Faith ♫♪ from Rev. Bliss

Many of you are aware that I have been a volunteer Night Chaplain at North Colorado Medical Center for several years (actually, it’s almost five years).  I go to NCMC once a month (usually the fourth Sunday) at about 6:30 p.m., check in with the Administrative Representative (the nurse in charge), and go to each Nurses’ Stations to tell them I am on duty.  Then I visit all the people whose names are on a list provided by the staff.  Sometimes this list has half a dozen names, sometimes none.  If we have St. John’s’ people in the hospital, I make a point of spending time with them as well.  A sleeping room is provided, so I could stay all night, but I usually go home to sleep in my own bed, taking the pagers with me in case I’m needed.  In almost five years I’ve only had to go back twice during the night.  I return at 6:45 a.m. to pray with the morning’s surgery patients.  After that I report to the staff chaplain who has come on duty, and I’m done.

The first time I served as Night Chaplain a young man who had suffered a brain stem stroke died about 10 p.m., and I was busy with his family until about 2:00 a.m.  I have been asked to counsel a man who just found out he had terminal cancer, to sit with the wife of a man being treated unsuccessfully after a head-on collision, and to baptize a baby who did not survive after being born too early.  Sometimes it’s quite harrowing and sometimes it’s very dull, but I know that because I’m there, the staff chaplain will be able to get a good night’s sleep and be alert to attend to his or her duties the next day.

I learned long ago that the chaplain and other staff appreciate the presence and the efforts of the Night Chaplains, but until recently I didn’t realize how much the patients and their families value our presence.  A couple of weeks ago I was in Safeway when a woman pushing a cart turned to look at me as I passed.  Then she asked if I was a chaplain at the hospital.  When I told her that I was a local pastor serving as a once-a-month volunteer she told me that I had prayed for her brother one evening a couple of years ago when he was a patient.  (I must confess, I did not remember).  She told me how much comfort the prayer and my presence brought her brother and their family.  I asked about the brother and she told me that he was now in the last stage of kidney failure and has to make some serious decisions.  Before I could ask about a kidney transplant for her brother she told me again how she appreciated my efforts.  When our conversation ended, I walked away with a much lighter step.  Until then I never knew how much good I was doing at NCMC.  I was elated and told Bernie about the whole incident as soon as I got home.

Many of you volunteer in the community (or should).  I hope that someday you are rewarded as I was – with the grateful appreciation of someone you have blessed with your efforts. 

See you in church