Abby - Well, we're back. We continue.  

Henry - It's got these, and they're part of packages that you can purchase after  you're done

Abby - help identify you as a chaplain. For those that need to know that truth  and we're getting into, I think this is a little bit of a harder topic. We're dealing  with, hospital hospice, all of those kind of things, and the Blue Christmas  chaplaincy.  

Henry - So hospital chaplains, chaplaincy, truly, that's a sacred space, because  things happen. People are struggling. Hospital remain active during Christmas.  Life and death continues. My mother was at the end of her life in a senior care  facility.  

Abby - Yeah, during Christmas, yeah.  

Henry - And I remember there was that concern, and we were feeling  Christmas, and your sister made a Christmas play. Remember you were in the  play. It was 2015 all of these things were happening. I remember so much of my  role that year. I felt like a chaplain at Christmas. It was truly a Blue Christmas.  And then my mother rallied on Christmas day. My dad was so happy. My dad  even thought like, Oh, she's doing so well, maybe she can come home, and one week later she died. But I remember that Christmas day with my mom, my dad,  we sang Christmas carols. My mom was so happy, and it was almost like that  day was that rebound. That day was that joy of Christmas, the birth of Jesus  Christ, in my dad and myself, and I remember praying, doing all these Chaplain  activities, and in a lot of ways, that, to me, is one of the seeds of this chaplaincy  class.  

Abby - Yeah, I really like, again, that Chaplain role in these situations, that quiet, confident, respectful, I really like this point to the sensitive to the staff, as well as  the patient that you might be caring for. You know, for so many people, if they're  on Christmas, you know, working at the hospital, that's not an easy thing. And to  get to be, you know, a bright spot in both the staff that are taking care of these  

patients, as well as the patient that you may be praying over, or, you know,  sitting with and again, carrying that peaceful, compassionate Christ present into  difficult in these urgent spaces.  

Henry - Yeah, and remember always presence carries peace, compassion,  Christ into urgent spaces and the insights from Ministry sciences, crisis, ministry

requires calm, Spirit led. Presence, so very prayerful. Presence, observation,  adapt, adaptability ensure effective, respectful care.  

Abby - Yeah, I think there's an important like pause here. You know, some of  you might be taking this course. Mostly we're going to be taking it because you  really feel that God has put chaplaincy call on your life, whether that is for the  holidays or just more general chaplaincy. But yeah, I really like that point that,  you know, these situations are very difficult. You need to look yourself in the  mirror and go, do I have that ability to stay calm in medical situations, in, you  know, those last moments of people's lives? You know, again, it is a gift and an  ability that God has gifted those of us that are being chaplains to have to be able to do those situations. You know that, again, is not an easy thing to do.  

Henry - Let's talk next now about hospice chaplaincy. In my way, my story there  with my mother was very much, in a sense, a hospice situation. And again,  Hospice is a sacred space where eternal realities come into focus.  

Abby - Yeah, yeah. The patients, the family, they need some peace. I like that  point of dignity too. It's like it can be a really again, hard, hard situation where  you just feel so hopeless and helpless again, especially if you're maybe even  

getting the patience like I don't even know what it feels like to feel like and be in  that space. And again, most of all hope is needed,  

Henry - small acts, reading scripture, holding hands, blessing our eternal  moment. So when your grandma, my mother in that week, so Christmas with  this amazing celebration. And then as the week went further on, all of a sudden  there was like a decline, like my mom was going to go and be with the Lord. So,  so what I did as a chaplain to her is read Scripture every day, went with her and  prayed and the night before she died, and. I read scripture, and all of a sudden I  ended with Psalm 23 and she started to say Psalm 23 and as she was saying it,  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the  

Abby - shadow, that was her favorite verse,  

Henry - and she started repeating Psalm 23 and I will fear no evil. I can still  picture her saying that here, 90 year old and then she went unconscious and  never came back conscious.  

Abby - She woke up. That was her last moment. Words  

Henry - on this in this life 

Abby - where scripture and her favorite scripture and the most fitting scripture  for that moment, for sure,  

Henry - it speaks to the seasonal chaplain. It's very emotional. I mean, it speaks you can come in to at Christmas time. Because, again, that earlier point that life  and death happened at Christmas time, right?  

Abby - And it's, it feels the intensity of it can be, it's always a strong intensity, no matter when. But when you have the holiday stuff all going on at the same time,  it's like, yeah. Again, the presence of what chaplaincy can bring is so and so so  important, and that's why we just are so excited about putting this class together right now and knowing that God is going to work through you and people's lives  during these huge moments and in the holidays.  

Henry - So the ministry of sciences insight, end of life, ministry integrates  pastoral care with emotional intelligence, wow. Gentleness and spiritual  attentiveness foster trust and comfort, just noticing people,  

Abby - yeah at this time, yeah. I really love that gentleness, just one of the big  fruits of the Spirit. I think that's something that like when I think about chaplaincy, again, this task that we have to do, you know you really have to have the Holy  Spirit filling you with those gifts of the Spirit, because that gentleness, that  patienceness, that kindness, is just again, so needed in these moments.  

Henry - So another, another characteristic of Christmas sadness is grief at the  Christmas season. And somebody lose loses someone. And so you know the  Blue Christmas chaplaincy making room for grief. Blue Christmas services offer  space for sorrow during the holidays. And that Blue Christmas services of a  chaplain is just that they can come in many, many ways, personally, but  sometimes there can even be, like, a little ceremony that, yeah, a chaplain can  do. 

