AUSTRALIAN THOUGHTS AT THE WEEKEND. 21st and 22nd June, 2008

A CAPELLA

Many of us know the phrase “A Capella” but how many of us know it means literally, "in the chapel"?  Originally, it was choral music sung without instrumental accompaniment. A chapel is a dedicated or consecrated building that is small place of worship, separate from the parish church, but authorized for the performance of church services and sacraments. Sometimes the chapel is a small part of a large church or cathedral with its own altar where special services or services for small congregations of people are held. 

I can imagine how singing without musical accompaniment become known as “a capella”.  A small group meeting in a chapel may not have an instrument such as an organ or even someone who has the ability to play a musical instrument to accompany the singing. However, someone starts a hymn and then the others join in.  Anyone who has sung a prayer chorus with 20 or 30 bandsmen in the bandroom before a main meeting will know the joy of blending voices where only the voices are heard.

Just as many people never associate “a capella” with a chapel, many also do not associate the word “chaplain” with a chapel. However I note a definition of a chaplain as “A clergyman who conducts religious service in the private chapel of a sovereign, lord, or high official, of a castle, garrison, embassy, college, school, workhouse, prison, cemetery, or other institution, or in the household of a person of rank or quality”.

Now, I have had the privilege of serving as a Chaplain in a number of settings. In my younger days, I served as Chaplain to the Youth Group at the Corps. Then later, I found the designations of part of my activities as Hospital Chaplain, Industrial Chaplain (to a men’s clothing factory of 400 employees), Prison Chaplain, School Chaplain, Fire Brigade Chaplain, Palliative Care Unit Chaplain, and an Age Care Homes Chaplain.

These days, I am an “Ecumenical Chaplain Coordinator” at a large private hospital (http://www.greenslopesprivate.com.au). It’s a great title. I visited one lady with strong links to her own church and introduced myself as an “Ecumenical Chaplain”. She surprised me with her answer that she did not know much about the “Ecumenical Church” and surprised me even further by asking “Did they have many Churches in the Brisbane?” I decided just then that in future I would introduce myself as “one of the chaplains”.

I have the joy of being the coordinator of a team of 15 chaplains and pastoral carers. Each of these are accredited by the hospital and either visit their own denomination patients or visit anyone who wishes to see a chaplain. The churches represented include Anglican, Baptist, Church of Christ, Brethren, Catholic, Uniting, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Seventh Day Adventist, Greek Orthodox, Salvation Army, Jehovah’s Witness.

I am not the Salvation Army Chaplain as we have a Captain who visits the Salvation Army patients two days each week. You might be asking whether I as a Chaplain have a Chapel. I can answer that yes we do. I say “we” as it is a rather unique building catering for the needs of worshipers as perceived by the Australian Army when it was designed and built during World War 2.

Greenslopes Hospital was built in the early years of World War 2 to help accommodate the military casualties of the war. It took its first patients in 1942. It wa an Army Hospital and its “staff complement was drawn from the Australian Army Medical Corps, Australian Army Nursing Service, and Voluntary Aid Detachments. VADs, were trained by the Red Cross, and later became the Australian Army Medical Womens Service”. (http://www.greenslopesprivate.com.au/aboutus/history.asp#5).

Greenslopes Hospital Chapel was opened in 1942. It is a substantial brick building and other than replacing the asbestos sheeting roof with tiles, it remains much as it was designed and built by the Australian Army.  I said earlier it is a unique building. I am not sure whether it should be described as “a chapel” or “chapels”.  The Australian Army recognised three main religions and had staff Chaplains for Catholics, Church of England (now Anglicans) and OPDs or Other Protestant Denominations.

At the northern end of the chapel is the Catholic Altar.  On it now stands the Tabernacle where the elements of the Sacrament of Holy Communion are kept. At the southern end is the “Anglican” or “Protestant” Altar.  There are double doors at centre of the eastern and western sides, so that worshippers could turn right or left to join the congregation of their choice facing their denominational altar.

Services were not held at the same time, so a large crowd could be accommodated because the backs of the pews could be tilted two ways so that the pew faced either direction. We now have a third altar which originally was a second Catholic Altar which was built and consecrated when the Second Vatican council declared the officiating Priest should face the congregation. It was not possible for him to do this with the original altar as it is attached to the wall. This third altar is located centrally near the eastern doors and people can sit facing it on both sides of the chapel. It is used by all churches when necessary.

Actually what I have described as the third altar is really number four. The third altar is a smaller altar on wheels which was wheeled out mainly by the OPDs. It provided for a more intimate relationship between the Chaplain and the congregation. This altar stands today near the western doors and holds the various literature which is available for anyone to take.

Each weekday morning at 9.30am, the duty chaplains meet for prayer. Patients, family, staff and volunteers are welcome to join us. It continues to be our prayer that more will take advantage of this service. We use the Anglican Prayer Book and the liturgy for the day which includes Scriptures, and Prayers.

It is good at other times to see staff, volunteers, patients and family and friends come to the chapel for a quiet time before the Lord. Many just want to pray alone but if Chaplains are present they may indicate that they are available if required. The Chapel is opened and closed by hospital security staff at dawn and dusk.

Whilst the Chapel remains a physical presence and a quiet refuge for some in the hospital community, the main work of Chaplains is done away from the Chapel. It is at the bedside that we meet face to face with the patients and sometimes their family and other loved ones.

The work of the Chaplain commences with preparation of mind and heart when we accept God’s role to the task. However, daily personal preparation begins with a fresh personal commitment to be led by God into opportunities to minister. God is usually already working with the patient when we walk into the ward and announce “G’day! I am one of the hospital chaplains”.  Then the encounter is in God’s hands.

Sometimes, God leads us to other Christians who have served him with a commitment for a long time. Some are retired ministers and pastors while others are lay people who have served faithfully in the local church. More often than you would think, these people minister to us as they share about the God they love because he first loved them.

It is a joy to pray with people who know they will be very soon in the presence of God. I think of one man, a Baptist, who said to the Doctors who were saying that they were unable to do any more and his life would be very short, “I am in God’s hands. He alone knows what the future holds and how long life will be for me.”

I think of another lady in her nineties and a member of the Uniting Church who following surgery spoke quietly of her life being in God’s hands in this life and the next. Another man, a retired Seventh Day Adventist Pastor told me of the book he has written and the many, many encounters he had with believers and non-believers as he sold his churches books from door to door for more than 30 years.

As we move around the hospital, we encounter staff and volunteers. Sometimes our conversations are brief but at other times our conversations are longer and they will ask questions about faith and life in general. We, too, meet members of families and sometimes in a moment of anxiety for them , they will seek our prayers and encouragement.

One of the prayers we pray is from the Anglican Prayer Book:

We consecrate this day to your service, O Lord; may all our thoughts, words, and actions be well-pleasing to you and serve the good of our brothers and sisters; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Each Monday morning our prayers end with the reading of Paul’s words to Timothy:

God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but a spirit of power and of love and of self- discipline. May we rekindle the gift of God with us. Amen. ( 2 Timothy 1.6-7)

That’s a reminder we need often as we seek to conquer our personal fears and allow god to work his plan for us. “A capella” might be in the chapel without music but never with God.

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