Sayings on God

Spending the summer working at a local hospital in the pastoral care department, I got to hear people talk about God often. Sometimes the things people say are painful, sometimes painfully true, occasionally trite, raw, or insightful. Their stories may be unknown to you, but their pain, fears, faith, or doubt are not. This is a collection of isolated statements without context that were made about, or perhaps to, God that stood out the most from each day I spent at the hospital. They are numbered Day One through Day Fifty, and are followed by a series of reflections from the summer spent doing hospital ministry.

  • Reflection: Telling stories

    In Day Twenty Six, the patient spent about 30 minutes telling me stories. Not stories of how she found herself in the hospital, not stories of what she was going to do when she got out of the hospital, but… Continue reading

  • Reflection: Not everyone needs a chaplain

    My first few days I struggled with feeling as if I wasn’t being chaplainy enough. I would spend time with the patients, and quickly, I would learn if their children were wonderful, or if they provided a source of anxiety, I learned where they… Continue reading

  • Reflection: God as the Stranger

    It was my first real death, a few weeks into my time at the hospital, I was far from the wide-eyed new chaplain, but I’m hardly seasoned either. It was particularly hard. An all day process, everyone involved knew that… Continue reading

  • Reflections

    Fifty days, fifty sayings on God. Throughout my time this summer doing this blog, I have wanted to give more. After all, these 50 sayings are merely a window into my ministry this summer; along the way, people have asked me… Continue reading

  • Day Fifty

    I carry the guilt.  I’ve prayed for forgiveness, but if I die will I go to heaven with the things I’ve done? Continue reading

  • Day Forty Nine

    There’s nothing too big for God to handle, including this. Continue reading

  • Day Forty Eight

    What am I going to do? Oh God, how did this happen to me? How am I going to make it through? Continue reading

  • Day Forty Seven

    You just get up, show up, and hope that God’s there too. Continue reading

  • Day Forty Six

    You have to want it. You have to want it enough to get clean and sober and then you pray to God that you can stay strong enough to fight it. Continue reading

  • Day Forty Five

    That’s it. That’s all you’ve got at this point. You hold on to a belief that God is in control and that’s it. Continue reading