The Man of Sorrows Comforting in Disaster

Reflections at a hospital chapel on 15 November, 2013 in a Service of Prayer for the Philippines Following the Haiyan (Yolanda) Typhoon.

The Rev. Lindsay Johnstone, Chaplain of Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney.

 

Jesus wept.

Jesus wept when a friend died.

Jesus wept, though he had seemed to be preoccupied when he first heard of the illness of his friend.

Jesus wept when he had been known to be a miraculous healer, but had let his friend die.

Jesus wept outside the cave where his friend dead for four days was now buried.[i]

Jesus wept,  but Jesus was not powerless.

Jesus wept in the Garden of Gethsemane, the night before civil and religious abusers nailed him to the Cross where he cried out, "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?"[ii]

Dear sisters and brothers, of ourselves alone, we do not know, we cannot tell why thousands died in an horrendous typhoon from which no one could run. We do not know why countless thousands more lost their partners, parents, children, grandchildren and friends. We cannot tell why they suddenly lost their homes and material possessions, their jobs, their roles in life, their dreams, their safety, their health or any certainty of medical help; or even any apparent reason to find any meaning in Christ and God the Father whom many of them worship and have worshipped for years.

We cannot, of ourselves, tell why it was they who suffered so horrendously, nor why it is not we instead. Why them and not us? Why anyone?

We can say only what Almighty God has said. And we can say with any objective confidence of truth only what is in the Scriptures or reflects the Bible's revelation.

We sang that though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for the Good Shepherd is leading me to his eternal banquet.

Jesus wept.

God did not push anyone into the valley of death. It happened partly because we live in an incredibly unfair and dangerous world, which increasingly shows the decay fostered by the universal stain of human sin. It happened partly also because Satan and his demonic forces still roam around the world seeking someone to devour.

It is unfair and inexplicable to the five senses alone-like the flames of a bushfire that takes two houses and mysteriously misses the house between them.

Yet the evil of this present world did not miss out on violating and taking the life of the very and eternal Son of God, the Man Jesus whose human birth we celebrate at Christmas- and whose mangled, bleeding and abused body dangled for three hours on a cross at Calvary.

Brothers and sisters, he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, one from whom men and women hide their faces. But in the plan of God he was not powerless to establish a coming new order- even at the point of his deepest rejection. "Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. He was bruised for our sins, and by his stripes we were healed", as the Prophet Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 53.[iii]

Because as our substitute he carried our sins and illnesses, all our losses and our tragedies, he will within the new order where eternity defies and heals the ravages of time - he will eternally wipe away all tears from our eyes - where there is no more sickness, sorrow, death or tragedy.

In the meantime, in the present, because he was resurrected from the dead he is the Good Shepherd, and he is leading us through the valley of the shadow of death. Without any naive or callous understatement or undervaluing the plight of precious suffering folk- many of whom are your own - we may within heart-tearing pain, numbness, anger and confusion call upon Christ to heal, restore and rebuild.

The ability to trust him, the faith to believe is a supernatural gift from God that defies all the senses. Because the Holy Spirit is the Comforter, he is speaking to your heart and will. Let him in. Let him pour into your heart the empowering love of God and impart within you and all of us a new hope and the rekindling energy that this will bring.

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[i] John 11:1-44

[ii] Mark 14: 33;15:34

[iii] Isaiah 53: 3-5

Psalm 137: A study in grief, loss and culture shock

Kate Bradford

Psalm 137 can be read over quickly in order to glean factual information. Such a summary may note that the Psalm was written as a result of the siege and final destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. (586 BC) The people of Judah, the Southern Kingdom, were taken captive and exiled by the Babylonians. Psalm 137 records the experience of some of the captives. The psalm is set by the waters of Babylon which are possibly a network of irrigation canals between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The captives are musicians, possibly Levites of the priestly class responsible for temple music. They are taunted by their captors who demand that they sing their holy songs before a profane audience. They refuse. They remember instead the beauty of Jerusalem and their music; they remember the betrayal by the Edomites, their brothers, and express their desire for revenge on the whole Babylonian society.

