Proclaiming the gospel with our ears

By Rev David Prior

Posted Mar 15, 2017 in Culture

Chaplains touch the lives of many, working in areas such as mental health, private and public hospitals, the defence forces, sporting groups, prisons, and beyond. For this article, New Times asked army chaplain Rev David Prior to reflect on his experiences of chaplaincy and the connection it builds between the church and the wider community. 

I am not sure about you, but the best way to get my attention is to call me irrelevant. Although buying me a coffee also works.

After 23 years as a Minister of the Word in the Uniting Church, with the past nine years as an army chaplain, I am still occasionally surprised by peoples’ assessment of clergy.

For example, while I was deployed to Afghanistan from September 2015 to March 2016, the Regimental Sergeant Major, who is responsible for maintaining discipline, said to me: “Padres or religious men (sic) have no place in the army, let alone being embedded with units or battalions.” (Note: This is also a good advertisement for why the army needs female chaplains.)

I considered a number of responses and then chose to say: “Chaplaincy is being present to provide pastoral care with compassionate ears.”

This statement about chaplaincy was forged from my many years of pastoral work at Enfield, the Royal Adelaide Hospital, Dernancourt and the Army, as I cared for people and shared God’s Word.

To my surprise, the Regimental Sergeant Major nodded at my response, meaning he felt we had reached consensus on my job description. This conversation opened up further discussions about faith, and his own experiences of grief and loss within his life.

Reflecting on my comment now, I would expand my statement further to say: “Chaplaincy is about being present, allowing pastoral care to evolve at the point of need. Connecting and building relationships through listening, assists in exploring life issues before the problem becomes so entrenched that the individual sees themselves as the problem.”

My focus on pastoral care has shaped my role as a Minister of the Word, allowing me to see that preaching must be grounded in our experiences of life. Chaplaincy has shaped me to the point where I “proclaim the gospel with my ears!” What I’m trying to say with this phrase is that listening is about “hearing with compassion” another’s pain. Listening can function as a bridge, connecting our lives through the hearing of another’s story.

Soldiers are no different from the rest of society. While many may dismiss the church, God and clergy, they regularly seek me out when grief and loss fragment their sense of self and meaning in life. They know I will listen to them with compassion. Hope can re-emerge through this shared encounter, as it has done within my own life and journey with Jesus.

As our society continues to become more secular, with increasing numbers of Australians no longer identifying with Christianity, our capacity to connect and be relevant is as much an issue for local congregations and clergy as it is for chaplains. Reflecting upon my ministry in both congregational and secular environments, I am convinced we all need to wrestle with what “proclaiming the gospel with our ears” looks like.

In summary, the key point for me is this – if I want people to take my words seriously, I must love them enough to listen to their story first.

Rev David Prior is posted to the 7th Royal Australian Regiment, an Infantry Battalion based at Edinburgh RAAF Base; 7 RAR have recently completed a deployment to Iraq, and are mid-way through two deployments to Afghanistan. David invites anyone interested in army chaplaincy to contact him via email at Turn on Javascript!

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