Claimed, gathered and sent

It is my privilege to be the house chaplain this week at Grant Memorial Hospital here in Petersburg. Although I have previously covered for others, this is my first official week as chaplain. And to make it even more interesting, Mon. and Tues. I was away for continuing education with my supervisor and others. Now that I've been back a few days, I feel like I'm really hitting my stride. Several of the patients recognize me now as I've visited with them a few times. A couple of them waved when they saw me coming while others smiled. There were a couple of outstanding incidents today in my visits, however. In the first instance, when I glanced into one of the rooms, I only saw one patient. The second bed in the room was stripped, so I thought her roommate must have gone home. I looked again and there she was sitting in the corner. She is a woman of great faith. In today's conversation especially, it was evident that this lady has been walking with God for many years. She...

I first became acquainted with the hymn "God Be With You Till We Meet Again" at my home church in RI. It was while in the process of discernment, not long before I left for seminary. Since that time, I have found it to be evocative and laden with meaning. Shortly after CPE began, I discovered that this is a particularly meaningful hymn to this community as well. The last couple of weeks I have spent much of my time with the resident mentioned in my previous post.Walking and waiting with R and her daughters has been an amazing, life altering experience for me. Each time I went to her room, I had to listen carefully to what the Spirit was saying. Sometimes I thought I was going for Rand it ended up being for one or both of her daughters. Other times, like the last time I was with R, I initially thought I was there for her daughters. For a while I had been praying that God would take R home to be with God. Each day I would check and she was still with us, though that much cl...

My recent absence from blogging has not been because nothing is happening. Much is happening, but much of it is confidential. That which can be shared has taken some time for me to process before I could write about it. The last few weeks have been full of encounters of all kinds, events, and personal reflection. It has been a roller coaster ride full of tears and joy--moments of "Aha" and others of "Oh crap." Here is a bit of what can be shared. The retirement community I'm doing CPE in, being a chaplain this summer in, is a truly amazing place. Volunteers abound and those volunteers are residents of the retirement community. My weeks have consisted of times in one area to "Chat with the Chaplain." Wednesday mornings I do the devotions that are broadcast to all areas of the community. Friday mornings is a Bible study in memory support. Memory support encompasses a variety of abilities--some appear fully functional cognitively while others do not even ...

As Bob Dylan wrote, “The times they are a changin.’ This Sunday is one of those changing, transitional times in our church year. The end of Lent is near as we move through Holy Week towards Easter. Today, we’ve heard and participated in the celebratory parade with Palms, singing “All Glory Laud and Honor,” walking down the Mt. of Olives with Jesus during his triumphal entry into Jerusalem . Did you hear the hosannas? This crowd was excited. They wanted to crown Jesus as king! When I lived in the Holy Land in the 1980s, on Palm Sunday, Christians of all denominations and languages would gather on the Mt. of Olives . We would sing, pray, and joyfully walk down the Mt. into Jerusalem . We were Christians of all nationalities and languages singing and shouting, “Hosanna!” It was like being transported back in time to Jesus ’ time. Can you imagine what it must have been like on that first Palm Sunday? This morning our readings take us to other place...