If the only purpose of the psalm was to record historical facts, then these sad events have been recorded in other places. This psalm however offers something in addition to ‘history from above’. By contrast, this psalm offers ‘history from below’, a unique insight into the mental and spiritual world of the captives. The events are told from their unique perspective – our field of vision too is reduced until we know only what they know.

I wish to suggest that this is analogous to a chaplaincy visit. When we enter a situation and hear a story, even if it has been reported in the media, in that first conversation we choose to only know what the suffer chooses to share. They connect words to their experience. As they search for words a deeply affected language emerges. It is pungent with emotion and feeling which conversely may also be demonstrated by an apparent lack of emotion. If we were to read the psalm by limiting our field of vision to only what is shared in the psalm a very different perception of reality emerges.

As we listen we experience in ourselves the extreme grief of the captives.  They sat and wept (vs 1), they hung up their harps on the poplars in a state of despondency (vs 2), they refused to sing songs of joy before their captors (vs 3).  They pledge their undying-loyalty to Jerusalem, and to the memory of the way things were, and they take no joy in the new circumstances (vs 4-6).  They ruminate and rehearse; they catalogue all wrongs done to them (vs7) and fantasize about the destruction of their adversary (vs 7).

The captives are in deep depression, exhibited in despondency, manifested in exercising a control they have left to them – refusal to co-operate. The past is idealised, nostalgia has taken hold and the fond memories of Jerusalem serve the present, forgetful of the apostasy that lead to the exile. They are continually and deliberately remembering the past, all that is lost, all the wrong that has been done to them and they experience anger expressed in a desire for vengeance.[1]

Shocking as some of these sentiments may be, it is helpful to note that the captives are experiencing an entirely normal grief response to the abnormal situation of having survived the deprivations of an horrific two-year siege and the dislocation of a forced exile to a foreign land. Brueggermann, observed that the various psalms describes different phases that are experienced in relationship with God and the world. These experiences may be described as orientation, disorientation or re-orientation.[2] Psalm 137 describes a people in deep disorientation in a state of loss-orientated grief.

If we were to conduct a loss assessment on the captives we would observe that they have experienced loses in every aspect of their lives. Material loss is represented by loss of possessions and homes.  Relational loss has been precipitated by the death toll of war and starvation.  The captives have experienced complete systemic loss with the dissolution of their nation and community. As survivors of a siege and exile they would experience ongoing physical and psychological health problems. Intra-psychic loss is expressed in the loss of future hopes and dreams associated with Jerusalem. For temple musicians the destruction of the temple causes immediate loss of vocational role.  There has been some suggestion that these musicians are working as ditch diggers keeping Babylon’s canals free of silt. This would routinely lead to emotional and spiritual losses caused by humiliation.

In this case it is also interesting to note that the captives have experienced almost all common symptoms of culture shock which are known to be exacerbated in cases of enforced removal or repatriation. Typical symptoms are withdrawal; feeling isolated or helpless; sad and despondent; irritable; homesickness; hostility towards host nationals and criticizing local ways of doing things. It is probably helpful to keep in mind that almost all people that a chaplain meets in hospitals, prisons, aged care and mental health facilities will be undergoing some form of culture shock in addition to the many other losses that tragedies bring.

Now, having heard from the captives all they are going through and also reflecting on a couple of assessment models, how does the chaplain help? It is interesting to reflect that knowing about something is not the same as ‘knowing it’. There will always be a gap between the sufferer’s experience and our understanding of their experience.

