Download or read book The Voices We Carry written by J. S. Park and published by Moody Publishers. This book was released on 2020-05-05 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reclaim Your Headspace and Find Your One True Voice As a hospital chaplain, J.S. Park encountered hundreds of patients at the edge of life and death, listening as they urgently shared their stories, confessions, and final words. J.S. began to identify patterns in his patients’ lives—patterns he also saw in his own life. He began to see that the events and traumas we experience throughout life become deafening voices that remain within us, even when the events are far in the past. He was surprised to find that in hearing the voices of his patients, he began to identify his own voices and all the ways they could both harm and heal. In The Voices We Carry, J.S. draws from his experiences as a hospital chaplain to present the Voices Model. This model explores the four internal voices of self-doubt, pride, people-pleasing, and judgment, and the four external voices of trauma, guilt, grief, and family dynamics. He also draws from his Asian-American upbringing to examine the challenges of identity and feeling “other.” J.S. outlines how to wrestle with our voices, and even befriend them, how to find our authentic voice in a world of mixed messages, and how to empower those who are voiceless. Filled with evidence-based research, spiritual and psychological insights, and stories of patient encounters, The Voices We Carry is an inspiring memoir of unexpected growth, humor, and what matters most. For those wading through a world of clamor and noise, this is a guide to find your clear, steady voice.
Download or read book Memoirs of a Hospital Chaplain written by Chaplain Geralyn Cappabianca and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2015-11-16 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hospitals can be fearful places where people come for tranistions, from sickness to health, from dying to eternal life. We walk through many of life's transitional doors in a hospital. The hospital chaplain can help people with these challenges, providing a calming, peaceful presence, someone who will walk with them through their doors. Through the use of the metaphor of the door and many true inspirational patient stories, as well as the chaplain's own journey through her many doors, this book will invite the reader to laugh, to cry, and to consider the many doors of tranistion in their own life. Topics discussed include end-of-life planning, coping with grief and loss, compassion fatigue and burn-out, near-death experiences, and finding peace and joy admist life's transitions. The book itself models the role of the chaplain in the hospital setting, inviting all chaplains to reflect on their own role in their ministry setting. It is an inspirational spiritual journey, sometimes mystical, sometimes heart-wrenching, but always engaging and inviting further thought and reflection by the reader. These are stories that almost everyone can relate to, as they are stories about life's greatest events, such as weddings, birth, death, and coming to new life after a loss. The final chapter offers spiritual tools for coping with the many transitions, the many doors, that life invites us to walk through. The final word: life is eternal, we are eternal, we are one, all is well. Readers who will enjoy the book are doctors, nurses, chaplains and chaplain students, and other healthcare professionals. Other readers include those on a spiritual journey, those who have an interest in the mysteries of life and death, and those wanting to learn how to care for aging parents and need to have the difficult conversation about end-of-life issues such as living wills and advance directives. On a broader level, everyone who wants to live a more spiritual life will find the invitations to reflect on issues such as regrets, "bucket lists," forgiveness, and choosing love, to be inspiring.
Download or read book One Night Two Souls Went Walking written by Ellen Cooney and published by Coffee House Press. This book was released on 2020-11-10 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A young interfaith chaplain is joined on her hospital rounds one night by an unusual companion: a rough-and-tumble dog who may or may not be a ghost. As she tends to the souls of her patients—young and old, living last moments or navigating fundamentally altered lives—their stories provide unexpected healing for her own heartbreak. Balancing wonder and mystery with pragmatism and humor, Ellen Cooney (A Mountaintop School for Dogs and Other Second Chances) returns to Coffee House Press with a generous, intelligent novel that grants the most challenging moments of the human experience a shimmer of light and magical possibility.
Download or read book On Living written by Kerry Egan and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-10-24 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A poetic and philosophical and brave and uplifting meditation on how important it is to make peace and meaning of our lives while we still have them.” –Elizabeth Gilbert, bestselling author of Eat Pray Love "Illuminating, unflinching and ultimately inspiring... A book to treasure.” –People Magazine A hospice chaplain passes on wisdom on giving meaning to life, from those taking leave of it. As a hospice chaplain, Kerry Egan didn’t offer sermons or prayers, unless they were requested; in fact, she found, the dying rarely want to talk about God, at least not overtly. Instead, she discovered she’d been granted a powerful chance to witness firsthand what she calls the “spiritual work of dying”—the work of finding or making meaning of one’s life, the experiences it’s contained and the people who have touched it, the betrayals, wounds, unfinished business, and unrealized dreams. Instead of talking, she mainly listened: to stories of hope and regret, shame and pride, mystery and revelation and secrets held too long. Most of all, though, she listened as her patients talked about love—love for their children and partners and friends; love they didn’t know how to offer; love they gave unconditionally; love they, sometimes belatedly, learned to grant themselves. This isn’t a book about dying—it’s a book about living. And Egan isn’t just passively bearing witness to these stories. An emergency procedure during the birth of her first child left her physically whole but emotionally and spiritually adrift. Her work as a hospice chaplain healed her, from a brokenness she came to see we all share. Each of her patients taught her something about what matters in the end—how to find courage in the face of fear or the strength to make amends; how to be profoundly compassionate and fiercely empathetic; how to see the world in grays instead of black and white. In this hopeful, moving, and beautiful book, she passes along all their precious and necessary gifts.
