DEACON AS CHAPLAIN
Almost all vocational (permanent) deacons are not employed by an individual congregation or by the diocese but work in the secular world. Vocational deacons serve liturgically at a church in addition to their regular job. One of my day jobs is that of a hospice chaplain employed by Community Care Hospice, an affiliate of Ohio’s Hospice. Community Care Hospice is a non-profit organization serving an area encompassing over ten counties in southern Ohio based from an office in Wilmington. The ministry of a hospice chaplain is focused primarily on providing spiritual care to patients diagnosed with a terminal illness and the families who support them. This support can take many forms. Many patients and loved-ones are comforted by prayers, Scripture reading or theological reflections. Others may share memories and recollections of earlier events in their lives. On occasion the chaplain may simply provide a ministry of presence by sitting quietly with patients, families
and friends as end of life events unfold. As a chaplain, I serve people with a variety of faith traditions and spiritual backgrounds, including Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and a vast diversity of Christian denominations. While some clients have strong connections to their faith community, others may have had little or no connection to a faith group. The result is that a hospice chaplain must be prepared to minister to people wherever they may be, remembering that all people are children of God and created in God’s image. I have distributed communion, baptized persons and officiated at funerals in order to meet the needs of hospice patients and families at their time of need. I offer my thanks and appreciation to the people and clergy of St. George’s, Dayton, as the spiritual support of the community helps me to “Go in Peace to love and serve the Lord.” Submitted by the Rev. William Sangrey
HEARING THE CALL THROUGH HEALING
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Back in the 1980s, I heard a lot of people talking about spiritual growth. I didn’t know what that meant, and I didn’t really want to ask. One Sunday, however, when I was a parishioner at St. Barnabas, Montgomery, our rector, George Hill, said during the announcements that if anyone were seeking spiritual growth, he recommended the weekly healing services at St. Thomas, Terrace Park, led by deacon Emily Gardiner Neal. I decided to try going, although I had no idea what to expect. I started going every Monday evening. After prayers, hymns and a homily, Deacon Emily and others laid hands on anyone who came to the altar rail and said a prayer for healing for that person or anyone he or she requested prayer for. Each week it was easy for me to think of someone who was in need of healing of some kind, either in my own family or someone with whom I was working as a social worker.
I began to see changes in the lives of the people I was praying for. Sometimes the changes were small or large, quick or slow. What I realized during the years I did this was that God works actively for good in the lives of people, especially when prayer is involved. This changed my life as well as the lives of the people I prayed for. Eventually, I experienced this as a call to ordination, and I was ordained a deacon in 1991. Since then, I have served in six different congregations, and if they didn’t already have a ministry of healing prayer with the laying on of hands, I started one. I have enjoyed teaching people of all ages about healing, especially teenagers. To watch young people pray for healing for those coming forward for communion has been the greatest joy for me, and parishioners have also been deeply moved by the experience. Submitted by the Rev. Carol Potterton