The captives, like all people going through extreme grief, have a need to tell their story over and over again. The prayer of the chaplain would be that the captives begin to integrate their experience in time and begin to find meaning and purpose to go on orientating towards God rather than further away from him. The chaplain would accompany the captives as they move from a grief-orientated loss process towards a re-orientation process. This process will only be able to happen as the captives begin to deal with the past truthfully as they reflect on why God allowed them to be exiled from Jerusalem in the first place. Over time this would usually lead to a less romantic reflection on Jerusalem. Careful listening reveals that although the captives are missing the songs of God and Jerusalem, they have not mentioned God himself. A re-oriented perspective is that God is with the captives in Babylon, he exists separate from songs about him and his temple in Jerusalem. He has not abandoned his people, he is present with them in the the foreign land. The chaplain guides, offering warm silence and gentle wisdom in the hope of helping to assist the captives rediscover their first love, the hope of a new future. But this is not a truth that can be imposed. It has to be revealed by God himself.

Theologically Psalm 137 asks, ‘Can the people of God, be the people of God outside the Land?’ Humanly speaking Psalm 137 asks, ‘Can any human survive the atrocities that captives such as these have endured?’ On reflection, and over time and with good pastoral care it could be possible for the captives to reply ‘yes’ on both accounts.

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[1] For a related discussion see, Viviers, H., 2010, ‘Psalm 137: Perspectives on the (neuro-) psychology of loss’, Verbum et Ecclesia 31(1), Art. #397, 7 pages. DOI: 10.4102/ve.v31i1.397

[2] Walter Brueggemann,  ‘Ch 3 Psalms of Disorientation’, The Spirituality of the Psalms, Minneapolis: Fotress, 2002, pp 25-45.

Pain of Decay and Pain of the Birth of the New Age

Rev Lindsay Johnstone, Chaplain, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney

 

How theologically and Biblically do we understand pain and suffering within the present order?

When relating with patients, do we treat all pain as the same?

 

Patients have their own perspectives on suffering. One said:

 …The enemy … the accuser of the brethren, Satan. All evil comes from him …  I know that we live in a fallen world, and horrible things happen every day all over the world. ... And people choose to do the wrong thing … He (God) doesn’t take away our freedom of choice, for good, or for evil… I know that God is heartbroken too…

 

Chaplains have their perspectives too and know that they should not impose them. At the same time, the clearer and most comprehensive is the chaplain’s own understanding of the issues, the more space they have to respond to what the patient brings them.

 

Paul Grimmond has dedicated his book Suffering Well to the many who have travelled to the other side of the world to speak to complete strangers about our Lord Jesus Christ. They have counted the cost, lived for Jesus, and encouraged me by their example to suffer well [i].  However, Grimmond deals inadequately with the pain of the fall. His treatment of James 5 neglects most of James 5: 14-18. He says only  -  And in James 5, James seems to suggest healing is possible – but the way to find it is by confessing your sins[ii].

 

Helpfully, Romans 8: 18-23 deals with two categories of pain in the present time between the first and second comings of Christ. All pain is experienced in the fallen world. Some is in consequence of the fall. Some pain is connected with the inauguration of the Kingdom of God.

 

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.  For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope  that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. (ESV)

 

(1)    There is the Pain of Decay – pain which arises out of the old order

Suffering of this type includes: all sin, relationship breakdown, human rejection, self-rejection, inner turmoil, curses, natural disaster, pollution, ecological disaster, demonic attack, sickness, physical death, blaming of God, rejection of God.

 

(2)    There is the Pain of New-Birth –pain which anticipates the new order

Suffering of this type includes: mortification regarding one’s own sin, pain for others affected by their sin (or by our sin as well!), persecution and rejection for professing the Name of Christ and for trying to live for him, the care of the churches, acceptance of a missionary life-style, the groaning of intercession, the discipline of the Lord whereby we are reproved by the Word of God, and the wrestle not to express sinful desires.

 

Christ links the two. From the fall, pain in child-birth was symptomatic of suffering outside the garden – yet the seed of the woman born in the mother’s pain would bruise the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15,16). In Romans 8 the term “birth-pangs” has now moved from a focus on the fall to a focus on the coming new order, as Christ has now bruised the serpent’s head.

