I delivered the following homily last June at my Renewing Ceremony.  The ceremony was created as a ritual wherein I could renew my 1999 Ordination vows as an Interfaith minister and also profess myself an Eco-chaplain.  Similar to a minister whose Call is healthcare ministry or prison ministry, I had come to understand, through a prayerful discernment process, that my Call is to care

Process Theology: "A view of God which is based on the writings of Alfred North Whitehead. The traditional view of a immutable, omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent deity is replaced by a God is who is in process. He is constantly changing, learning, and evolving along with humanity." www.metaglossary.com/meanings/1018406/

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Most humbly we bow to You, O Supreme Lord.
At Your command moves the mighty wheel of time.
You are eternal, and beyond eternity.
(Artharva Veda)
 

Although I came to ChI with the intention of becoming a hospice chaplain, I have gradually come to see myself more as a Minister of Arts. My talents are those of a creative pole jumper.  I teach others to leap far higher than they ever suspected their wings could carry them, over the bar of their doubts and limitations.

On Tuesday morning I was paged to go to the hospital. A teenage girl had hung herself. She had been found by her father and mother.

When I got there, the medical team were just pronouncing the death. The nurses got busy tidying the room and putting the emergency resuscitation equipment away. There was complete silence in the room as I knocked and stepped in.