Stealth Chaplain

The chaplain. That mysterious clergy person who works beyond the walls of a church.

The work is out there in the world, in the military, in hospitals, in prisons, in the hospice, police departments, fire departments, the psych wards, schools, colleges, universities, recovery centers, homeless shelters, and far, far away places like Antarctica, war zones, remote and desolate locations and places where most people would not like to go or be.

Holy moments at someone's bedside, in the ICU, in hallways, in a day room.

The last two Sundays I have not been able to attend or lead worship in a church. But that is OK. I led worship services at the VA Hospital's Chapel. Then services to the people in the Psych Ward, and then to the people in the Addictions Recovery unit. It was amazing.

The following Sunday, I gave worship services to people on a military base.

Each place so unique, so different, so wonderful!

Worship and serving people in chapels, class rooms, meeting rooms, outside, in prayer rooms, in tents, in the hangar, on the flight line...in an aircraft...anywhere...

Out there in the world.

These places may not be a big, beautiful Cathedral...but to me they are...

Spirituality, Travelling and Commuting

A little over two years ago, while I was deployed to SW Asia, I was selected to be the Wing Chaplain at an Airlift Wing in Ft Worth, Texas. Upon my return from my deployment to SW Asia, I began serving at this unit. (Photo to the right is my chaplain team.)

And thus I began my journey into the world of commuting every month. And, I mean really commuting...from two states away!

Yes, every month I would fly to Texas from my home, two states to the west for my military duty.

Previously, the many years I served at an air force base that was local to my home and only a 30 minute drive away. I met people who flew to attend duty from across the country and or a state or two away. I just really never thought about it.... until I had to travel regularly. I guess we never really know something, until we experience it for ourselves.

Traveling and commuting is quite different when you take a trip that you WANT to go on, like a weekend getaway or a vacation. It is different than the occasional business trip or "TDY" (temporary duty) as it is know in the military.

Commute travel is exhausting, as well as very time consuming and expensive. There is no thrill or excitement to it, as you repeat this trip over and over every few weeks. The sou-less airports, the waiting for buses, vans, trains, planes, the lines at the airports, the security humiliations, the emptiness and loneliness of travel, the delays, the lost luggage, seeing the many people who are stuck commuting and traveling just like you, waiting in the airport, all playing on the smart phones, the stale, expensive and bland food in the airports.... And need I mention the change of time zones heading east is a killer, you lose two hours...getting up at "my time" 3 am to be at work on time in "their" time zone, and so on.

It is very different than deploying and flying to the other side of the globe...grueling in a different sort of way but when deploying and coming home, their is adrenaline and excitement.

Yep, commute travel is a bit de-souling, but it's a real opportunity to practice one's spirituality! Breathe...meditate, in those frustratingly long and slow moving lines! ...Keep a sense of humor...Pray for peace! Inner peace! You will need it!

Why did I do it? I had a great chaplain team, (pictured above) and I really enjoyed my work there. I worked very hard and it was rewarding to see our labors begin to flower this past year.

One thing it taught me... the essence of serving.

But now, I leave this grueling interstate commute...and on to my next assignment...

Bye bye Texas...

Being Qualitative in a Quantitative World...

We live in a quantitative society. It’s the language of business, economics, science, social science, mathematics, and finance. It is based on numbers, statistics, measurements, empirical observations, money, stuff, budgets, production, profits, the "bottom line", and getting the most bang for the buck.

But as we know, not everything can be reduced to a number, a formula, or even tallied numerically on a form! Not everything is "talliable"!

For those of you who work in the qualitative professions, such as the ministry, the chaplaincy, social work, counseling, teaching, the arts and or any of the helping / people professions...you know what I am talking about. The things we provide just do not fit neatly into little boxes on a form. And we go untallied, undocumented, and those that live in the quantitative world look at us and wonder, what on earth have you been doing? What are we paying you for?

But even if we wanted to, we can’t ignore the quantitative. For those of us that serve in large, governmental organizations or corporations or large businesses, things change as we move up the hierarchical ladder. We become supervisors, directors, the person in charge..... We become “them”!! Now we must create reports....how do we tally what our people do? We must live within budgets, justify our existence, if we don't, budgets may be slashed, jobs lost.... Bills need to be paid, payrolls met, and so forth.

How do we translate the language of the qualitative to quantitative?

Yes, it is not only a different language, it is also a different worldview!

Large, organized religions and churches I think, tend to operate for the most part quantitatively. Get those people in the pews! Grow! Expand. Get new converts! Increase those numbers!

Of course, not all religions are this way. But it seems to be the way for many religions and denominations that are missionizing type religions.

Of course, no one wants to speak in front of, or perform in front of an empty house.

But what is the spiritual dimension of all this? Hmmm. Well, there are many levels…

On one level, it is very “Western”. It seems to be related with the Industrial Revolution and the creation of a consumer society. Stuff. More! More stuff! Conspicuous consumption!

It also seems to be related to production. Make more stuff. Produce! Work hard.

How did it get this way? And there…it is almost hiding….it is related to that darned Protestant hard work ethic! And the thought of faith without works, is dead!

Perhaps it is also, because our global economy is based on similar quantitative attributes. Business and big religion…they tend to match each other.

But spiritually, it goes deeper, way deeper.

Work more, make more money...so you can buy more stuff!

What if we didn’t play the game?

The past two weeks, I have been at home. On the verge of moving for a certain amount of time, what should I take with me?

After much pondering, and the fact that I am on a budget, and I am the only person moving me, I decided not to play the game!

I am going minimalist! Taking only the bare essentials.

And I mean, the bare essentials. No furniture, no desk, no cable TV, no stuff. Therefore, no trailer needed to haul stuff, and no $350 fee for being forced to purchase a hitch that I will use once in my life. No lifting of stuff that I can’t lift by myself anyway.

It is totally counter–cultural. I am not going to have any stuff!

It makes me contemplate the early Christians….no church buildings, no budgets, no heads in the pews. No programs. No bulletins. No stuff. Just people who gathered together….

But, somehow, the movement grew. Why?

Perhaps it is because it was based on the qualitative. Perhaps it was because of the people….the relationships.

And that is QUALITATIVE.

What if we lived our lives based on this? What of we dared to live qualitatively….instead of quantitatively?

What a different world it would be!