Chaplain Brian Harrison
It has been a divine journey for me over the last 15 years ministering to patients and their family members on hospice care. Not only have I had the pleasure of being invited into the sacred space of dying patients, but I also help their caregivers, family members and other healthcare providers, prepare for providing care to terminally ill patients. The ministry of the chaplain also extends beyond the death of the patient, the chaplain must provide ministry to the bereaved, those who remain and must live with the death, grief, and loss of a loved one.
One of the major challenges I have faced is all the misunderstanding surrounding hospice ministry and hospice care. Many people think that hospice ministry is sad, depressing and all about death. Hospice ministry is much more than that. I get so much joy serving as a hospice chaplain. I get the awesome opportunity to meet people from all faith walks, cultures, and ethnicities. I get to meet them and hear their life’s story. They share the story of how they met the love of their life, where and how they courted and how that marriage or relationship went. And who doesn’t love a good love story! They discuss their children, the pride and joy associated with raising them along with the heartbreak of estranged children. Patients joyfully share their hobbies and the accomplishments that mean the most to them. They share their regrets and look for meaning and value in all that they did.
As a hospice chaplain, I get to walk alongside them, as the paraclete does with us, supporting them, praying for them, providing a ministry of presence, representing God and His presence. I rejoice with them that rejoice, weep with those who weep, and I sit in silence with those who are silent. I get to help affirm their value to God, remind them of the God’s presence and working in their lives and in those cases where needed I assist in reconciliation. Many have fallen away from God, their faith and estranged family members. Hospice chaplains are often instrumental in that ministry of reconciliation. There’s joy in that ministry.
As my patient is declining and preparing to die, I support their loved ones, their caregivers. Many times loved ones don’t understand and accept the reasons why a patient maybe on hospice. Some patients may have decided not to pursue chemo, dialysis or other curative treatments that could prolong their lives and loved ones don’t accept these decisions which creates turmoil and other conflicting emotions. The hospice chaplain helps family members work through these emotions arriving at a place of grieving appropriately. Hospice chaplains help patients and family members settle unfinished business by saying all the things that have been held back. We help with legacy and memorial building. Just as the prophets of old have passed on blessings, mantles, and anointing’s, we participate in encouraging family to engage in those same acts of passing down.
We encourage big momma to share those recipes and secretes that help build the esteem of the children in her life. We encourage the sharing of acceptance, offering of forgiveness, and the pronouncement of blessings from that dad that hasn’t provided them to his son! To watch a 54-year-old son kneel at his dying father’s bedside and to hear his father say “You are my beloved son in whom I’m well pleased” … brings tears of joy and praises to God! What an awesome ministry.
Death is difficult to talk about, experience and accept. Helping family members see that it is a blessing to be able to prepare for what is inevitable is very empowering and healing for them. The Apostle Paul speaks of his “time of departure is at hand” as an example to us that it’s okay to recognize and accept our impending transition to the presence of God. Death hurts, isolates, and can even steal our joy, but God can and does still heal broken hearts. The ministry of the chaplain and anyone who is connected to someone dying can be a healing for both the dying and the bereaved. It takes a prepared heart that understands death in order for there to be healing and deliverance from a season of terminal illness. Death can be the entrance into God’s eternal reward for a life lived trusting and believing in Jesus The Christ.
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