Download or read book The Spirit Divided written by Benedict R. Maryniak and published by Mercer University Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Civil War Chaplains wondered whose side God was on, and if their ministries might be in vain. They saw, on both sides, God's Spirit at work. Was the Spirit divided, was God punishing both North and South for their sins, or was there some other explanation for this seemingly endless war?
Download or read book Creating Space written by Sacha Pearce and published by Sacristy Press. This book was released on 2022-03-15 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Creating Space models the way in which practice development emerges from reflecting on the human story and reveals to healthcare, the Church and the community, the unique role of the chaplain’s experiences as a resource to others.
Download or read book Facing Suffering written by Gordon Greene and published by . This book was released on 2020-03-15 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book recounts the work it takes to become a hospital chaplain, showing how intensely personal and physical that experience can become. The author started his chaplain training with the arrogance of a medical school faculty member and the certainty of a Zen priest and teacher. And he started with a drive to reform a system of care that hadn't served his wife and himself when their youngest son received a diagnosis of cerebral palsy years earlier. But he hadn't counted on the humbling that work with patients, some of them with sorrows beyond measure, can bring. Once his arrogance and certainty had been shaken, he found unexpected forms of caring for patients and staff, and for himself. Suffering, like loneliness or love, is a core human experience. The key question for any of us is, "How will I survive this?" But an equally tough question for those whose work is to alleviate suffering is "How will I face this? Not just this particular person with this particular pain but the relentless flow of suffering that comes in the door day after day, year after year?" Unfortunately, there is very little literature that describes how one learns to face suffering. There are books that talk about the nature of suffering from a religious point of view. There are books that talk about the psychological needs for health care professionals to be "protected" from the suffering and trauma they face during their work. There are books that talk about a Buddhist perspective on alleviating suffering. There are also numerous books that talk about the role of "mindfulness" in working with patients, but none of these books do what this book does: showing how the author was shaped to do the work they do. The underlying premise of this book is that if you yourself haven't learned to face suffering, then your ability to help others face suffering is limited. The author has trained in Zen Buddhism for over forty years, most recently serving as the head priest for the rural training facility of Chosei Zen in rural Wisconsin. Before moving to Wisconsin, he was a faculty member for fifteen years in the School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii, working to teach medical students and residents how to best form a therapeutic relationship with patients. Now he has a role as clinical professor of Family Medicine at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
Download or read book Dementia written by John Swinton and published by SCM Press. This book was released on 2017-01-31 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Michael Ramsay Prize 2016 Dementia is one of the most feared diseases in Western society today. Some have even gone so far as to suggest euthanasia as a solution to the perceived indignity of memory loss and the disorientation that accompanies it. Here, John Swinton develops a practical theology of dementia for caregivers, people with dementia, ministers, hospital chaplains, and medical practitioners as he explores two primary questions: • Who am I when I’ve forgotten who I am? • What does it mean to love God and be loved by God when I have forgotten who God is? Offering compassionate and carefully considered theological and pastoral responses to dementia and forgetfulness, Swinton’s Dementia redefines dementia in light of the transformative counter story that is the gospel.
