By Jesse Stroup, Director of Spiritual Care, Lifeline Chaplaincy Dallas
Technology is a great tool in Lifeline Chaplaincy’s ministry to the seriously ill. When hospitals closed their doors to volunteers making personal bedside visits, we had to find another way to reach the sick, lonely, and suffering. Since April, l we have been making phone visits to patients in the hospitals who were able to talk. Over the last six months, hospital administrators have become more comfortable with this. We are having to learn how to help patients together. Most patients would appreciate a bedside visit more than a phone visit, but a phone visit means a lot. Maybe you have had a dentist call you at home after a dental procedure to see how you were doing. You know how much that means. In short, we are doing the best we can.
In August, our twenty-one volunteers and I have made 114 successful phone visits in the nine hospitals. Since patients are becoming more comfortable with phone visits, we are making some phone visits to patients after they are discharged. Both the givers of compassionate support and the receivers of compassionate support are being blessed. This is the Kingdom of God! Prayers are not blocked by social distancing and quarantining which are best practices at this time.
What do moments of suffering do? They interrupt your life and tell you that you are not the person you thought you were. They carve through the floor beneath you, the basement of your soul, then carve through that, deeper and deeper still, and you will realize that only spiritual and emotional food will fill the cavities of your soul. New York Times journalist, David Brooks, introduced me to the above thoughts pinned by Karl B. Tillich. These words give expression to feelings I am having. Lifeline Chaplaincy is there to help with spiritual and emotional food.
A new president, a new vaccine, a new social activist group, do not have the power to offer unity, justice, or peace. These all have an agenda. Politics has an agenda to win, a new vaccine has an agenda to avoid an illness, activist groups have an agenda to right the wrong of their group. What should we do? Where should we turn?
Look-up, look-up, look-up. Jesus said, “Come unto 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 shall find rest for your souls,” Matt 11:28. Jesus fed the masses by looking up and giving thanks and using what bread and fish he had at hand. He still does it today. Your concern for Lifeline Chaplaincy, prayers, gifts, and volunteering are appreciated.