, the chaplain needs to be
deeply grounded in their own Faith. That is, they need to share abundantly in
the sufferings of Christ, because it is only then that they will know God’s
comfort, which they can then bring to others.
Being who you are as a Christian enables
you as a chaplain to bring real comfort to those in the public square who are
suffering, whether that place be a hospital, a prison or any other context
where Christians do not “own” the space. Sharing deeply in the sufferings of
Christ grounds you in your own Faith and thereby enables you to bring comfort
and encouragement to a hurting world.
[1] Paul has addressed this letter to “The church of God that is at
Corinth” (1 Cor. 1:1) and he addresses his readers as “brothers” in v.8.
