Henry - so we're back today. We're going to talk about the chaplain as a non  anxious presence in crisis moments. And based upon some of our previous  conversation, you have been in crisis moments, I see. So this will be just a great time to really sort of understand that some of those dynamics, so the power of a  non anxious presence, and I'm just going to read this off, and then I'd love to  hear sort of how you would respond. People don't need answers. They need  presence. A calm demeanor says you're not alone. God is here, calm is more  powerful than a sermon.  

Tom - Yeah, there's quite a bit there. There is, but that's all right, I think that  being a non anxious presence, I often have told the chaplains who I've trained  and supervised that probably the most important thing that they can bring is  calm to chaos. Because a lot of the times we get that phone call, it's because  something chaotic is going on somewhere, and what people need is someone  who is a calming, even keeled presence, and the last one there, calm is more  powerful than a sermon. When you're in the middle of something major,  something very traumatic, some kind of a disaster, the last thing that people  need, because the last thing that they are able to process is a lot of words about what's going on. They're more in survival mode, and they just need to help. They need help getting through whatever it is they're experiencing, and one way is to  be a calm person. Now, the tricky part with that is you're supposed to project  calm when you may be filled with anxiety.  

Henry - That will give me my first question, yeah, what happens? And some  people are just more like high strung well,  

Tom - and this kind of gets something back to something we've talked about  quite a few times. It's so important to feel to know that you've been called by  God, you've been adequately trained, and the organization you work for  whatever that organization is has put you in this place for such a time as this  Gotcha. Doesn't mean that you know all the answers. It doesn't mean that you're perfectly calm and confident, but that you know you're the right person for this  for such a time as this gotcha, and there is a lot of I'm thinking of too many  things all at once. But when I responded on the Abraham Lincoln to the tsunami  in Indonesia, we're surrounded by countless dead bodies. We see devastation  on a you know, just an epic amount of devastation. And what do we do? And the sailors that would come to see me were just completely overwhelmed by what  they were seeing just off the side of the ship.  

Henry - So this is that tsunami in Thailand. Yeah, we were 

Tom - sent to Indonesia. Oh, Indonesia. The same thing, same tsunami, and I  was on the Abraham Lincoln. We were in Hong Kong when the when the  tsunami hit. And so we were sent, originally, we were told we were going to  Thailand to offer whatever support we could offer. We ended up going to  Indonesia. And so our role there was to with our 16 helicopters, bring food and  water from the airport out to the villages that had all been cut off by the tsunami,  and to bring injured people from the tsunami back to the hospitals at the airport.  Wow. The the death toll, you know, was, was horrendous. There were dead  bodies everywhere. And our sailors, as we got closer and closer to where we  were going to be working, were, you know, panicking, like, what do we do? How  do we do this, right? And what do we do next? How do we deal with this? Why  aren't we picking up these dead bodies? Why are how are we going to make a  difference? And what they just needed was someone who represented the  sacred, which we've already talked about, is the role of a chaplain, to just be  with them, to listen to them, to not try to provide answers, but just be a calming  presence and help them focus on not the overwhelming task we had in front of  us, but, but what can? What can we do? What can? What can I do? We could  pray for people. We could start gathering supplies to bring ashore. I mentioned  being at 911 in the days, first days. After September 11, and just the sheer  destruction of that whole part of New York City and people being overwhelmed  and terrified at what they thought was going to come next. And again, I was  nervous. I was afraid. I was anxious, but knowing that my job was to be a  calming presence, to have quiet conversations with people, give them someone  that they could talk to, that they could process with, someone that they could  say whatever they wanted to say without fear of judgment, I think was very  important. And so at the World Trade Center, what I would do is I would walk  around the whole ground zero, which would take a complete day to walk all the  way around it, and I would just stand next to firemen when they were taking a  break. And 95% of the time I didn't say anything. I just stood by them, wow. And  they stood there, and we looked at what was going on, and sometimes there  would be a very short conversation. Most of the time, they would just say thank  you for being here, and then they'd go back to work. But it meant a great deal to  them to know that we were there with them again, because they weren't happy.  They weren't consoled because Tom Walcott was there. They were consoled  because someone who represented God was standing there, and anything that I would have said to them would have been inadequate. It wouldn't have made  any difference. We don't have that we were there. We don't have to have the  answers, because there are no answers to so many things that happen in life.  And I can, I can give examples from my personal life, where our family had  times of tragedy, where someone came and tried to explain it all to me and failed miserably, and other people came and were just there, present with me, and it  made all the difference in the world. 

