Today was my first day to be on call as chaplain.  This was my trial run by having a nine hour daytime shift with other chaplains around before I do my first 24 hour on call (next Monday).  What an experience!

My primary unit of service is the cardiac care unit (yes, rather ironic), however, when on-call, one can be serving just about anywhere.  My CPE colleagues kept telling me this past week that their first on-call experience was rather quiet.  Shall we say that mine was NOT!  What a day….including a power surge that temporarily shut down the elevators at the hospital requiring that we use the stairs.

I cannot talk about patients, but I can say this…..there is a wide variety of human need.  There is an incredible blessing in joining in the spiritual journey with those who are in health transtions.  There is a power in the love of God as connections are made with those in crisis.

One of my primary goals is to learn how to listen more effectively as individuals express their needs and to listen more effectively to the heart of God as God responds to those needs.  What a blessing it is to be able to explore these various dimensions.

Ministry is about listening and it is about hospitality.  These principles get reinforced for me every day.

When Jesus says, “Peace be to you,” He offers wholeness and completeness.  Jesus makes us whole and complete through His acceptance and love.  The wholeness and completeness is a free gift that begins a transformative process in each aspect of our life.

The transformation of the spiritual core leads to the ability to respond with a transformative action in every aspect of life.  As my spiritual core is transformed, I have recognize that my physical core also belongs to God.  Paul writes, “do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?”  It is not my body.  It is God’s body given to me to use to God’s glory.  Care of the body is a spiritual action in response to the grace of God.