"A year soon runs its length and never returns the same,
And the end seldom seems to belong to the beginning...
And thus in many yesterdays the year passes
And winter comes back again as the world would have it, in the way of things."
-Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, translated W. S. Merwin
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Breaking the Silence
It's been quite a while, I know. I've been toying with the idea of taking down the blog entirely, since I feel I don't have the time to update regularly. Still, I came across something today that is too good not to share, so we'll give this another go. Oh, and I'm going to re-enable comments, just for the heck of it.
I have been reading A Hidden Wholeness, by Parker Palmer, for one of my classes. The book itself probably deserves a whole post, but I came across this gem near the end that I just had to post. Palmer is talking about how "broken hearts" may not be only a bad thing, that a broken heart might mean "a heart broken open into new capacity". On this subject, he tells the following Hasidic story:
The pupil comes to the rebbe and asks, "Why does Torah tell us to 'place these words upon your hearts'? Why does it not tell us to place these holy words in our hearts?"
The rebbe answers, 'It is because as we are, our hearts are closed, and we cannot place the holy words in our hearts. So we place them on top of our hearts. And there they stay until, one day, the heart breaks, and the words fall in."
I'll leave you with that, the image of God's holy word breaking our hearts open so that it can finally reach inside.
I have been reading A Hidden Wholeness, by Parker Palmer, for one of my classes. The book itself probably deserves a whole post, but I came across this gem near the end that I just had to post. Palmer is talking about how "broken hearts" may not be only a bad thing, that a broken heart might mean "a heart broken open into new capacity". On this subject, he tells the following Hasidic story:
The pupil comes to the rebbe and asks, "Why does Torah tell us to 'place these words upon your hearts'? Why does it not tell us to place these holy words in our hearts?"
The rebbe answers, 'It is because as we are, our hearts are closed, and we cannot place the holy words in our hearts. So we place them on top of our hearts. And there they stay until, one day, the heart breaks, and the words fall in."
I'll leave you with that, the image of God's holy word breaking our hearts open so that it can finally reach inside.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
A Day in the Life
Well, I have two weeks of CPE under my belt now. Orientation is finished, and things are settling into a rhythm. I've even done my first 24-hour on call. I've gotten to know my fellow interns and the residents (who have been at the hospital since last August), as well as Ted, the director, and Ken, the manager, of the Pastoral Care and Education department. So what is a day in the life of a CPE student like?
We begin each day at 8:00 (or 0800, since hospitals also use military time) with morning report. The chaplain who was on call the night before tells the rest of the chaplains about any traumas/pages, and makes referrals if necessary. Then the chaplain who is beginning his or her on call shift does a short prayer or devotion, and the group breaks up.
On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings, we have class. The classes take a variety of forms—some are lecture-like, in others one intern presents a verbatim of a visit he or she made in the hospital, and others are open-agenda group discussions. We have two class sessions each of these mornings, with a break in the middle to go to interdisciplinary rounds.
The rest of the time is basically free for us to use. A large portion of this time is spent visiting patients or families. We also have time for reading and writing. In my case, the Behavioral Health service line has a very structured schedule—they eat meals together at set times and have scheduled group activities—so I can do very few visits in the morning. I spend the morning doing other work and make most of my visits in the afternoon. We also have one-on-one sessions with our CPE instructor, Ken, about once a week.
Our on call requirements work out to about one on call a week. It goes from 0800 (8 am) to 0800 the next day, though someone else will hold the pager in the morning if the on call chaplain has class. When on call, the chaplain's main responsibility is to report to every trauma or class one medical, and to do triage with the other chaplains.
That's CPE in a nut shell, at least for York Hospital (every CPE site seems to work a little differently). It's a lot of work, and it's challenging in many respects. It's also a powerful and unique learning experience. I will try to post again soon.
We begin each day at 8:00 (or 0800, since hospitals also use military time) with morning report. The chaplain who was on call the night before tells the rest of the chaplains about any traumas/pages, and makes referrals if necessary. Then the chaplain who is beginning his or her on call shift does a short prayer or devotion, and the group breaks up.
On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings, we have class. The classes take a variety of forms—some are lecture-like, in others one intern presents a verbatim of a visit he or she made in the hospital, and others are open-agenda group discussions. We have two class sessions each of these mornings, with a break in the middle to go to interdisciplinary rounds.
The rest of the time is basically free for us to use. A large portion of this time is spent visiting patients or families. We also have time for reading and writing. In my case, the Behavioral Health service line has a very structured schedule—they eat meals together at set times and have scheduled group activities—so I can do very few visits in the morning. I spend the morning doing other work and make most of my visits in the afternoon. We also have one-on-one sessions with our CPE instructor, Ken, about once a week.
Our on call requirements work out to about one on call a week. It goes from 0800 (8 am) to 0800 the next day, though someone else will hold the pager in the morning if the on call chaplain has class. When on call, the chaplain's main responsibility is to report to every trauma or class one medical, and to do triage with the other chaplains.
That's CPE in a nut shell, at least for York Hospital (every CPE site seems to work a little differently). It's a lot of work, and it's challenging in many respects. It's also a powerful and unique learning experience. I will try to post again soon.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
An Open Letter
Hello everyone.
I am posting this because today was my second day of CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education). CPE is one of the required field education experiences for my seminary program; it's basically a hospital chaplaincy internship. I am working at York Hospital full time from now until August 7. Tomorrow I will get to choose my "service line" (medical, surgical, oncology, cardiovascular, or behavioral health), which will be my main focus for the summer, in addition to on-call work in the Emergency Department. My first 24-hour on-call is June 4.
I just wanted to let you all know what I'm up to, and to apologize in advance for dropping off the radar for the whole summer. By the time I get home from York (sometime between 5:30 and 6:00, when I'm not on call), I will probably only have enough energy to cook dinner and fall into bed. CPE is a very intensive program in many respects, and while I am excited about the learning opportunity, I doubt that I will have much time or energy to stay in touch with people.
So, wish me the best, and I'll try to post updates now and then if I'm able.
-Jennie
I am posting this because today was my second day of CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education). CPE is one of the required field education experiences for my seminary program; it's basically a hospital chaplaincy internship. I am working at York Hospital full time from now until August 7. Tomorrow I will get to choose my "service line" (medical, surgical, oncology, cardiovascular, or behavioral health), which will be my main focus for the summer, in addition to on-call work in the Emergency Department. My first 24-hour on-call is June 4.
I just wanted to let you all know what I'm up to, and to apologize in advance for dropping off the radar for the whole summer. By the time I get home from York (sometime between 5:30 and 6:00, when I'm not on call), I will probably only have enough energy to cook dinner and fall into bed. CPE is a very intensive program in many respects, and while I am excited about the learning opportunity, I doubt that I will have much time or energy to stay in touch with people.
So, wish me the best, and I'll try to post updates now and then if I'm able.
-Jennie
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