 

Pain of the first type is neither to be glorified nor blamed upon God[iii]. Pain of the second type is commendable – even though it hurts. The establishment of the new order will involve a reversal of the pain of the old. We currently negotiate the “now and not yet” paradox of life between the First and Second Comings of Christ. In Romans 8: 17 believers are already adopted as God’s children, but as verse 23 says, when Christ returns we shall experience that adoption in our resurrected bodies. Although flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, yet when the trumpet sounds this mortal body will put on immortality[iv]. Any healing which was tentative will be absolute. There is a connection between the present and the future. Our inner-most spirit is forgiven, restored and healed, and we are in process of this newness being manifested in our minds, feelings, wills and bodies – in preparation for the unfettered experiences of all this newness to be completed in heaven. We should function on the basis that God is at work now on his restoration plan; and not just passively wait for it all in heaven.[v]

 

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[i] Paul Grimmond, Suffering Well (Matthias Media 2011) p.7

[ii] Ibid, p.83

[iii] “blamed upon God” in this context refers to a theological stance accepting a sickness as “the will of God” and does not necessarily here refer to the emotional experience of a hurting person in the process of ventilating.

[iv]  I Corinthians 15: 50-58

[v]  See Ephesians 1: 9-10, 22-23 and 2:6 – Christ as Head over the Church is continuously working through the church in the Father’s ongoing process of recapitulating and restoring all things, using every means.

Pain and Healing from a Chaplain’s Perspective. Prophetic Prognosis: What and When?

Rev Lindsay Johnstone, Chaplain, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney

Countless times a hospital chaplain will have only a very brief window of opportunity to share with a patient matters concerning forgiveness, eternity, relationship with God in Christ, salvation, and supernatural healing by God. Often a patient gives the chaplain the opportunity to move in one or more of these areas. Then the chaplain will be a part-provider. One prays that God will send other labourers of the harvest to come across the paths of those for whom they have cared, and to take them further.

Even those brief encounters, when a chaplain’s input is merely like a dot on a large curve, the ultimate outcome may be significantly affected by the gradient, which  may become steeper if at that point the chaplain is operating from a “world-view” with an increased hope and expectation.

Our expectations may be limited by denominational or peer group expectations. They may be limited to previous stages of learning, or they may be on a growing learning curve. They will be regulated according to our “operational theology”, which can be skewed by fear or by arrogance, restricted by peer – group anxiety, or by misapplication of Biblical passages.

Healing and Forgiveness as “partners” within the ministry of Jesus, fulfil prophecies such as that of Isaiah 53: 4-5 (ESV)

4. Surely he has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

smitten by God, and afflicted.

5. But he was pierced for our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

and with his wounds we are healed.

 

Matthew 8: 17 (ESV) uses this in relation to physical healings.

16 That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”

“oppressed by demons” is the better translation of the Greek word daimonizomai in its various forms. At verse 33 the same version (ESV) translates it as “demon – possessed”, but whatever the context might imply the Greek nowhere linguistically requires that translation, which has sometimes been used to argue that Christian believers cannot ever need the type of ministry described in verse 16.

 Within the context of Matthew 8, the quote from Isaiah is fulfilled in healing lepers, a paralysed person, someone with a fever, and people demonically oppressed.

1 Peter 2: 24 quotes the last clause in Isaiah 53: 5 in connection with our forgiveness and with consequences in righteous responses to maltreatment by others, where such responses have a healing effect. In principle, we were forgiven and healed two thousand years before we (ourselves) sinned or became ill. In practice this became true of any one of us, in our spirit, when we came into a personal relationship with Christ. Though eternally forgiven already, we wrestle with the pressure to commit sin until Christ returns. Though healed in our spirit, we continue to suffer the pains of the fallen world, until Christ returns. In the meantime, we are encouraged to grow in a life-style of forgiveness, repentance and reconciliation; and to appropriate healings of our body and mind within this present order. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. (ESV)

 Isaiah 61: 1-4 (ESV) also prophesies evangelism and healing.