Download or read book Essential Chaplain Skill Sets written by Chaplain Keith Evans and published by WestBow Press. This book was released on 2017-08-24 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chaplaincy is an active force in the realm of ministry to a world that is hurting and needing a moment of empathy and an encouraging word of hope. In Essential Chaplain Skill Sets, author Chaplain Keith Evans lays the initial foundations of chaplaincy, its need, what it is, who can be a chaplain, and further develops the cornerstone of skills employed in chaplaincy. Essential Chaplain Skill Sets is an easy-to-read book that is full of practical tools and resources that chaplains of all ministry settings and experience levels can quickly utilize and master. The four main sections of the book are: 1) The Fundamentals: The Why, What, Who, and How of Chaplaincy, 2) Understanding Spirituality and World Faith Expressions, 3) Understanding Spiritual Needs Assessments, and 4) Bringing the Pieces Together. The fourth section is very practical. It includes eight real-life ‘verbatims’ of chaplain encounters. A list of additional questions have been included at the end of each verbatim that allow readers (individual or in groups) to evaluate how they may have conducted the encounter differently or not. "What you have with "Essential Chaplain Skill Sets" is a pastoral practitioner's guide to proven skills learned through compassionate care and competent practice. Keith is a pastoral clinician sharing out of his own experience and doing his part to assist his pastoral colleagues in congregational and clinical settings and building upon their own art of pastoral care. He is a pragmatic realist and a patient teacher. Thank you, Keith, for this good companion book for those of us on the journey of becoming better clinical pastors." - Rev. Mark Hart, DMin,BCC, ACPE Supervisor, Director of Clinical Pastoral Education, Baptist Health System, San Antonio, Texas" Evans draws from his in-depth experience in law enforcement and trauma chaplaincy in creating this primer for chaplains serving in any ministry setting. Evans covers key fundamental concepts for any chaplain to become more effective in their role, as well as discussing spirituality and world faith expressions, and how to master spiritual need assessments. He addresses what chaplains are, how they are engaged, what they look like, and what the initial outcomes can be as a result of their employment. He describes the importance of having well-meaning, devoted chaplains to help people on their spiritual journeys. In Essential Chaplain Skill Sets, Evans shares well-respected resources and learned lessons geared toward assisting any chaplain of any faith background in any ministry setting.
Download or read book Death Row Chaplain written by Earl Smith and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-04-19 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A riveting, behind-the-bars look at one of America's most feared prisons: San Quentin-- by a minister to the lost souls sitting on death row. Himself a former criminal, Smith shares the most important lessons he's learned from years of helping inmates discover God's plan for them. Their stories show us that it is still possible to find God's grace and mercy from behind bars, and that it's never too late to turn our lives around.
Download or read book Within These Walls written by Rev. Carroll Pickett and published by Crossroad Press. This book was released on 2017-02-27 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: FORMER TEXAS PRISON CHAPLAIN REV. CARROLL PICKETT, WORKING WITH TWO-TIME EDGAR AWARD WINNER AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR CARLTON STOWERS, PROVIDES THIS ELOQUENT, UNFLINCHING LOOK AT CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. Within These Walls is the powerful memoir of Rev. Carroll Pickett, who spent fifteen years as the death house chaplain at “The Walls,” the Huntsville unit of the Texas prison system. In that capacity, Reverend Pickett ministered to ninety-five men before they were put to death by lethal injection. They came with sinister nicknames like “The Candy Man” and “The Good Samaritan Killer,” some contrite, some angry—a few who might even have been innocent. All of them found in Reverend Pickett their last chance for an unbiased confessor who would look at them only as fellow humans, not simply as the convicted criminals the rest of society had already dismissed them as. This firsthand experience gave Reverend Pickett the unique insight needed to write an impassioned statement on the realities of capital punishment in America. The result is a thought-provoking and compelling book that takes the reader inside the criminal mind, inside the execution chamber, and inside the heart of a remarkable man who shares his thoughts and observations not only about capital punishment, but about the dark world of prison society
Download or read book Birth Breath and Death written by Amy Wright Glenn and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2013-03-03 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the age of fourteen, Amy Wright Glenn began to question the Mormon faith of her family. She embarked on a life long personal and scholarly quest for truth. While teaching comparative religion and philosophy, Amy was drawn to the work of supporting women through labor and holding compassionate space for the dying. Amy shares moving tales of birth and death while drawing on her work as a birth doula, hospital chaplain, and her own experience of motherhood. We are born, we die, and in between these irrevocable facts of human existence the breath weaves all moments together. "Birth, Breath, and Death" entwines story, philosophy, and poetic reflection into transforming narratives that are full of grace.
Download or read book Heaven in the Midst of Hell written by and published by Raven Oak Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: War exposes the divide between who we think we are and how we behave in extreme situations. Sheri Snively, who served as a Quaker chaplain with the U.S. Navy, has crafted a vivid, unsettling, and ultimately hopeful personal account of the effects of the Iraq war on soldiers and civilians in Heaven in the Midst of Hell. As she served with the Marines working amid the boredom, ten-sion, and seemingly meaningless carnage at a trauma hospital between Ramadi and Fallujah, Commander Snively experienced first-hand the grim reality of combat. As she recounts the way she and the soldiers around her experience war, she negotiates a compassionate path to healing -- marked not by formulaic answers, but by an open and ques-tioning spirit. Illustrated with the author's own evocative photographs, this is a compelling and unforgettable journey into the human soul.
