Being that ‘god-person’

By Rev Leanne Jenski

Posted Mar 15, 2017 in Culture

Since her ordination in 2000, Rev Leanne Jenski has served in ministry in Western Australia and South Australia. Currently in her fifth year as the Uniting Church Chaplain at Flinders Medical Centre, Leanne has many stories demonstrating the importance of chaplaincy.

Prior to my appointment, I had wandered the many corridors of Flinders Medical Centre visiting family and members of the congregation. I grew up in a family of nurses and have always been very comfortable around hospitals. At one point, I discovered I had begun to imagine myself as a hospital chaplain. I had been an ordained minister for 12 years at the time, serving in various roles, and I felt that those placements had equipped me with the experience and skills for the major responsibilities of hospital chaplaincy. 

People are at their most vulnerable in hospital; life seems precarious and there is a lot of time to think. In these moments, chaplains can be a symbol of something bigger.

Families often seek a stronger connection to God through requesting the presence of a ‘god-person’ (aka chaplains). For awhile, we walk alongside them, offer pastoral care and become the hands, ears and feet of God.

For some families we are the reconnection to a faith they had lost and a faith community they had walked away from years before. I know many people who have reconnected with a faith community once they are well and have returned home.

However, the most rewarding part of being a hospital chaplain for me is being that ‘god-person’ for people who don’t have faith or a faith community. It is such a privilege to walk alongside people, offer a listening ear and be the ‘god-person’, especially if a patient’s journey is towards dying.

I think chaplains are points of connection between the church and society. Patients will often ask which church I’m with. I feel proud to say that I belong to the Uniting Church and that we fund a ministry to anyone who comes through the doors of Flinders Medical Centre. Uniting Church chaplaincy placements tell the Australian community that the church does care for them.

I think, historically, hospital chaplains have been here to visit the people who belong to their denominations, and to provide religious care and rituals. Now chaplains are being seen as a resource for the whole hospital. We are the only staff members who don’t have medical ‘tasks’ to do – we are the ‘sitters’, the listeners, the ‘being with’ people who can give their time to a patient and their family. I sit with anyone, regardless of their faith tradition or lack of faith tradition, and I listen. Sometimes people need to say what they can’t say to anyone else, and to be heard without judgement. Sometimes I am able to offer a prayer or ritual such as baptism.

Chaplaincy is moving from religious care for ‘their own’ people to spiritual care for anyone.

When I’m asked what chaplains do my brief description is that “we listen or distract depending on what is needed”.

Photo caption: Rev Leanne Jenski (left) with Ruth Wickam, a member of Adare Uniting Church.

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