When the chaplain needs a chaplain

Sometimes ministry goes way beyond religion...

The tables had turned in my life, and I, the chaplain, was now the patient.  Scared, not feeling well, alone, in this place that was not home, out of my network of friends, family and all.

It was very hard.  I had very little support, and although the people I met here were kind and friendly, it was not home and I did not know many people. 

What to do?  I was fighting for my life.  Enduring very painful treatments.  Afraid.  The months dragged on, and I could not work…being too ill…

Then I saw a business card for the chaplain on the social worker’s desk. She was the chaplain for the advanced medicine center where I was having my treatments.

I decided to call her.  At first I thought it might just be nice to meet her, ask her about her ministry.  She was a rabbi, and a hospital chaplain.  I, an Episcopal priest, and a military chaplain.

We met and began to talk.  She was very kind and a very good listener.  She asked great questions.  We met every week as I endured my painful treatments that lasted many weeks.

The Rabbi and the Episcopal Priest

I found myself really looking forward to our weekly visits.  She really helped me through a very difficult time.   I am very glad she was there.

One day, I was getting my weekly check up by my doctor, and she commented to me, “I am amazed at how well you are doing emotionally going through all this, being you are far away from home and have virtually no support system here…”

My doctor was very kind.  I said to her, “well, I am seeing the chaplain every week”, and pointed to her (she was sitting in the hallway waiting to see me after the doctor).

The said, “Isn’t she a rabbi?”  I said yes.  The doctor asked if I was Jewish.  “No”, I replied, “but that does not matter.  In the chaplaincy, you deal with people of all faiths.  A kind caring person, is a kind caring person, most times it does not matter what religion the person is.  The chaplaincy is more spiritual based.  I have ministered to people of many different faiths as a military chaplain.  And now, I am the patient. And she is a great chaplain.”

The doctor nodded her head in understanding. 

As the weeks went by, I began to fully realize, the rabbi really was my chaplain.

She was Jewish, and I Christian.  But being different faiths did not matter.  We connected on a spiritual level.  She, a kind soul who helped me on the journey.  And I, a person in need.

We all need support now and then.

The military chaplain

Yes, sometimes the chaplain needs a chaplain! 

And yes, sometimes ministry goes way beyond religion!

Spirituality, Resurrection and Supernovas...

Supernova photographed by NASA in 1987

On this beautiful Easter Sunday, I am contemplating supernovas and the resurrection.   

I know, you were just thinking about this as you had your morning cup of coffee!

Recently I read a book called The Alchemy of the Heavens; Searching For Meaning in the Milky Way by Ken Croswell. 

I have had a fascination for the stars since I was young.  While gazing at the stars, I felt the aliveness and connectedness of the universe.  This feeling of everything being alive and not separate all these years has never left me.  This has been a major part of my spiritual journey.

The sad thing today is that science and spirituality or religion are seen at odds with each other, two totally different worlds.  To me, this could not be further from the truth! 

Science and spirituality...not so totally different!  Not separate at all!

The Crab Nebula

Take a look at the cycle of life.  

Just like all life here on earth, stars also have a birth, a life, a death and a resurrection, if you will.  

Stars are "born" in giant molecular clouds of dust and gas within nebulas, the very substance of the death of stars, supernovas.  

Large stars upon living their lives of millions or billions of years,  after burning all their fuel eventually collapse and massively explode.

The Crab Nebula, (pictured here), is actually the remnants of a supernova that happened in the year 1054 AD!  

And inside this nebula as in the millions of other nebulas, eventually as dust clouds become more dense, is the creation of new stars.  And the cycle continues.  Death, life, rebirth on a cosmic level!

What's more, and so very amazing, is that many of the elements that make up our sun, our earth, all life on this planet including you and me were all created in stars that once lived, and died.  Upon going supernova and exploding, and a few more billions of years...those elements made by that star that exploded;  oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, iron, etc...now are part of us.    The iron in our blood was made from a star that exploded long ago!

Life, death, resurrection.

Death is not the end!

I know for some of you this may be old news, especially if you have a background in the sciences.     Nevertheless, even someone with a PhD in this can still be AMAZED!

No wonder I felt the aliveness of the universe so many years ago!  It is  vibrating with the mystery of life!

Be amazed!

Happy Easter everyone!

 

Spirituality and Leadership and Maundy Thursday

Maundy Thursday.  Also known as Holy Thursday, and Thursday of the Mystical Supper. 

It is called Maundy, as it is Latin for ‘mandate’…meaning commandment.  It is the night Christ gave us a new mandate, “to love one another, as I have loved you”.

On this night, so long ago, Jesus had his last supper with his disciples.  This night he taught them a great spiritual lesson …to love one another, through service ….in his act of washing their feet. 

It also is a profound example of leadership.  For as anyone who has been a leader, a good leader that is, knows it is the leader that serves and takes care of their people, not the other way around.

On this night, we recall these spiritual lessons by doing them… foot washing, the Eucharist, and the stripping of the altar.

Profound liturgical actions are recalled and acted out.  Any liturgy has at its heart a sacrificial action. We offer something, and God takes that offering and does something wonderful with it, something we cannot do for ourselves.  Lessons learned that go way beyond words.

In the Exodus reading, the focus is on the first Passover, a deliverance of the people from bondage in Egypt …into freedom.

This sacred text is read at every Passover feast in a liturgical setting as a profound reminder of a how a liberating and loving God delivers us from bondage, whatever that may be….

In the Corinthians reading, Jesus is having his Last Supper with his disciples… this is where we get the institution of the Holy Eucharist. A meal of bread and wine that helps us experience the Holy, to not only think about God but feel it, experience it.  It can be, is transforming….if we let it.

And in the gospel reading, John focuses on another ancient liturgical rite, foot washing.  Awkward for some, embarrassing for others, this solemn act of the Maundy Thursday liturgy helps us open our hearts.

One cannot help but feel the sense of humility.   Christ stoops to wash our feet, turning all our concepts of higher and lower, above and below, inequality and equity, into a new reality of love.

For in matters of things spiritual, things are backwards and upside down… up is down, and down is up.  Weakness is strength, the end is really the beginning…..

There is something about this sacred night that sets it apart. We’re not merely remembering the night before Jesus died, we are actually living it through the liturgy.

The insight and connection with the Passover of our Jewish sisters and brothers…. the solemn washing of the feet….. the taking of the bread and the cup……these experiences leave us with a depth of meaning that goes beyond words.

Then, the altar is stripped and prepared for Good Friday, and we transition from the most intimate liturgical moment of the Eucharist to emptiness, darkness. 

Why do we do this?  What can we do… but leave silently and go to our homes?

What we are about to do is act out that new commandment – perhaps by washing the feet of someone with whom we have had a disagreement, or someone we totally do not know. These are glimpses of what that love looks like.

The living out of this loving one another as I have loved you comes through when others help others, a community that practices radical hospitality to strangers, aliens, the poor, and those who have no helper.

Yes it is not easy….to face our pains and hurts, and I mean really face them….to go into that metaphorical or real dark room, to suffer…to let that seed crack open… and die…but it is the way to healing, wholeness… and new life.

As we leave, the words of Jesus remain in our hearts: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you...”

Amen.

[Note:  This was a homily I gave last year at St Andrew's Episcopal Church in Sedona, Arizona]