Deacon Reflection: The Hole in the Flute

By The Rev. J. Brooks Johnson

"I am a hole in a flute that the Christ's breath moves through – listen to this music. I am the concert from the movement of every creature singing in myriad chords." As a hospital chaplain for nearly seven years at High Point Medical Center, I draw inspiration from these lines first expressed by Hafiz. Simply put, my call is to journey with people at various stages of life and help them recognize their "hole," and in doing so, join together with the vast array of notes that sing sweet music to God. When we recognize our "hole" we can then welcome the Holy Spirit through which the breath of healing creates the sweetest of notes most pleasing to the Lord. They are not necessarily notes of joy and happiness. They are the notes that compose the Beloved Community (Martin Luther King Jr.), the Dream of God (Verna Dozier), or koinonia. 

Each day I look forward to going to work. The excitement I feel is in knowing I have no idea what awaits me when I arrive. What is daunting happens to be the same notion. I do a wide variety of things from Advance Care Planning, in which I help a person understand and complete things like a Health Care Power of Attorney and Living Will, to holding hands with family members and staff forming a sacred circle around the bed where their loved one lay dying while offering prayer. I have a hand in assisting employees financially and emotionally who face complex problems due to an array of things like illness, abuse or death in their own family. I am also a contributing member of the palliative care team. Together with their medical clinicians, we assist patients and their families to talk openly about their goals of care couched in identifying what gives their life meaning. I have led celebrations of life in the hospital when staff have died and at local faith communities upon the death of a patient. I lead groups like Spirituality Support Group in our Inpatient Behavioral Health Unit, as well as speak to groups of staff about topics like resilience or how to be truly present to challenging patients. 

When intersecting daily with all people, I try as best I can to embody one of the messages I share with group in our psychiatric unit; if we are all created in the image of God, how is it that we can better respect ourselves while simultaneously honoring God? One way that has the potential to impact ourselves positively while also impacting others is when we learn, regardless of our differences, to journey together. When we commit to the hard work of caring for ourselves in the midst of living with others, even caring for others, we may experience a healing that transcends our crisis whether it be a diagnosis or emotional state of being. My call is to live the Gospel in addition to speaking about it. In order to promulgate the message, my vocation is to invite others from across the spectrum of life, teaching them the ways of Jesus. This is what it means to love ourselves and one another for God’s sake. When doing this, together we make music to God's ears.

The Rev. J. Brooks Johnson is a clinical chaplain at High Point Medical Center.