“You Helped Me Rise”: The Sacred Role of a Hospital Chaplain

I recently visited a patient in our Emergency Department who was admitted with anxiety-related symptoms due to PTSD. The nurse asked the patient if she would like to speak to a chaplain, but she was initially hesitant because she didn't want someone to "come in and tell me to just pray about it." Thankfully, the nurse reassured her of the care chaplains provide beyond just religious support, so the patient welcomed a visit. 

I spent time listening to the patient share her story, including her history of trauma and abuse under the terror of a foreign communist regime. We then explored together how she draws from her faith for meaning and strength, especially through songwriting and poetry. There were tears. There was laughter. The patient expressed that it was good to have the space to process with someone who listened to understand. 

After our visit, the patient sent me an email saying, "You helped me rise today." This was hyperlinked to a poem she wrote titled, "You Helped Me Rise." It goes: 

When my hands are empty, and I have nothing to give, 

There are people who still love me. They care and inspire. 

But there are also those… who keep clipping my wings, 

Just because they dislike seeing others rise higher. 

These clipped wings hurt deeply, and my flight slows down. 

Sometimes, I still fall when my strength starts to fade. 

Yet lying there, beaten, helpless, and worn out, 

I know those who love me will come to my aid. 

They will tend to my wings, and add hope anew. 

Once more, I will rise above spite and disdain, 

And I’ll soar to my purpose with a heart full of gratitude 

For those who showed me love, through joy, and through pain. 

For the past couple of years serving as a hospital chaplain, I’ve found it hard to explain to others exactly what I do. The short answer is that I provide pastoral care to patients, loved ones, and staff in a hospital. But there is a dynamic, even mysterious, nature to this work that makes it difficult to define exactly what this looks like. 

Yet I think this poem provides a helpful picture: We help people’s spirits rise during challenging times. In fact, the 4th century Christian leader, Gregory of Nazianus, once said the purpose of pastoral care is “to provide the soul with wings - to rescue it from the world and give it to God, to watch over that which is in His image.”* 

This looks different from person to person, situation to situation. Sometimes I see a patient’s spirit rise when they are encouraged by a kind word amidst anxiety, or when they feel heard as they process the pain of their experience. Sometimes I see it when a patient feels loved by our friendship in a time of loneliness, or comforted by a stable presence in loss and grief. Sometimes I see a patient’s spirit rise when they regain hope after an insight from our conversation, or when they find strength from a prayer or scripture reading - whether in life or in death. 

Earlier, Gregory describes pastoral care as a ministry of healing. Like a physician who heals the body, the minister is a “curer of souls.” Perhaps no form of pastoral ministry embodies this calling to heal more than hospital chaplaincy. I see the healing power of the risen Jesus at work when I see a patient’s own spirit rise during challenging times. This does not necessarily mean the pain completely goes away, or that the memory and impact of the suffering disappear. For even the risen Christ still bears the scars of his suffering (John 20:27). 

Yet healing does mean the soul is “rescued” to rise with God. The sacred role of the chaplain, then, is to “provide the soul with wings.” It is to “watch over those who are God’s image,” so that when suffering strikes, we will be there to “tend to their wings, and add hope anew” - helping their soul to “rise above” and “soar” through joy and through pain. 

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*Gregory of Nazianus, Oration 2, De Fuga, Section 22. This is the full quote: “The scope of our art is to provide the soul with wings - to rescue it from the world and give it to God, to watch over that which is in His image. If it abides, to take it by the hand. If it is in danger, to restore it. If ruined, to make Christ dwell in their heart by the Spirit. In short, it is to deify and bestow heavenly bliss upon one who belongs to the heavenly hosts.”