Chaplaincy as Public Theology
Social Justice from the Bedside
by Rev. Justin Almeida
Photo: Unsplash
To be free, you must embrace
the breadth of your own existence
without apology, even if they try to take
it from you. You must know, not that you
can do whatever you want; you are not
a kudzu vine, eating entire hillsides for
the purpose of feeding your own lush life. You
must know instead, that inside you are entire
Universes—milky blue, magenta, and gold—expanding. But to actually be free, you must know and you must fight for the entire
Universes inside of everyone else.
Being free is not a license, but
A promise.
~Rev. Julián Jamaica Soto, Spilling the Light
In spiritual and religious traditions, there is the concept of the “thin space.” That piece of being in which the veil of life and death, the sacred and mundane, becomes leable. In indigenous and nature-based beliefs such as the Celtic tradition, there are times of the year like Samhain, in which both life and death intermingle. There are also places that become thin because so much life and death happens in their boundaries. Hospitals are one of these sacred grounds.
Photo: PxHere
Since 2018, I have walked the halls of many medical institutions in the Pacific Northwest. Like sacred sites of antiquity, human beings come to the hospital to be healed, because hospitals are meant to be places of transformation. They are meant to be places where human hearts, minds, and hands help people find freedom from pain, suffering, and dis-ease. Here, doctors, nurses, chaplains, and so many others assist in mending the body, mind, and spirit. At our best, people leave my hospital with hope for their future and a new sense of life and wellness.
Yet often for those most marginalized in our culture, hospitals can do more harm than good. It is no secret that racism and white supremacy continue to infect our medical system. In many articles from the New York Times, NPR, to the National Institutes of Health, studies show the disparities in health care and outcomes for people of color. There are also other intersectional issues at play that lead to more negative health outcomes: income inequality, climate crisis, cultural and language barriers, and discrimination around spiritual/religious belief systems.
Tending to Inclusivity
All of this speaks to the constant need for social justice in our medical spaces. And this is one of the reasons advocacy and public witness is part of the work of modern hospital chaplains. We chaplains are the cultivators of, and tenders to, the sacred ground of the hospital. I serve every person who walks through the threshold: patients, family, friends, staff, administrators, groundkeepers. My colleagues minister to all regardless of belief, background, capacity, and ability. This is our sacred work and it often transcends our denominational and religious containers as we care for the broken, the wounded, the angry, the sick, the hopeless, and the dying.
In my ministry I have brought many issues to the awareness of administrators such as the need for dietary selections that meet the religious and spiritual needs of patients beyond just simple vegetarian salads and breads. When chaplains found that our Jewish and Muslim siblings were not receiving equitable food options, we advocated on their behalf. And the system changed its policies to accommodate.
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We have adjusted our chapels and spiritual spaces to be open and welcoming to all people by removing particular denominations, iconography, and symbols, and replacing them with spiritual and religious offerings from multiple belief systems (including those of atheists!). Now when a person walks into the chapel on my hospital campus, they will find a quiet and simple space for prayer, worship, and mediation. They may see Muslims are praying in a corner and a Buddhist chanting on a cushion. In the space we’ve created, we attempt to invoke the beautiful and powerful words by Rumi:
“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase “each other”
doesn’t make any sense.”
My spiritual calling also moves me to hold space with the caregiver who has been inundated with sexual and racial slurs because a patient is experiencing a psychotic break and is lashing out with anger. We hold hands; we cry together; and find a way to love and care beyond the brokenness and hate. Often by uplifting and affirming the caregivers own beliefs and how they echo the powerful words written by Howard Thurman: “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” I believe my ministry as a chaplain is to help stoke the spark of spirituality that all human beings feel gives them meaning and purpose in their lives.
Unfortunately, the hospital can quickly devour the light, energy, and passion of its care providers. During the COVID quarantine and lockdown, droves of hospital workers left their professions due to burnout and psychospiritual fatigue. There was too much death and not enough life. Still we chaplains donned our spacesuits and went into the isolation rooms, with ipads and smartphones in hand, to meet the needs of the living and the dying. And acted as the intermediary for all in the fear and anxiety of that time.
Because it is a matter of justice to make sure families and friends can say goodbye to their loved ones. It is a moral imperative that dying patients be able to hear the voices and see the faces of the people in their lives. It is justice and mercy to sit in vigil and witness with those who sometimes, due to the cruelty of our systems and the imperfection of human being, die with no name and identity, alone save for the chaplain at bedside.
Healing through Unconditional Love
One of the most beautiful and sacred qualities I experience about chaplaincy is it invokes the sacred calling found in all spiritualities of goodwill. A quality of social justice known as love thy neighbor. One of the most powerful and difficult spiritual practices I experience comes from the Christian scriptures in the gospel of Luke. Known as the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), Jesus of Nazareth is asked how a human being was to inherit eternal life. The simple answer is found in the adage: “You shall love the Lord your God will all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”
The difficulty is in the application because the rest of the parable tells about mortal enemies meeting each other on a road, and the one with wealth, power, and ability, has mercy on the “other” who has been beaten and left for dead. Using their wealth, power, and ability, they make sure their mortal enemy was cared for and healed. This is the social justice found in mercy, and the key to spiritual life. It is the command to love and care for the person I hate the most, because I love the Spirit and Source of life with all my being – to be grateful for that which I did not earn, which is life itself.
Photo: GoodFon
This is the ministry of 21st century chaplaincy. You will find Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Atheists, Zoroastrians, Unitarian Universalists, and more finding their way to hospital bedside and the hallways, all offering the same care: love of neighbor. Because in the hospital, there is no time for worthy and unworthy, sinner or saint, or friend and enemy. There is brokenness and there is healing. And this is the root of spirituality, religion, and justice – we are all woven into a tapestry of life, and what affects one affects the all.
Whatever challenges we may all encounter in the future; the existential threat of war and climate crisis. Or the common cold. Let us all go out into the world to, as shared by mystic Richard Rohr, “transform our brokenness before it is transmitted out into the world.” Because that is when we will fulfill the words of all the prophets as beautifully found in the Hebrew scriptures in Micah 8: “What does the Lord require of you? To act justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
If there is ever a time you find yourself across the threshold of a hospital, look for the chaplain. Know you are on sacred ground, in a holy and thin space. With a chaplain you will have a companion for your journey who will walk alongside you with a listening, unanxious, and non-judgemental presence. Whatever happens in that time and space, you do not have to be alone. They will be there in justice, mercy, and love.
Header Photo: Unsplash