Pastoral Theology 1 | P a g e 3 Jae Bum Kim

Theology of Pastoral Care

I was born into a Buddhist family that lived out Confucius tradition in South Korea. Given this religious background, my family expected me to exhibit good behavior and to be an exemplary person in the world. Though I lived these Buddhist thoughts and practices, I couldn’t help but feel that something was missing from my life. One day, I had a chance to meet a pastor in the hopes of finding an answer to my spiritual journey. After a good conversation with him, he ended our conversation with a prayer. At that very moment, I felt a calmness and peace in my body and soul that I never experienced before, even with Buddhist Zen meditation. I was touched by God’s invisible, but sensible, hand. I was filled with such joy because the Holy Spirit gave me a peaceful mind that I had never been able to achieve before.

This experience amazed me and made me realize the work of the Holy Spirit in my life. From that time on, I was eager to know God, understand who Jesus is, and had such a passion to be familiar with the biblical truth: God is love (1 John 4:16). Because of this love, God is in constant pursuit of being united in love with all of humanity. In this pursuit, he gave his son Jesus so that all people may have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10). I believe I received God’s grace free of exchange. His grace surpasses and supersedes any conditions, situations or circumstances in my wildest imagination.

I believe God elects certain people as his pastoral care providers, just as He chose Moses as His servant in order to respond to the suffering of his people. This mercy and compassion from the Holy Spirit inspired me to go into pastoral care. As God has done for me, I want to embody and deliver the love and care people need in their deepest hours of worry. In this regard, I believe pastoral care must be directed by the Holy Spirit because He is the inspiration and model for the purest form of empathy and compassion. Though pastoral skills, knowledge and training are important, those who do not have the warmth and empowerment will not be able to fully perceive and identify the depth and extent of the human spirit. A poem written by a Zen Buddhist monk inspired me how to delve into the fathomless deep of the human heart and soul:

Flowers laughing in the garden, but leaves no sounds. Birds crying in the mountain forest, but leaves no tears. Bamboo shadow cleaning the stairs, but leaves no dust. Moonlight going through the water, but leaves no trace.

My personal theological foundation for pastoral care follows the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit as written in the Scripture.

“But the Comforter (Counselor, Comforter, Strengthener, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Standby), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things. And He will cause you to recall everything I have told you” (John 14:26).

To me, this is a most valuable lesson for all God’s children. Jesus reveals his love for me in giving the Holy Spirit to be my helper, my advocate, my friend, my counselor and my comforter. Parakletos is a Greek word that literally means, “One called alongside.” The Holy Spirit comes

Pastoral Theology 2 | P a g e 3 Jae Bum Kim

alongside me in various ways. Sometimes He meets me as a helper and at other times, as a friend. I often need His comfort and His advocacy. As a healthcare chaplain, I want to reflect this to my patients: people who need an advocate, friend and comforter. I want to keep in step with the Spirit, labor to walk by the Spirit and strive to be filled with the Spirit and led by the Spirit.

Early on, I felt I was being called to be a helper to people in need. I imagine my role as a healthcare chaplain is that of midwife. “The midwife is present to another in a time of vulnerability, working in areas that are deep and intimate. It is a relationship of trust and mutual respect. The midwife does things with, not to, the person giving birth. The midwife is teacher in that she helps the birth-giver toward ever greater self-knowledge. At the beginning of the relationship, the midwife takes time to establish a comfortable rapport in which no question is irrelevant or dumb. As a spiritual helper paying attention, listening to what is not being said, or to what is being said but minimized. Midwife intervenes only when necessary and helpful, never for the sake of doing something.”1 Like midwife, led by the Holy Spirit, I am helping and facilitating patients to express their feelings, thoughts, and values through patience and waiting, not as subjects of action, but as objects of action.

I also can be an advocate for those who are marginalized and outcast by society. I believe

chaplains are called to minister to the disenfranchised of the societythe “the lease of these” as Jesus taught in Matthew 25. All human beings are “created in the image of God” (Genesis 1:27). Therefore, I have to treat other people with compassion, dignity and respect. I assume my role as an advocate, functioning in the following ways for those who need a voice in the healthcare system. I am an advocate between institutions and patients, family members and staff, clarifying and interpreting institutional policies to patients, community clergy and religious organizations; offering patients, family members and staff an emotionally and spiritually safe professional from whom they can seek counsel or guidance; representing community issues and concerns to the organization. This is the central sense in which it is used in 1 John 2:1: “My little children, these things I write to you, that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

Chaplains respond to emergency situations at the request of other responding agencies, and their primary role is to provide comfort to individuals in the midst of traumatic circumstances. For me, The Holy Spirit is a person “who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God” (2 Cor. 1:4). I strive to provide comfort in its purest and original form: not to be a passive sympathizer or consoler, but to give strength to people, just as the original Latin word, comfotare, means. I am able to bring spiritual comfort through building relationships of trust. I can comfort people by guiding a person to find answers that are authentic and satisfying to them.

1 Margaret Guenther, Holy Listening: The Art of Spiritual Direction, A Cowley Publications Book, New York, 1992, p.87.

Pastoral Theology 3 | P a g e 3 Jae Bum Kim

Often times, patients see chaplains and it provokes a transference projection. They see chaplains as a religious person and associate their personal feelings of religion to the chaplain. Therefore, it is important that I should have no therapeutic aim or professional agenda. Walking into the room, it is important to not have a goal of doing something to the person you are serving. In this way, I intuitively understand the importance of “dwelling.” or being with another without any personal agenda or intention to manipulate. Dwelling means being with another person in a way that allows them to be who they are without any forced feeling of changing who they are, even around a religious leader. As such, accompanying means accepting the other person’s right to make the best decision for themselves rather than pushing any prescribed model of what a “good” decision or choice should be. Being physically present and emotionally available means allowing others to experience their own personal journeys and having the honor to go on that journey with them.

Companionship is another important factor of being a chaplain. Being a companion to a patient goes beyond empathy, emotional presence and attentiveness. I am there to help him or her find meaning and autonomy in the decision making process. Openness, a connection between the heart and mind, and a deep concern for the freedom of each individual to make his or her own journey towards their ultimate goal should be considered in my pastoral care practice.

As a chaplain ministering for diverse population, I find myself called to minister in multicultural, intercultural and interfaith contexts. Pastoral care needs to be an “emptying of selfhood” like Jesus (Phil. 2:8-9) so that I can engage in real ways to the multitude of people in this world. I also recognize God’s presence in various cultures. It is important for me to have an understanding of where people are really coming from in historical, social, cultural, gender, economic, spiritual and political terms. I also feel compelled to deliver my words in their language as it happened on the Day of Pentecost in which the people heard the disciples proclaim the Good News of Jesus in their native languages. God’s compassion and creation of individuality and free will calls me to serve the rich color of the diversity that surrounds me.

I believe pastoral care is a divinely-appointed or inspired ministry to people in need. It cannot just rest on technical training, professional skills, or “going by the books.” The deeper and more complex points of this professional can only be fruitfully carried out with the wisdom, knowledge and guidance of the Holy Spirit, who empowers me to do the surpassingly significant ministry of pastoral care.