Address by Ruth Hawker at Exeter City Centre Chaplaincy service: 1.3.15
Our commissioning service this evening is one of thanksgiving, as we praise God for what, through his grace, we are being enabled to do to reflect his love in our city through the ministry of Chaplaincy. It is my privilege to share with you a little of what we are doing as City Centre Chaplains, and the challenges we still face.
In the reading from Philippians earlier this evening the apostle Paul, in trying to follow the example set by Jesus, challenges us to consider that “Whatever you have learned or received from me, put it into practice.” So what does putting that which we have learned or received about the wonderful love that God has for us, the love that we have received and experience in our daily lives, what does it mean to “put this into practice”?
This exhortation by Paul is not only for the new chaplains commissioned this evening, not only for those of us who have been re-commissioned, but it is also for each one of you here tonight who have experienced God’s love. It is for those who support chaplaincy by prayer and in other practical ways including the Management Group, and for each one of you who in many different ways serve the Lord. How do we turn that which we feel called to do, into practice?
The carefully thought-out display in a shop window is designed to ‘catch the eye’ of the passer-by, to encourage potential customers to step inside and browse. A window display will also tell us something about each shop or store: the brand, the ethos, the way that each display reflects the changing environment, the seasons, festivals (especially Christmas) and events reflecting the life of the city. (Almost certainly some of our shop windows will reflect support for World Cup Rugby when this comes to Exeter later this year.)
If you had walked up one of the main streets in our city during the last 2-3 weeks, you might have noticed that one of the major stores, along with the usual models displaying the spring fashions, also featured the phrase ‘Explore More’ written three times in large capital letters across the top of the large expanse of plate glass.
Underneath each of these ‘Explore More’ phrases was, written in smaller print, an invitation to explore more in 3 different departments (for example, men’s fashion, or household goods). When the creative team decided to use this phrase for the spring collection they would have had no idea that a passing retail chaplain would not only respond to the invitation to explore more within the shop (which I have to confess I did!), but that the self-same chaplain would feel challenged to respond to the invitation to explore more in relation to the privileged position in which we find ourselves as chaplains. But, even more importantly, to accept the invitation to explore more in relation to how all of us here this evening are transformed as we respond to the presence of God in our lives as we try to engage in any service for him.
First I’d like to consider how we are starting to understand the issues still facing us in the practice of chaplaincy.
Chaplaincy in whatever environment – prison, school, university – is often described as a “ministry of presence”. So how are we, as chaplains, coming to understand what the ministry of presence means for retail chaplaincy in Exeter?
Many years ago, when I trained as a nurse, (and I accept it has changed a lot since then) the prevailing ethos was “Don’t just stand there, do something”. And this ethos has shaped my whole approach to work. I enjoy doing things for and with people: I enjoy being busy, with a carefully thought-out plan; working under pressure; doing, doing, doing! But what I, and all of us called to be chaplains, are having to learn is that we work to a totally opposite ethos which, rather simply put, states “Don’t do anything; just stand there”.
The ministry of presence means that individual chaplains physically and emotionally make a conscious decision to enter a certain space where people are, and that space for us is inside the shops and stores in the city centre. In doing this we lay ourselves open to the possibility of building up relationships with the people who work in retail. It means on a practical level learning to understand the work rhythms of each shop, and by careful placing of where we stand and work, gradually engaging with individuals on the shop floor – or wherever they are working – through regular visiting. This may be no more than a “Hello; I don’t think we’ve met before. I’m one of the Chaplains”. But over time we become known, a recognised, a trusted presence, known sometimes by name. And so that when the need arises we are able to create a safe space within the busy environment. A space where the relationship can move beyond the superficial, move beyond the exchange of greetings and the everyday chatter that is totally necessary to build up trust. So that when we ask ‘How are you today?’, instead of generalities, the response, for example, might be, “Don’t ask me, or I might tell you”, indicating an issue for which active listening is required. A level of communication where we are able to offer support just by ‘being there’, not doing anything more than listening to personal concerns, a concern about health, family matters, an impending divorce, concerns in the time leading up to Christmas of how family celebrations would be different with the absence of a loved one who had passed away that year, or in some of the smaller independent shops concerns about business.
Each chaplain will have had these conversations, not every time we make a round of visits but often enough for each of us to recognise that by our faithful attempts to become a known, physical presence, and because of why we choose to do this, we become for short periods of time a faith presence – a symbol of the presence of God, the immediate availability of God in that situation.
Through our growing understanding of how God is equipping us for this task in the many different shops and stores that we visit, we find ourselves drawing more than ever on God’s strength and his grace, and increasing our understanding of how much we still need to do, so that all who work in retail become more aware that this is a ministry available to each one of them should they ever need it.
Apart from the challenge of the many more shops in which we are not yet even a physical presence, and which we cannot visit regularly until we have more chaplains, we also have the challenge of engaging with the members of staff we still have to meet in those shops that we already visit regularly (over 100 shops and stores) and also with the way in which we can meaningfully engage with staff who currently appear not to welcome our presence but will turn away as we appear. We also have the challenge of building up relationships in very short periods of time between customer care activities. There is no ‘captive audience’ for our ministrations.
In most instances, even if staff are not actively selling, they are engaged in meaningful activity, busy stocking shelves, storing deliveries, folding clothes, improving display areas. And as well as the time and emotional energy we bring to each situation, we also need to recognise when ‘not to try and engage’ with a particular person on a particular day, respecting the workflow and pressures within each organisation.
And yes, we are starting to get there; we are learning that while in some shops we have quickly become a valued presence, there is still much to do in others – much more to explore. And yes, we welcome the challenge, because those of us engaged in chaplaincy know that as God is faithful, so we need to be faithful in our ministry of presence, and God is using us where we are, able to support individuals by listening, and also bringing their needs to the Lord in our private prayers, and in the regular prayer meetings we have as a chaplaincy group. And the greatest realisation is that his ministry (as all ministry) is not only giving of ourselves, our time and energy, but that we too receive in return. We are enriched by the encounters we have by meeting so many lovely people. We are enriched as we come to a better understanding of the retail sector and its impact on our city, and immeasurably enriched by the way that every time we visit, the good days and not-so-good days, we feel the impact on our own understanding of how we can leave each experience with the Lord.
As Christians we believe in the ongoing transforming power of God to mould us, to change us, to grow as God’s people trying to do his will. We are all strengthened by prayer, study of God’s word, worship and the support of other Christians, and as a group of chaplains we meet and pray together and support each other, and we are conscious of others praying for us. In this way we, as individuals, can respond to the invitation to explore more about how we are all being changed, how we can become more sensitive not only to the environment outside us but how we become transformed within by each experience in which we try to reflect God’s love.
So are we up to the challenge? Are we willing to accept the invitation to explore more – new chaplains, re-commissioned chaplains, Management Group, members of the congregation? I ask each one of you to accept the invitation to explore more within yourselves as you come to understand God’s love, God’s working in your life. In his letter to the church at Thessalonica Paul prays for the church and its people, and that prayer is the one I want to leave with you this evening (1 Thessalonians ch 3 v 12-13 & ch 4 v1). It is a prayer of encouragement and affirmation: “May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones. Finally, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more.”