In this occasional series we talk with several of our own Chaplains here in Hereford Diocese, offering a window into this fascinating and often moving role. For our Year of Engagement, we have been exploring ways that we as a Church take the message of a loving God out to those communities. For a Chaplain, The community where they work could be a place, such as a single school or care home, or it could be a dispersed community bound by a common thread, such as the local agricultural community – and there is a wide range of these communities in our diocese. As the national church says, “because chaplains are present with the 95% who will not regularly visit a place of worship, many people do encounter them and journey with chaplaincy as they explore questions of life and faith.”
Jed Dunn is a trained NHS Hospital Chaplain with West Midlands Hospital Trust and volunteers as an Assistant Chaplain at Hereford Hospital. He is also an Anna Chaplain in the Leominster Team Ministry. Jed is also the landlord of the Monkland Arms pub near Leominster. For Jed, being a hospital chaplain and Anna Chaplain means being a ‘light worker’ – someone who brings light into the dark place; to do that, he says, you need to go into those dark places with people, and you need to be prepared and protected.
L: Jed, you recently completed the CGH Introduction to Christian Ministry course in Ludlow. …are you still thinking about Ordination as your ultimate destination?
J: I’m using this year to embed the training I have already done – I did a lot of training in a short space of time, so now I’m having a think. The call comes in fits and starts – I think God has a lot of people to get round! At the end of the ICM course we explored pastoral care and the chaplaincy route seemed blindingly obvious to me – all paths suddenly opened up in that direction and it was very easy to step into, which seemed a definite sign that this is what I should be doing, for now anyway.
L: What do your two chaplaincy roles look like in Leominster?
J: I am at Hereford Hospital (working with Rev’d Philip Roberts) and hoping to be in Leominster Hospital and Leominster care homes eventually. I’m very lucky to be working with Rev’d Fiona (Honeysett) in the Leominster team who is working on building up the pastoral care team, and providing more organisational structure, rotas for visiting and so on. We’re hoping to make chaplaincy an everyday part of people’s lives, by coordinating all the different chaplaincies, across different aspects of life – Agricultural Chaplaincy, School Chaplains and the Youth Hub, Hospital Chaplaincy and Anna Chaplains, working with older people. And it would be lovely to bridge the gap between some of these areas – to join the dots.
L: What does chaplaincy specifically mean to you, beyond traditional pastoral care?
J: I think as chaplains we stand in the middle of the people we support, we’re no different from them. If we’re worshipping, we’re doing it together. I feel like I’m normalising worship and taking it to where people find themselves.
L: Can it be difficult at times?
J: Sometimes where people are is in a dark place – in hospitals or care homes particularly, and you just have to go there with them. To work in traumatic spaces, which hospitals and care homes can be, you need to be equipped like a soldier going into battle, to protect yourself and others around the situation. It may be my knowledge of the bible, the parables, or it may come from other disciplines. I studied at one point with Judy Fraser of Second Aid (a spiritual version of first aid) and she taught us how to develop a tool-kit of practices which centre you, so that you can go into the ‘dark space’ of other people’s troubles to walk with them and, ultimately, to help them. But I try not to take the dark places with me. I start and end my day at the hospital in the chapel – praying for guidance at the start of the day, and at the end I pray gratitude and do a meditation to shake off anything negative. A couple of times I forgot the last bit and had a difficult rest of my day.
L: How do people react to your chaplaincy?
J: I find that it’s not because people have lost faith that they don’t come to church, they’re just getting on with their lives and not thinking about it – but they do want faith in their lives. Some people are very clear that they don’t want me there, but generally, in times of trouble, people look for something to hold onto, and as chaplains, we can say ‘yes, there is something here for you.’ It’s very rewarding, spiritually.
L: Do you find differences between the care homes and the hospital?
J: Every case is different, but whereas in a care home we can build up relationships with people over time and develop ideas of spirituality and pathways, in hospital we typically only see people once, rarely two or three times. But that said, it can still be an opportunity for a meaningful spiritual engagement. I had a burly farm lad come to the hospital chapel one time; the crash team had just been called to his ward for someone in cardiac arrest. He was visibly upset and didn’t know why he had come to the chapel as he was ‘not religious’. I suggested he had witnessed something traumatic, he had his own trauma he was dealing with, and he had come looking for some calm and stillness, which is what God does amid all the turbulence. He said he felt like he wanted to pray together, but he said he didn’t know any prayers. I said, ‘You’ll know this one! Our Father…’ He joined right in. We prayed together for a bit, and he went away feeling happier, with a spark set off – job done! That’s the sort of thing I do at the hospital.
In care homes, there are people who are already ‘in their faith’, but now are separated from their church, so I try to be there for them, but I will talk to anyone – residents, staff and families. It’s really important to have families alongside as residents start exploring faith, to bring everyone along on the journey, even if only part way. Care homes used to be much more about practical nursing care, but now they are more like a residence. Coming alongside that is less like mission and more like demonstrating through love and care the way Jesus wants us to act. I wear a badge and a top which says ‘Church of England’. One time a chap looked up and said, ‘Not for me!’ as I walked in; I thanked him and moved on, chatted to some other people, then, as I left, the first man said ‘Thank you so much for taking the time to care.’ I’m hoping he saw my actions and was genuinely thinking, ‘This guy was caring, maybe I do need some care after all’? I hope people see God’s work first hand and it opens a door, opens a window and turns on the lights! It’s love, care and support, there’s no hidden agenda, I say ‘hello, how are you?’ and we go from there. The goal is simply to help those less fortunate.
ENDS