Sharing My Life: Detecting Filters

One of the things I continually become more aware of every time I get into a position that involves direct interaction with people is how my assumptions I have affect their reality and how theirs affect mine. Now I know some of you might tell me I need to just get rid of all my assumptions, but I don’t really think that’s totally advisable or even really possible in many cases. I mean, an assumption is basically something that is accepted as true based on previous experience. For example, in order to type these words, I am assuming the keys I am hitting will translate to letters on this page. I am assuming this chair I am sitting in will hold me. Those and others are just the assumptions I’m aware of. There are even more under the surface that are just automatic for me. Our conscious awareness can only handle so much information, so our brain is constantly filtering what information we consciously perceive and what information just “goes in one ear and out the other.” Sometimes we are even conscious of this selection process. However, there is a lot about it we are not conscious of.

One assumption that I constantly interact with as a chaplain is that I, as a chaplain, will be like all the other chaplains or ministers in this patient’s life. Based on all their previous experiences with ministers they have built up a set of expectations. They have a mental picture of what a chaplain is supposed to be like. In many cases, this is good, because it saves me the time it would normally take to explain my role, but other times the patient has had negative experiences of pastors and that make them much less receptive to my care. Other times they have had positive experiences, yet may still have assumptions about how I should be with them that I need to be aware of in my interactions with them.

So, being a chaplain continues to be a challenging and formative experience for me. I don’t think there will ever be a time when I will “arrive” as a chaplain and know “all that I need to know.” We rarely, if ever, reach that point in any area of our lives and chaplaincy is no different.

Life Update: Another Step Closer

The biggest news update in my life happened just last week. This past Friday, I met with an Associate Pastor at Calvary Community Church in Roseville, MN. In that meeting, I found that he and his church would be happy to start working with me towards ordination. According to him, the process with his church and our denomination should take about 6 months. That should give me time to become a member and find my ministry niche there. Things are going well at both St. John's and Accessible Space, Inc. More and more I am growing into my role at each place and beginning to feel at home in them.

Letting Go and Taking Hold

This month as I was thinking back over some of what I've been writing here the past few months, I noticed a bit of a paradox. There are times when God teaches me to let go of certain things in my life and times when I sense He wants me to be more aware and take hold of certain things. Interestingly enough, sometimes it seems like it's the same things. Though I am usually able to come back to the issue with new eyes. I know some of you would say God is teaching me to let go of the "things of man" that I may take hold of the "things of God", and I would agree. I also think there's more to it than that.

As I was pondering these things, God brought to mind the passage where Jesus invites us to rest in Him. In Matthew 11, starting in verse 28, He says: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." If I were more of a cynic I might read this with raised eyebrows. Here I come wearied from carrying all my worldly burdens. I lay them at the feet of this Jesus fellow and He gives me His burdens and ties me into His yoke. The nerve of the guy! Yet Jesus also points out that his burden is easy and light. And if by carrying it, He has become gentle and humble, that maybe I can learn to be that as well.

To be sure, learning to walk as Christ did is not always easy at first, nor do the burdens of this life of faith always feel light, yet I think, here again, this is a process. Few of the best things in life are easy at first, like being an artist or athlete. It takes practice, but the more you do it, the more natural it becomes. In addition, as God's beloved children, we have the promise that He is watching over us and taking us by the hand. Our burdens are His and His burdens are ours.