 

61 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
    he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
    and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
² to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,
    and the day of vengeance of our God;
    to comfort all who mourn;...

Luke 4:21 (ESV)

And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

It is evident that the scope of the healing covers spiritual, emotional, material and physical areas.

There are, of course, other theological and practical matters that relate to pain and healing which are worthy of attention, and which help with answering questions that arise out what has been said here.

Reflections on Disorientation and Lamentations

Kate Bradford

Our secular world often sees suffering as a deficiency that requires therapy. An entire industry exists around grief management. By contrast a Biblical world view does not see grief as something to be managed or a problem to be solved. The Bible offers a rich, nuanced exploration that takes us deep into the mystery of suffering and the possibility of new life emerging out of suffering. The Bible offers no techniques but rather suggests that we share one another’s burdens. Eugene Peterson simply describes pastoral work as pain-sharing[1]. To suffer is to experience loss: loss of health, loss of face, loss of a loved one, loss of things, loss of hope, loss of dreams, and loss of relationships. We walk together with those who suffer loss and grief and in doing so the sufferer is dignified and their loss and grief are validated. 

Disorientation

To suffer is to experience profound disorientation. For each sufferer there lies a challenge: to seek to find meaning in their new situation and eventually, re-orientation. The ministry of the chaplain is to accompany such people on this journey.

Chaplains need to be comfortable with the Biblical texts that particularly address the subjects of pain, loss and grief. The primary Biblical texts that deal with grief and loss are the Psalms of Lament, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Job and the New Testament passion narratives. The chaplain should also have a good working knowledge of several psychological models that address grief and loss. 

Walter Brueggemann[2], writing on Psalms identifies three phases or periods of life:  orientation, disorientation and re-orientation. These phases are not necessarily successive or even related to stages of maturity and once experienced they may occur again a number of times, in any order, throughout a lifetime. The Book of Psalms reflects this as a natural pattern of life, experienced both by individuals and by communities. Brueggemann notes that as people negotiate transitions between the phases of orientation, disorientation and re-orientation, different poetic expressions arise, notably psalms of lament, praise and thanksgiving. For example, moving from either orientation or re-orientation back into dis-orientation gives rise to lament. By identifying these phases and recognising the necessary adjustments that need to take place, people are then able to adjust their expectations and accordingly, come to view different facets of relationships with God, self and others.

Pastoral ministry to someone in a disoriented phase is to hold out an inkling of hope contained deep within the disorientation itself. This is because to claim that there is disorientation is to firstly assume that there was once orientation and that there is a faint hope of re-orientation. Just as shadows in themselves are evidence of light (as it is only by the occlusion of light that a shadow forms), if there is no orientation it would not be possible to become disorientated.

Grief and Loss Models

Psychological models and insights helpfully remind us that grief is normal and periods of disorientation are part of the human condition. The process of adjusting to loss and the accompanying grief takes time and there are healthy and unhealthy patterns of grieving. There are no short cuts that avoid the pain of grief.

Commonly referenced secular models are Kubler-Ross’ Stages of Grieving, extended grieving cycles, and Stroebe and Schut’s Dual Process model. These models engage with people further through the lenses of Bowlby’s theories of attachment, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Erikson’s early social and moral development, the total pain theory, continuing bonds, categories of loss and others[3].

