Well,
no. I just actually had something that I thought would be cool about,
and I had a free few minutes to write it. Stop reading into this. It's
nothing special.
Gosh.
Anyways,
back to the topic at hand. I wanted to share with y'all the experience
that I just had while on a class field trip. That's right. Princeton has
field trips. Be jealous. I am in a May term class right now. For those
of you who do not know what I'm talking about, this is a three-week
intensive class, usually pass/fail. The class is on Campus Ministry and
Other Young Adult Ministry Models. It's amazing. I've absolutely loved
it and I've learned a lot about myself and my vocational call from this
class. We have spoken with church pastors who specialize their
ministries to attract young adults, campus ministers who work
specifically with college-aged young adults, and military chaplains
working with our military (which, you might know, is comprised primarily
of young adults). It's been wonderful.
Our
field trip was a two-day excursion to Washington DC, where we focused
our time on military chaplaincy. We met probably 20 different military
chaplains on our two-day trip, all of them ranging in denomination and
military branch. Now, for those of you who may not already know, I have a
deep respect for those who serve in our armed forces. They are doing a
job many do not want and they are serving a country full of many who do
not respect or appreciate their work and sacrifice. As someone who grew
up in a military family, I saw just what duty requires of enlisted
soldiers, and I will always hold the highest respect for those willing
to engage in this work. I have also always been interested in military
chaplaincy. I'd have to lose quite a few pounds to be able to enter into
it, and it doesn't really fit with Jess' and my calls in life, so I
have always been of the mind that it would always be a ministry avenue I
would respect but never engage.
Then,
during this trip, I had the blessing of speaking to an Air Force
Reserve chaplain. He is an ordained elder in the United Methodist
Church, and his wife is also an ordained elder. And he made it all work
by working in the Reserves. This opened up a whole new avenue of
ministry for me that I had not even known about. If I were to pursue
this, I could easily serve in a local church or campus ministry
appointment as well as serve in the Reserves. It would mean that one
week a month I work quite a bit more than the other weeks, and it would
mean that I have to work hard to get in shape physically, but both of
those things are doable! (Even if the getting in shape might kill me).
So, now that I am home and am back in the real world, I have been
thinking a lot about this and praying about it, and everything that I am
feeling about it says that it's a worthy pursuit and it would lead to
worthwhile ministry. I know that I want to be in the local church for a
while first so that I can gain the experience needed to be able to best
minister to all, but I am also going to start gearing up for this,
finding out who I need to talk to so that I can get the ball rolling on
this, working on building relationships within the church that could
help me with this endeavor, and working to get in shape.
Jess: Wes didn't even bother to consult me on this, and I feel like he has everything we need to say already, so...I'll write about this summer.
Those of you who talk with us regularly already know that I'll be doing CPE this summer. CPE stands for Clinical Pastoral Education. For me, that means I'll be working as a chaplain in our local hospital, Robert Wood Johnson, all summer long. It's a requirement of the ELCA's candidacy process, so I can't get ordained or even do my internship without first serving in this capacity. It's basically an unpaid internship as a chaplain. I believe that there are opportunities to do a CPE in a prison setting, but I don't think I'm ready for that.
Honestly, I'm not sure if I'm ready to work in a hospital, either. I spent quite a bit of time in the hospital as a kid. I went with Dad quite regularly to visit parishoners who were hospitalized for one reason or another. Sometimes I got to see new babies. Sometimes we were just there as support for a family during surgery. Once, a day a remember vividly, we went to visit a congregation member who had suffered a brain injury which took years for her to recover from. So the hospital isn't a great place for me. I've seen a lot of sick people and I guess I just have a fear of what might happen there. I tend to forget all of the healing that takes place. I forget that some people go to the hospital to have life-saving surgery, to have broken bones healed, or to have babies. I focus on the negative a lot.
Even more terrifying for me, however, is my tendency to empathy. When other people are in pain--be it emotional, physical, or spiritual--I feel that pain, too. And I always want to fix it. I'm going to be in a lot of situations this summer where I simply can't fix what's wrong. I'm not sure how I'm going to handle that. It will be an interesting experiment in how much someone can learn in one summer.
As I was discussing (whining about) CPE with Linda awhile ago, she pointed out a few things that really have helped me get a grip on this and start to look forward to the summer. First off, I'm not in a trauma center, I'm not in a cancer hospital, etc. Although I will have to deal with death and severe illness, I won't be with the worst of the worst. What helped more, though, was Linda pointing out that I obviously don't want to be a hospital chaplain in the future. That's not part of my call to ministry. So she told me to make a goal for the summer--something that I want to achieve by putting myself in this sometimes terrifying situation.
Always the overachiever, I chose two: first, to get to a point where I can be in the same room as someone who is in pain and not be crying. I want to be able to help them in whatever way I can, whether prayer, time to talk, or just silent presence. That's going to be difficult if I'm bawling my eyes out. Second, I want to be in a place where I can go to the hospital and not tense up. I want to feel more comfortable wandering the halls, so that when I go to visit sick parishoners, I'm not making a bad situation worse with my own inability to deal with it.
Well, there you go...two discussions of extension ministries. Our journey just gets more exciting with every step!
You stay classy, World Wide Web.
Wes and Jess
Jess, I think something that may help you achieve your goals is learning a little more about different illnesses, treatments, and prognoses. I think that I have a very different approach to hospitals and illness due to the fact that my mother, grandmother and 4 aunts who are all RNs. When in the hospital, they read each other's charts, they talk to medical professionals and they let the concrete fact of the situation inform where their emotions go. A prognosis, in particular, really helps one gain perspective. You know if you are preparing for death, the unknown, or some sort of recovery process. Hospitals may also be very foreign, and some background knowledge may help relieve some fear of the unknown.
ReplyDeleteAnother big part is keeping perspective in your own life. It may be selfish, but seeing others in difficult situations can really help one gauge their own thankfulness, and thankfulness seems to be a big part of worship.
Good luck to both of you!