Chaplain gets a 2-fer

As you might imagine, offering prayers for patients was once part of my daily routine while serving as a healthcare chaplain over the last 20 years. When patients accepted my offer, I'd ask if they'd rather me pray aloud at that moment or pray for them silently later. I allowed this option so as to not put the patient on the spot before staff or visitors. Most chose an audible prayer in the moment, but I recall at least two octogenarians who countered my offer with a surprising one of their own. The first patient had an amusing response as she leaned forward from her pillow to ask, "Do you get paid for this job?" At first, her question seemed to have the random tone of a dementia patient. "Yes, ma'am," I said. "The hospital pays me for my work." "Well then," she concluded, "I'll expect both." "I'm sorry. Both?" I asked with a confused chuckle that proved me to be slow on the uptake. "I'm answering your question," she said firmly. "If you're paid to do this job, you should pray for me now and later." I shook a finger toward her in the way one does when admitting a worthy opponent has the upper ground. "You got me," I said. "You definitely got me." If she wanted a "two-fer" – two prayers for the price of one – I would certainly oblige. The second prayer patient gave a more serious response. His medical condition wasn't serious, but he was nearing 90 years old, and his "heavenly discharge" was more likely with each passing year. With a bald head and small frame, he had a Gandhi look about him and maybe even a touch of Gandhi's spirit. At the end of our visit, I offered the aging Episcopalian a prayer, but he counter-offered with something I've never forgotten: "Does anyone ever offer to pray for you, Chaplain?" His question told me he was looking outside himself at a time when most patients look, understandably so, inside themselves. "Well, uh ..." I stumbled, embarrassed that he focused his attention on my needs. "Have you ever had a patient pray for you?" he repeated with special emphasis on "ever." "I guess not." "It's about time, don't you think?" he declared with a wink in his voice. Perhaps he suspected that in my position as a caregiver, I imagined myself above receiving pastoral care from others. Perhaps he saw an attitude in me that said, "I'm here to help people, but I don't need any help." The wise elder found that while facing his own mortality, other people mattered that much more. And most importantly, he knew the prayers he offered for others could boomerang and become a part of his own healing. As he prayed for my work, my family and my health, I recalled the words of an old spiritual: "It's not my brother, it's not my sister, but it's me, O' Lord, standing in the need of prayer." His prayerful plea multiplied my efforts to pay the blessings forward to the remaining patients on my rounds. At the end of the day, I couldn't help but wonder if the old man found the secret to longevity in Jesus' words, "If your first concern is to look after yourself, you'll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you'll find both yourself and me." Norris Burkes is a syndicated columnist and retired Air Force chaplain. Read more columns at www.thechaplain.net. Send comments to comment@thechaplain.net or call 843-608-9715.