Each of these systems, while not excluding the possibility of God and the reality of sin, are not designed to address humanity from the perspective of the fall of Adam, the promises to Abraham, the exodus of Moses, the kingship of David, the exile of Israel, the wisdom of Paul or the cross of Christ. It is the task of pastoral theologians and chaplains to ask how, or indeed do, these theories fit together with the Biblical accounts of suffering, concepts of faith, God’s loving kindness, and notions of sin, fallen-ness, guilt, redemption, forgiveness and reconciliation

Lament

The Bible approaches loss, pain and grief through another quite different lens – the lens of the lament. These writings unashamedly expose suffering and engage with it. Lamentations assumes a dialogue partner, and that partner is God.  The suffering is presented from different perspectives often oscillating between a human perspective and a divine perspective. Lamentations neither offers an answer to the problem of suffering nor does it explain pain, however it does help the sufferer face grief. Suffering is never presented as random or as an impersonal force, it is seen as intensely personal. Lamentations offers an articulation for suffering and companionship during the time of suffering. It is in suffering that the closeness to God, and distance from God is most clearly seen and keenly felt. 

The intensely personal book of Lamentations is never theoretical. The lament is a cry across a gap that must be negotiated between humanity and God, fallen-ness and holiness, mortality and eternity. An attempt to close this gap, either by a quick theological resolution (over realised eschatology that sees everything from a divine end point) or theodicy (theistic or philosophical explanations of suffering) unwittingly create a disjunction between what is real ‘here and now’ and the lost ‘ideal’. They attempt to close the gap too quickly.

The highly structured lament follows an acrostic pattern (each verse begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The A- Z structure guarantees against rushing through, causing both suffer and helper to attend to the suffering. The acrostic device thoroughly covered the enormity of the suffering and the myriad details of grief. The A –Z as it were, covered again and again and again and again (five times) the tragedy until the grief begins to dissipate and its intensity is finally spent.

Walter Kaiser[4] suggests the chapters of Lamentation correlate with perspectives of the suffering representing views from the: outside, inside, upward, overall and finally, with prayer towards the future. Much popular recent pastoral care practice focuses only on the inside view (and this from a psychological perspective rather than a theological perspective) and thus significantly decreases the possibility of helping a sufferer find wholeness. 

In pastoral visitation there is a general pattern to the sufferer led conversations, which closely follows the pattern of Lamentations. The sufferer will usually give an overview of events, and in doing so help put the visitor in the picture.  Secondly, the sufferer will usually share in greater depth their perspective on their suffering if given the opportunity. A skilled pastoral visitor, practiced in empathetic listening skills, helps the sufferer to express their feelings and find words for things, as yet un-named or articulated. Part of the pastoral care will be to help the sufferer to move from the ‘why’ questions that cannot be answered, to a gentle enquiry as to where and how God might be in this situation. Over time the conversation may oscillate between the grief and a catalogue of woes, pain, sin, injustice and unexpected inklings of hope.

Lamentations describes a loss and grief of catastrophic proportions and also suggests a model for those who wish to enter the pastoral work of pain-sharing. Lamentations locates suffering to particular events and gives words to the horrors experienced, the emotions and feelings are not aimless anxieties but connected to real events – a historical memory. Sufferers will tend to orientate themselves toward loss-orientation, or towards a reconstructive-orientation, or oscillate between the two[5]. It is here that the chaplain helps those who suffer to reconstruct their world, incorporating the grief.

The pastoral visitor holds onto the threads of grace and holds out a glimmer of hope throughout by the use of sensitive grace-filled conversation and prayer. Over time (often a long time) a new perspective is formed, very often containing deeply honest reflection and observation about self and others. Slowly a re-orientation begins to take shape. Yet each visit can return to any stage and oscillations are unpredictable. Yet the boundaries of the lament place limits on evil. Suffering – even suffering as terrible as in Lamentations – cannot go on for ever.  

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
    his mercies never come to an end;
 they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
    “therefore I will hope in him.” (Lamentations 3: 22 -24)

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[1] Peterson, Eugene H. ‘The Pastoral Work of Pain-Sharing, Lamentations’, Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work. 1992. pp. 113 – 148.

[2] Brueggemann, Walter. The Spirituality of the Psalms. 2002.

