I have been asked to share my experience as a chaplain. This includes being in prisons, in a forensic unit of a mental health hospital and beyond institutions, in communities.
I title this: “Today’s Sun won’t bring harm, God is with us”
People asked me about the existence of God, the meaning and purpose of life. A God centred question deserves a God centred answer. These people are estranged, troubled and sometimes in traumatic pain. Both the victimizer and the victim, at a distance, look a lot like us.
Creation stories, for example in Genesis help with my response.
“God made people in God’s own image and said this is very very good.” This is the first truth in scriptures! Therefore, humans are created in an honoured fashion, capable of reason, being spiritual, balanced and intentional. God’s values include care, compassion, justice and mercy. These ”Truth Claims” are taken seriously throughout the world leading toward right relations in human terms.
I’m reminded, God’s loving grace brings all things together desiring wholeness, for new possibilities and new beginnings. Abrahamic Faiths, as with many world religious traditions, subscribe to these truths.
If truth exists, then order and peace in life can also exist.
But sometimes people have been moved away from these truth claims by the very structures originally designed to help development, protection, keeping society safe, such as by policing, some hospital policies and in religious institution. Remember George Floyd, residential schools and deinstitutionalizing of mental health hospitals?
I have seen structures behold only half-truths dragging individuals towards confusion, chaos, homelessness and death. Imagine a living hell or an existence not in accordance with our creator’s peaceful ways. I have witnessed as a chaplain processes that created otherness in the hearts and minds of many victims while erasing the possibilities for living peaceably. These once valued community strongholds can cause isolation and fear for the other. The fallout exists today on our streets.
As a chaplain I taught that the truth in God’s Creation stories tell of our personal origins. They included steps such as problem solving, life skills, information and knowledge that help reclaim our humanity while guarding against concepts of otherness. Through chaplaincy I’ve witnessed people making change in their lives. Some have become reconciled and co-creators with God, helping to break the yoke of harmful aspects of a system and thereby in pursuit of righteousness.
We remember from scriptures, it can take a generation wondering forty years in the desert as those led by Moses for change from slavery. Some are convinced by words of a prophet like John the Baptist who spoke of simple guidelines for a change in attitude, “just repent.”
Personal meaning and purpose can grow when real human connections are intentional. You have heard the saying “ it takes a community to raise a child,” This is what I am getting at. When we reclaim community, God can once again say to both the individual and their supportive community, these are “very good.”
A Chaplain’s work is to counter that which creates otherness. It is ongoing work advocating for authenticity in relations. Consider hate crimes in Vancouver, London Ontario, Montreal, Peterborough or against Indigenous Peoples.
We may ask who is the real enemy? Who are the victims? Who are the others? People can be effected directly or vicariously by the suffering of others. Personal reflection helps with answers leading to action.
As a chaplain, I listen to the cries of the least amongst us. For those who had suffered violence, pain and death of loved ones, the meaning can be complex and confusing. Society then may feel an absence of God’s justice and mercy. In our hearts, we demand the truth to be told!
God is always the truth and ultimate judge. God wants wholeness for the community, reconciliation of the offender and reparation for the victims.
The media help identify the reality in the many stories. They help to keep our moral compass working. Yet, journalists, now medical aids and innocent citizens, for example, are purposely targeted by lies of those perpetrating harm and doing war. These victims are the new others.
I close with this poem written by Haida al-Ghazali at the death of his friend, Fatima Hassoura, a 25 year old photojournalist killed in Northern Gaza, April 16, 2025.
He wrote this:
“Today’s sun won’t bring harm. The plants in the pot will arrange themselves for a gentle visitor. It will be bright enough to help mothers to dry their laundry quickly, and cool enough for the children to play all day. Today’s sun will not be harsh on anyone.”
Reverend George Best for Abraham Festival May14, 2025 Panel Discussion on Peace, Mark Street United Church, Peterborough