Download or read book Soul Support Spiritual Encounters at Life s End written by Joan Paddock Maxwell and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2017-06-20 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A young dancer's last hope--a bone marrow transplant--has failed. A homeless man, in the final stages of AIDS, refuses to speak. A newly retired woman has just received a terminal diagnosis and is wailing in despair. What can we learn about death, dying, and the human spirit as we journey with a hospital chaplain into sickrooms like these? Soul Support tells true stories of people coming to terms--or not--with their final days. It offers intimate, behind-the-scenes accounts of the many ways patients, their families and friends, and hospital staff all deal with death and dying. It speaks to readers reflecting on their own mortality or the life-threatening illness of a loved one, and tells of the sometimes-astonishing events that can occur when people are in their last hours of life. The book tells not only their stories, but also the chaplain's. It relates how she listened and learned and stumbled and grew. Soul Support speaks to believers and nonbelievers alike, providing information, inspiration, and hope.
Download or read book Pastoral Care in Hospitals Second Edition written by Neville A. Kirkwood and published by Church Publishing, Inc.. This book was released on 2005-10 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bringing comfort and concern to the bedside of the sick or dying is a challenge for lay people and clergy alike. In this practical guide, Neville Kirkwood shares his wisdom-gleaned from some twenty years of experience as a hospital chaplain-on the art of hospital visitation. This classic handbook is now updated, with an all-new section addressing best practices for hospital chaplains. Pastoral Care in Hospitals, with additional sections addressed to clergy and trained lay pastoral workers, as well as ordinary lay people who simply want to visit their fellow-parishioners, shows visitors ways to make the encounter meaningful and enriching to the patient. Kirkwood guides readers through the minefield of hospital visits-from false heartiness to too much talking-and offers a theology of visitation that can guide both professionals and laity in their ministry. A variety of exercises and a section of prayers for specific circumstances make this a must-have resource for all who work with the sick and dying, and an excellent text for course work.
Download or read book The Mystic Chaplain written by Kathy Collins and published by Henschelhaus Publishing, Incorporated. This book was released on 2018-05 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This memoir is a whirlwind journey that takes you through the throes of fighting cancer to an awakening of the metaphysical world, messages, visions, self-healing, and synchronized events of people put on her path to understanding our oneness. The universal heart guided and embraced Kathy Collins through her "Doubting Thomas" phase and guided her to acquiescence through self-compassion. The creative nudges experienced provided the necessary building blocks that led Kathy to be of service to others. Upon entering her chaplain studies, Kathy's chaplain supervisor could not classify her with any one particular religion, so he referred to her as a mystic who lives the spirit of the word. The spiritual healing of her heart, her physical body, and her thinking allowed her to be a bridge between dimensions. Today she uses her gifts to help those transitioning, at the end of life, to release the chains of fear regarding death. Her mystical approach to those left behind on the Earth Plane teaches them to know we are all closer than one thinks. Chaplain Kathy asks us to be still and experience the unique connection of bringing Heaven and Earth together. The Divine Source resides and is waiting for all of us in the loving memory of our own beating heart.
Download or read book Crisis Pastoral Care written by Thomas W. Shane, D.Div. and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book brings a balanced, spirituality-based perspective to the dead center of tragic human experiences----violent crimes, homicides, natural disasters, automobile accidents, suicides, child abuse, and more. Author and chaplain Thomas Shane tells dozens of often brutal but ultimately compassionate stories of what it is like to provide crisis pastoral care to those caught in the grim reality of such critical incidents. As a police and hospital chaplain, the author has worked with law enforcement professionals for 30 years. His life is dedicated to the victims and families involved in tragedies, and particularly to the needs of police officers. These brave men and women are generally the first responders to crisis: they are the ones who hear the sound of a mother's grief, or first see the remains of the dead, or first bear the silence of those who are shocked and confused. Shane tells real-life stories of compassion in action. His words will both encourage and instruct other helping professionals to be might be better prepared to deal with their own and other's needs during a crisis situation. The book gives readers an insider's understanding of what crisis ministry is about. Shane's approach is experiential, not theoretical. He candidly reveals his own struggles, doubts and fears, along with the courage, faith and hope that sustains his life and work. He even addresses the complex and challenging task of offering care and spiritual counsel to the perpetrators of crimes. Topics include: general principles for working with police; helping people deal with guilt and find forgiveness; offering spiritual help to everyone; the real and personal risks in crisis intervention; death notification; chaplaincy and terrorism; what is the pastor's authority, and what is not. While many good books reveal the theory of pastoral care and the dynamics of grief work, Crisis Pastoral Care borders on a memoir of life in the midst of disaster. It will inspire and educate front line law enforcement officers, EMTs and the chaplains who work with them, as well as grief counselors, psychologists and local clergy. Anyone who deals on a regular basis with the victims of crime and disaster will find this book an invaluable resource.