Henry - In the Bible, we have biblical models of calm in crisis, Moses before  Pharaoh, persistent, not panicked. I often when I was a child, when they would  tell the stories of Moses, that was something that always struck me, is how calm he was before the great Pharaoh of Egypt, Elisha. And the story where, you  know, the his servant is worried that look, all these people are. And then Elisha  says to the Lord, open his eyes. And then there are chariots guarding and then  Jesus, in the storm, asleep, centered in his father's presence, contagious peace. You know, you really there's a spiritual calmness that we see in the Bible that the Holy Spirit can give. And this is a gift, in many ways, for a chaplain. What  happens if somebody is called into chaplaincy and they are a little more high  strung? I mean, in some ways, this is like not only gift, but it's also a trait to  cultivate and ask for a gift. I mean, what have you ever met chaplains? They're  just so high strung that you have to calm them down. And how does that work?  

Tom - Well, and I've been high strung and needed to be calmed down too, not  just what I did with other people, but one of the first things that comes to mind is  we had a group of Chaplains working at the World Trade Center, and another  group of Chaplains came in to relieve us and to take over the work that we were  doing. And one of the chaplains who arrived was just overwhelmed. The amount of destruction was incredible, something that none of us had ever seen before. It was just horrific. And he said to the chaplain he was replacing, it wasn't me, but  he said to the chaplain who is replacing, he says, I can't do this, right? There is  just so much here. The destruction is so terrible. This is this is just  overwhelming. I don't know what to do, right? And the chaplain he was relieving, said to him, why are you here? And he said, to help God's people. And he said,  Do you see any of God's people? And he said, Well, sure. And he just pointed at a fireman, and said, There's one over there. And he said, go help him. Right?  You know, when we're overwhelmed by the magnitude of some of these things,  like tornadoes, hurricanes, those kind of things, tsunami. What am I there to do? I'm there to help God's people. Well, there's one, go help that one. Don't worry  about the huge event. What can you do here in a calm way? And again, like  we've already said, helping that person doesn't mean I'm explaining to him how  God can let such a terrible thing happen. It just means being there. I liked I liked  this the second one you had up there about when God opened his eyes, Elisha  his eyes so that he could see his servant could see what was going on. I had a  chaplain. I had a helicopter pilot in the in the tsunami who was landing and was  refilling his helicopter with food and water to bring out to the people who had  been cut off. And he told me that night, he said I was really overwhelmed by  what was going on, and I was thinking about how miniscule our event, our  efforts to bring food and water to people, was this really going to make a  difference? Were we really helping? And he said, I looked and I saw you 

standing next to the helicopter. And he didn't, but he didn't see Tom standing  next to the helicopter. He saw the chaplain, a representative of God, standing by the helicopter, and he said, When I saw you there, I knew I had to keep flying,  and we had to do what we could do and not worry about what we couldn't do.  And he was able to continue flying for the rest of that day again, nothing that I  said, nothing that I did, but he saw the presence of the keeper of the sacred  there, and that gave him the strength he needed to continue to go forward.  

Henry - I don't know how you feel, but I feel like so emotional during this class. I mean, these stories just fire me up for the work of the Lord, because the Lord is  here in this world and helping people really that Ministry of Science is insight, is  anxiety, is contagious, but so is peace. Chaplains equal spiritual thermostat, not  a mirror, spiritual or silence, and presence often brings healing more than  

advice,  

Tom - and I'd certainly affirm, especially that last one, just your presence. And  we talk in the in chaplaincy often about a ministry of presence. It's not what we  say, and most of the time, the less we say, the better it's going to be. It's a  ministry of presence that give people the strength they need to keep doing the  work that they do.  

Henry - So briefly, here is practical skills for crisis moments. I'll read them, and  then you can comment. Slow down, Speak calmly, embrace silence, ground and whisper, breath, prayers, listen first, let people lead the pace. Centered truths, I  am here. God sees you. Centering truths, I am here. God sees you by language, open postures, soft eyes.  

Tom - I wish I had written those. Those are, those are good, I think, and they  kind of all relate to the same thing, slowing down, speaking calmly when and if  you need to speak, but embracing silence, as I said, I would walk around ground zero at the World Trade Center and just stand by people, right? And they would  notice me, and jumping to number four, they would see that I was there. And for  many of them, that gave them the comfort of knowing that God saw them. Wow.  As far as prayer. On a few occasions, I prayed with people. If our very brief  conversations led me to think that my praying for them would be helpful, I should say I prayed for all of them all day long, but I prayed out loud on a few occasions when it was clear that that was something that they wanted me to do, but the  presence part is just so important, and just by being there, somehow that gives  people comfort. And many nights, I would go back to my room, and I would call  my wife, and she'd say, What did you do? And I said, for most of the day, I just  stood there, and it seemed to make a difference, because I would not have had  an explanation. I still don't have an explanation. There are so many things that 

happen that we don't have an explanation for, and yet we can still represent God in the middle of those very difficult places.  

Henry - Thank you so much. And as we reflect on this, I ask the Lord will  quicken your own spirit to just to you know, this is a type of presentation that  really does go to your calling too, and to say, hey, I have the opportunity even  severe crisis, to bring the presence of the Lord. The Lord is not done with this  world, and he allows things to happen, and we don't have to have all the  answers. Powerful 


最后修改: 2025年12月15日 星期一 11:03