Here and Now

The trappings of Christmas can already be seen and heard around town. For two weeks now Sears has had Christmas trees for sale. The children at my church have been practicing for the Christmas program for nearly a month already. The elves are busy checking Santa’s list and checking it twice.

I can’t believe we have already come and gone through October and before we know it we will be feasting on turkey and dressing. Nevertheless, those who have not already begun making arrangements for when we get our lives back on December 2 are way behind. CPE will soon be over.

Yet our challenge in this last month of Certified Pastoral Care is to nevertheless remain attentive to the moment. This is in fact the challenge pastoral care givers face day in and day out. People float in and out of our doors and lives and we are called to avail ourselves to them each one. We are called to be attuned to their needs and to be present to their joys and their pains. Here and now.

I think of Jesus’ encounter with the hemorrhaging woman. Jesus, in the midst of a very important mission to heal the dying, gives pause to inquire after the woman whose faithful and desperate act lead her to touch the hem of his cloak that she might be healed. The act of healing itself was a miracle and should be celebrated as such. Through the faith of this woman Jesus made the impossible possible. We ministers should never stop praying that our touch will heal a broken body.

But as we enter into the last month of our semester here at the hospital it is well for us to remember that Jesus did not simply continue on after feeling his power leave him. He also engaged the woman. He attended to the encounter.

Certainly we will continue to get our hours in over these next four weeks. Certainly we will visit our requisite number of patients and complete our assigned number of on-calls. But will we continue to pay attention to what we are doing? Though we hear the bells of tomorrow ringing in our ears, calling us to other places and other persons, will we continue to learn from our encounters with our patients? Will we, like Jesus, have the presence of mind to stop on our journeys and affirm the significance of our patients’ lives and the holiness of our encounters with them?

Will we continue to be present, to learn and to grow – even here and even now?