Clinical Pastoral Education – Page 3

Prayer: A Means or an End?

I’ve figured out one of the problems I have with hospital chaplaincy. Here in the hospital the chaplain is part of the care-giving team. Spiritual care is subsumed under the rubric of health. The (noble and needed) goal is improving the health of our patients. Spiritual care is one of many means to achieve thatContinue reading “Prayer: A Means or an End?”

Four Months Down, Five To Go

Chaplaincy, that is. I’m a resident chaplain at a teaching hospital, part of my uniquely contorted march towards ordination in the Lutheran church (a post unto itself). And after four months of this resident chaplain program, I can confidently say that (drum roll please . . . ) chaplaincy is not my calling. This isContinue reading “Four Months Down, Five To Go”

Prayer for an Obnoxious Man

On my ride home on the train today I was hoping to simply put my head on the window and fall asleep for 70 minutes while I rode to the end of the line. Not today. The usual train etiquette that calls for near silence as weary workers sink exhaustedly into the stained seats wasContinue reading “Prayer for an Obnoxious Man”

Three Months

I’m three months into it, one third of the way through it, six months from the end. And I’m drained. Frankly, I’m tired of being a hospital chaplain, tired dealing with sick people. My patients are not in the hospital for a runny nose or wicked cough. They’re in the hospital for cancer, amputations, aneurysmsContinue reading “Three Months”

Writing, elsewhere

Well, I feel the need to tell my few regular visitors that there will not be much from me this weekend on The Weekly Lutheran Zephyr. After a long week at the hospital, a first unit CPE self-reflection to write, and two other small writing projects – not to mention a family I’m trying notContinue reading “Writing, elsewhere”