 

[3] For chaplaincy, it is important to recognise that these psychological theories were not developed to reflect on the human condition in the light of Biblical wisdom. This reflection is the task of theology.

[4] Kaiser, Walter C. Jr.  Grief and Pain in the Plan of God: Christ Assurance and the Message of Lamentations. 2004.

[5] Cf Stroebe and Schut,  Health Outcomes of Bereavement, 2007.

 

Chaplaincy: An Eccentric Ministry

Kate Bradford

Eccentric ministries like chaplaincy happen out at the margins of society. By this I don’t mean to say an odd ministry, although it may be that at times, but rather a ministry that happens far from the centre. Much Christian ministry centres physically around a church, a theological college or faith based organisation, but chaplains are sent people who go out to the lost, the dispossessed, the imprisoned and sufferers of many kinds.

Disconnecting from the centre is an inherent danger in any such ministry. So much time and energy can be spent at the periphery that the concerns of the centre may grow strangely dim and begin to fade into irrelevance accompanied by an imperceptible theological drift.

Becoming distant from our appointing organisation is one problem, but to become disconnected from God and his orientating word is a deeper problem that cuts to the heart of the matter. Isaiah perceived this danger acutely when he penned the beautiful words, ‘Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand’.  (Is 64:8)

The earthy, visceral image of the potter working the clay with his bare hands is shocking, stunning, focused. Just as his hands formed the dry land, we too are formed, re-formed, conformed to the likeness of the image of Christ. A lump of clay not centred flings off the wheel[1]. Before a pot can be formed it must first be centred, and then formed from centre.

Career chaplains, volunteer chaplains, lay pastoral care workers must all submit to this centering process as part of their spiritual and vocational formation.  For a chaplain to faithfully offer Christ’s care on a situation by situation basis they need to know the centre out from which they move:  an understanding and experience of a redeeming relationship with Christ together with a centred and settled theological framework from which they respond to differing and complex situations. 

By a theological frame work, a single point of orthodoxy is not being suggested but rather an integrated understanding of a theological view of humanity, God, Christ, sin and falleness, forgiveness, redemption, suffering, the limits of freedom, discernment, faith, hope, grace, love. These Biblical understandings or doctrines, work in tension with each other, modifying, limiting, and holding, as the potters hands firmly steady and guide the process as the pot is formed.

Theological centering provides the starting point and on-going reference point around which is built a rich and textured ministry, based on prayer, study of the scriptures, conscious spiritual formation, compassion, patience, sharing in the suffering of Christ, and wisdom insights from human sciences of psychology and sociology.

Compassionate care, listening and reflecting are guided by underlying theological presuppositions; “There is no view from no-where”. The challenge for each pastoral care worker is to examine, understand and be formed by Scripture because our presuppositions affect the care we give.

Christian ethicist Stanley Hauerwas, who has written extensively on disability and the relationship between medicine and the church observes that as a community we do not regard sin, illness, dis-ease, and spiritual health as we ought. As a consequence many pastoral visitors are not trained theologically to deal with the complexities of ministry, preferring to continue to take listening courses rather than grapple with Christology.

 

“I am not really into Christology this year. I am really into relating. I would like to take more courses in CPE.”  They [Students] are likely to be confirmed in that opinion by being told, “Right, take CPE, after all that is what ministry is ― relating. Lean to be a wounded healer.”… No one really believes that an inadequately trained priest might damage their salvation. But people do believe that an inadequately trained doctor might hurt them.[2]

 

Hauerwas is supportive of pastoral care, however, he is concerned that compassionate care offered is theologically informed, centred on Christ, and does not conform to the things of this world.

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[1] Jeremiah 18:6 – reference to potter working at his wheel.

[2] Stanley Hauerwas, ‘Sinsick’, Braaten, C. E., & Jenson, R. W. (2000). Sin, Death, and the Devil. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.

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/