Abby - I really think, like, you know, as I'm, as we're talking about this, I'm, I  want all churches to be doing this, you know, I think it's such, again, an  emotional time of the year. It's so important to Christianity, and I think that to  offer this space for grief, you know, I think there's that feeling of, oh, we need to  be happy, happy, happy during the holidays. And you know, as we've already  discussed in this class, that's not the way many of us are feeling at the holidays  because of grief or loneliness or different things.  

Henry - You know, just going through the slides is so interesting. How about a  service, low lighting, symbolic candles, gentle scripture, music, tone, calming, 

non pressuring, authentic, present, maybe even people sharing a little bit about  what they're going through, acknowledging revalidates lived experiences and  builds connections. Ritual helps externalize and process internal emotional  spaces,  

Abby - yeah, bringing that to the surface. Because, again, I think people want to sometimes keep these things inside of them, and they don't want to talk about it  or have it be prayed over. And I think this really having a service like that just  gives people that opportunity to have that authentic God shows up. God's  working in their heart, you know. I can just picture, you know, having, you know,  designated people that are going to go pray over each person there, you know.  And I think there's just again, so much that could happen in moments like these.  

Henry - I can picture even in the public square to say that there's going to be a  season or a Christmas grief acknowledgment service where the joy of Christmas meets the sorrow of grieving, and give people permission  

Abby - to, yeah, yeah. I can even think about, like, you know, if you I mean, with social media nowadays, it's like, I have this page I follow my local community  where it's like, you know, I could absolutely, you know, maybe talk with even the  local library and say, Hey, can I set up a spot where. I'm doing this with, or,  again, maybe it is a little church or whatever, to say as a chaplain, I just want to  offer this event to just get some people together who are having, yeah, this Blue  Christmas experience right now. And, you know, I just, again, can imagine how  many people that would just, they'd feel so validated, seen, they'd feel the  community behind them. And again, the most of all important thing is they feel,  then that connection to God, and they feel God's presence, and it walks them  closer to the Lord.  

Henry - So powerful. Here's one. Let's just talk about some practical tips.  

Abby - Yeah, yeah, when you're in these really difficult, again, Blue Christmas  spaces, like you do need to be reading the room. You know some people, even  if they do come to a Blue Christmas thing, they may still be in a place where,  again, you need to still ask permission. You need to be observing someone's  body language.  

Henry - Lead with softness, slow tone, gentle gestures. Stay anchored in Christ, not performance. You don't need, you know, we're not. Don't need to sing Jingle  Bells. Jingle bells, right? 

Abby - Like you don't need to or say the perfect thing. You know, it's like you  just need to again, be doing these things where you're showing up for them  again, respecting staff policies, any clinical environments, if you're again in the  hospice, want to make sure you always talk with the administration  

Henry - beforehand whatever in any space. Be very community  Abby - respectful. They allow  

Henry - cultural and situational awareness increases chaplaincy effectiveness.  Partner with other caregivers strengthens administer impact. You may ask a  pastor  

Abby - right to come alongside you, or get a few more chaplains. Ask churches  Henry - if they will have a special Blue Christmas service  

Abby - right, where their worship team then gets together. You know, there's so  many again ways where, yes, you could do this on your own in your community,  but yeah, getting a team together of people who want to pour into those that are  going through this, I think, is again, wonderful.  

Henry - So let's just wrap this up with some final reflections about sort of the  Blue Christmas honoring or hospice or hospital. So remember, it's a ministry of  presence, not performance and and we should really be clear about something  about the ministry of presence. Presence, for a chaplain, means a lot of things.  It first of all, means forming relationships in talking and listening to people and  hearing their story, all as an ambassador of Jesus Christ, right? Clearly, you are  not just giving therapy or  

Abby - not just patting someone on in the back. You know, yes, that's all part of  it, but you have, you do have a mission. You're trying to create open doors to  talk about Jesus Christ with those who really need that.  

Henry - You're not giving away your theology. By now, your theology doesn't  make any sense to you or them. And just, you know, you're just not for religion.  You are a Christian. You are a Christian minister. But when you come in with the  presence, first of all, you bring the fruit of the Spirit. You are the Holy Spirit's in  you. You bring that presence. You also bring the presence of Christ, because He lives in you, and you also bring in proclamation. But in a chaplaincy context,  people ask you for more of that proclamation. 

Abby - Yeah, and again, like that point of asking permission, reading the body  language and going, you know the people who are having the open heart to  hear further words of Scripture, or the Word of God, or anything like that. Then,  then you take those opportunities whenever you can. Yeah, I love this point  again. You know, we've talked about this already, a lot in this class about that.  We see Jesus ministering to the sick, the dying, the grieving. And I think it's just,  you know, again, I've, watched the show Chosen on this, and you see this just  the compassion of Jesus. Yes, Jesus is always proclaiming the truth. Is standing firm on the Word of God, all of that. But ultimately, you see that that beautiful  presence and care for people. And it really did. It set Jesus apart from the  religious leaders of that time period. They were not doing those things, a lot of  them, and it really created this stark contrast of someone who could have all  authority, but also that beautiful compassion of who Jesus Christ is. And so think as chaplains, we have just such a beautiful opportunity to model Christ in  hospitals, in hospice rooms at Blue Christmas gatherings. Yeah. Well, so  

Henry - anyway, we're excited about the Blue Christmas thing for this not  because. People go through grief, but we're excited that you have the  opportunity to minister. And what awesome time at seasons, whether it's  Christmas or whether it's at other seasons, Easter and even, like some of the  other holidays, I mean, all holidays have that blue aspect to them, missing  someone.  

Abby - So again, as we talk about this, this is a model for multiple holidays or  events or things that are going on in your community where you can do these  same things.  

Henry - So may God bless you as you consider your role in these seasons of  opportunity.