Providing spiritual & pastoral support at a distance: online event 17th March

This event, hosted by Theos, explores how chaplains have supported people during the crisis, and how care has changed with restrictions on physical presence.

Among those on the front-line of the Covid crisis, there are people whose job it is to provide spiritual and pastoral care for anyone who needs it. Throughout the pandemic, chaplains, faith advisors and pastoral carers have been supporting the isolated, offering a listening ear to the anxious, and comforting the ill, dying and bereaved.

This free event brings together a panel of chaplains and pastoral carers to discuss spiritual and pastoral care at a time of physical distance. It also marks the launch of new research by Theos, exploring the contributions of university chaplains during Covid, the challenges they have faced, and what can be learned from their experiences.

(cover photo courtesy of Konstantin Planinski @ Unsplash)

If you are working as a chaplain in a healthcare setting, why not join us for a cuppa and a chat over Zoom?

Tea & Chat - for mutual support.

For the next few weeks, there will be sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Everyone is welcome.

Tuesday: 16th March, from 4-5pm.

Zoom details: Meeting ID: 847 3526 3933; Passcode 499408

Wednesday: 24th March, from 4-5pm.

Zoom details: Meeting ID: 848 8989 8244; Passcode: 685885
Thursday: 11th March, 1st April, from 4-5pm.

Zoom details: Meeting ID: 884 0930 9600; Passcode: 750073

Come and share what is happening in your situation,

so that we can support one another.

Mark Newitt, Secretary for Healthcare Chaplaincy (pictured below), will host these events. Mark provides the leadership on Healthcare Chaplaincy work at a national level for the Free Churches as well as in a multi-faith context.

Rev Dr Mark Newitt

(cover photo courtesy of Jorge Garcia @ Unsplash)

Are you a chaplain working in H.E? Why not join us for coffee and a chat, via Zoom...

Coffee and chat for HE chaplains is a weekly opportunity to come together (virtually) with other chaplains. There is no fixed agenda, so you can bring questions, ideas, things that are bothering you, celebrations …

Each session lasts an hour and concludes with time for reflection and prayer, in a very relaxed and gentle way, often with visuals and music.

Coffee and chat takes place alternately on Monday mornings at 10 a.m. and Thursday afternoons at 4 p.m. We use Zoom as the platform and the codes are available below. Here are the dates for the next couple of months…

Monday Coffee and Chat (10 a.m.) on March: 15 April: 12, 26

Monday coffee and chat Zoom code

Thursday Coffee and Chat (4 p.m.) on March: 11, 25, April: 8, 22

Thursday coffee and chat Zoom code

(cover photo courtesy of Trent Erwin @ Unsplash)

Missing loved ones...

Over the last year, I expect we have all been missing our friends and families. It has been an unprecedented time of challenge and hardship. It has been an especially testing time for those with family members in prison as visiting has been restricted or not available and for those who are in prison and who have been unable to see their families for such a long time…

Please join us this coming Sunday to pray with Prison Fellowship

“Lord God, give courage and assurance to people in prison who have not seen their loved ones for many months, and who are worried for their families.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. Amen ”

You can find out more about the vital work Prison Fellowship are doing in these challenging times and have been doing for over 40 years HERE.

The Prayer Diary for March is available for you to download, share and pray along with during the month of March.

(cover photo courtesy of Anh Nguyen at Unsplash)

A reflection on Psalm 139:7 from Prison Fellowship

Back in 2018, Rev Canon Sandra Miller wrote about Mothering Sunday: “It’s not easy being a childless, motherless vicar at this time of year. It can feel very lonely. There is a sense that everyone else is with someone they love or who loves them. But there are many others who feel mixed emotions on the day, or simply want to avoid it’”

As we begin a new month of praying with Prison Fellowship and supporting the vital work they do all year round, I am sharing a poignant and thought-provoking article from their latest newsletter with you all, written by Joanna Perkins, who is Prison Fellowship’s Programme Administrator.

“I am sure that Rev Sandra Miller never expected that, over the last year, we would all feel that loneliness and disconnection from our loved ones everyday due to a pandemic, not just on Mothering Sunday. I think we all now have a small understanding of what it must be like to be isolated, like those who find themselves in prison. Many young adults in our prisons have spent nearly all of the past year locked up in their cells. They have had little opportunity to exercise, do any work, receive education, or mix with others. Neither have they been able to see their loved ones. How lonely, frustrated and cut off they must feel in their cells.
The psalmist David writes:

This speaks of God as a person everywhere, present in creation yet different from creation. God is everywhere and stays connected to us, regardless of the situation we find ourselves in. He cares about the big and small things - and He is right in the midst of them.
In the letters I read every day from our Letter Link programme, I see the care and concern in the words written to and from those in prison; the checking in with one another through this Covid-19 season. Some recent letters have talked about missing their mums and the impact these special people had on their lives.
Angel Tree Mothers’ Day was piloted in 2011 to support the young people in offender units. For the last ten years, it has been helping the family relationships between a mother or significant female carer and a young person in prison. It’s such a lovely way to send a little something to say "I care, I value you and thank you."

We can do all this daily (not just on significant days), caring for one another, being God's hands and feet - demonstrating His love in action that surrounds us and never leaves us.”

Joanna Perkins is Prison Fellowship's Programmes Administrator.

(cover photo by Lo Sarno @ Unsplash)