Pastoral Care in Times of COVID-19

by Kurt Maerschel

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. PS 34:18

Dear Friends at Kessler Park United Methodist Church,

Together we have experienced how the COVID-19 pandemic is sweeping across our country and through Dallas in seemingly endless waves. Throughout it all Kessler Park United Methodist Church has made an extraordinary effort to stand with those in the hospital who are on the front lines of this fight. Countless cards have been written to patients and all types of hospital employees; snacks have been sent and some of you even braved the extraordinary task of hand making masks and mask accessories. THANK YOU!

I cannot tell you how much all of this is appreciated over here at the hospital. We have distributed the gifts to every department imaginable, even the mail room!

I am almost finished with my first year of chaplaincy at Methodist Dallas Medical Center and am happy to announce that I will be serving for another year until my commissioning, which will hopefully occur in 2021. In the meantime the North Texas Conference appointed me as a Local Licensed Pastor to the hospital, which has been a very encouraging sign of their support for me.

As a chaplain, my parish consists of the hospital and everyone who is there as an employee or a patient. With the staff I can build long term relationships. The patients on the other hand, I see mostly only once. There is a short window in which I am allowed to accompany the patients on their healing journey. It is a time in which these people are most vulnerable. It is an honor for me to be allowed into their lives.

In 1 Corinthians 13:12, the Apostle Paul writes, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.” Paul Sampley characterizes Paul’s description of the kingdom of God as the “now here but not yet.” This description as a “here but not yet” or as a clear vision we just see through a “dim mirror” does not make sense on a purely logical basis, but humans can internally relate to it because it does make sense on a spiritual and emotional level. As human beings are made of bodies and souls, as humans mature in life or as Christians grow in their faith, we can relate to the “here but not yet.” Paul describes the kingdom of God as present and growing/maturing, with all of Christianity working together to bring about the kingdom of God.

For me the hospital is a place of the kingdom which is already here but “not yet.” There is healing, compassion, care and love, but there are also bills, death, despair and mistrust. As a chaplain I work inside the kingdom and outside of it. I share in the patient’s pain and I also mediate in situations of mistrust, all with the firm conviction that we all are headed to the final kingdom. This kingdom here on earth is also a pointer to the ultimate kingdom of God to which we all will go once we die. Without the faith in the kingdom of God and life everlasting I would not be able to do my work as a chaplain.

According to scripture, humans were made in the image of God. Disobedience to God’s command lead to the fall, which can also be understood as the human tendency to move away from God. God gave humans the ability to reconcile with Godself through the incarnation of Jesus Christ. The purpose of humanity is fulfilled when we return to God as a new creation to ultimately experience total communion with the divine. Having a body, mind and soul provides humans a unique ability to access some aspects of the truth about the human condition and the human role in creation.

A consequence of the expulsion from Eden was suffering. In the hospital I am confronted with this grim reality every day, from childbirth to death. Scripture never really explains why suffering exists if God is all powerful, all loving and all good. The result of Job’s discourse with God is essentially the realization that a human being cannot understand the reason for suffering. The theological subject of theodicy finds only partially satisfying answers.

While humans can never fully understand the nature of divine providence, the reasons for suffering, or God’s being, we still have been privileged to have been made in God’s image and as such we are allowed to attain insights in the essence of God and — what is even more important in the hospital context – we can realize insights in how God’s healing and reconciliation work in this world. I do understand my role in the hospital as a spiritual guide, and as such I believe I have to be open-minded and attune to a person’s location in life (social, economic, racial, age, sex). At the same time I also realize that I have to be on a continuous quest for searching for ways to connect God and human through insight and spiritual practice.

The world of the hospital was already a “high stakes” environment before the COVID-19 crisis. Now everything is constantly changing. New visitor polices and guidelines are frequently released. People being in distress about their loved ones, friends and family seldom have an understanding for policies limiting visitors or even forbidding any visitation. I know it hurts our staff too, when they have to turn visitors away especially in life or death situations, but the hospital is already full enough of sick people and anyone extra increases the infection risk for our staff, patients and the few visitors that are allowed. People still come into the hospital without masks not understanding that the main benefit of the mask is not oneself but to protect others from infection. If you read this, I urge you to put on a mask for the sake of your fellow citizens. This will lower the already high stress environment of people around you.

In the hospital I am confronted daily with the realities of COVID-19. The reality that it can kill anyone at any age, the reality that COVID patients in the hospital die alone and the reality that some patients, even if they survive the initial COVID infection, die of subsequent causes. But there is also a greater reality that all of us Christians should know: The hospital is first and foremost a place of resurrection! “The root word of healing in New Testament Greek, sozo, is the same as that of salvation and wholeness.” Therefore salvation is wholeness and healing. God reconciles, God heals in so many ways. It is hard to detach this reality from the hospital context where so much of the healing focus is directed toward physical health. This focus often ignores the natural seasons of life, and the nature of humans as being made in body, mind and soul. As a minister it is important to keep in mind that we tend to focus on physical healing, overlooking the greatest miracle which is Jesus’s sacrifice through which we are reconciled with God and receive the promise of life everlasting. Pointing towards this ultimate healing is my calling as a spiritual guide in the hospital. The hospital is a place of resurrection in so many ways. Physical healing, healing of relationships, reconciliation with God and self are all part of it. And this reality will never change no matter what!