Summer Chaplain Internship
Journey in Hospital Ministry and Pastoral Education
7/4/20261 min read
(Sourdough bread author makes after returning home from on-call shifts at the hospital)
Summer Chaplain Internship
I am currently serving as a chaplain intern as part of a 10-week intensive Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program at a nearby Jesuit-founded hospital. We are there to visit with patients and with their friends and family members who might be present. We are also there to provide pastoral support and care to patients and others who might be experiencing a crisis. It is a chance to learn how to be emotionally and spiritually supportive in demanding situations. It is also an opportunity to explore our own spiritual and values-based operating system. Lastly, it is way to discover how we might better care for ourselves.
While serving in this way this summer, I continue to dwell on the fact I don’t know why there is suffering in the world, or why some people heal and others do not in medical situations. At this point in my life and formation as a disciple, I can’t really explain anything that is happening to the people around me from a theological standpoint. I frequently though rely on the Book of Job from the Old Testament and 1 Corinthians Chapter 4: Verses 1-2, when approaching pastoral care. I fall back on the idea God’s work is a mystery and I am only called to be faithful and serve and love others.
When ministering to others, I visualize myself as an early first-century pilgrim on a road to somewhere - a destination unknown. The patients and their family and friends visiting at the hospital, I see as other travelers I come across. I am not sure how long we will travel with each other, but for now I am here to accompany them, learn their stories, and serve them the best I can.
Think of us in this way: as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy. - 1 Corinthians 4: 1-2 (NRSV)