June 30, 2009
Dear Friends of Chaplains on the Way,
Thanks to your participation and support, Chaplains on the Way is celebrating!
We're celebrating a successful visit to Boston in May by Craig Rennebohm, Mental Health Chaplain in the city of Seattle. Craig facilitated training in his Companionship model of ministry for a diverse group of 26 people from many ministries. Companionship is a relationship which promotes healing and growth for individuals and communities and provides a valuable framework for relating to others in any setting from the street to our churches on Sunday morning. Craig also met in Waltham with members of the Waltham Ministerial Association, preached and spoke after church on Sunday morning at the First Congregational Church in Natick and gave an address Sunday evening at the Village Church in Wellesley. It was a weekend of learning and inspiration.
We're celebrating, too, the completion in June of a labyrinth at Westborough State Hospital, thanks to the leadership of the Rev. Joan Murray, executive director and staff chaplain of Chaplains on the Way. Patients, staff and volunteers worked together with enthusiasm to build the labyrinth, and patients and staff walked the labyrinth when it was finished.
Joan continues to be a presence in Waltham on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, providing pastoral care to those she encounters on the streets or in the Waltham Community Day Center and Bristol Lodge Soup Kitchen. Thursdays find Joan at Newton-Wellesley Community Hospital co-facilitating a spirituality group and visiting patients in the Psychiatric Unit. So far in 2009, Joan has provided over 450 hours of pastoral support and community connection for the poor, homeless, those newly housed, and those struggling with addiction and mental illness.
Chaplains on the Way is looking toward the future!
Two opportunities to receive training in the Companionship model of ministry are planned for September 26th at the First Parish in Waltham and October 24th at the Walker Center in Newton. On each of these Saturdays the training will go from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. More details will be posted on this web site as they become available.
This fall Georgeanne Bennett will receive her field education through Chaplains on the Way, supervised by Joan Murray. Georgeanne is a student at Andover Newton Theological School (ANTS). Her presence will extend the circle of care that COTW can provide while she is learning about ministry with those on the edges of our society. We celebrate that COTW is now an approved field education site by ANTS.
Chaplains on the Way needs your continued prayers and financial support.
We are grateful for the many gestures of support we have received – encouragement, prayers and monetary gifts, and extend special thanks to the Barnes Fund of the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ, whose grant will support our field education student.
We ask for your continued support. Go to our "Giving" section to make a monetary or in-kind gift, or "How to Get Involved" to learn about ways you can connect with Chaplains on the Way.
In Christ's service,
Sarah and Joan
The Rev. Sarah Hubbell, COTW Advisory Board Chair and
The Rev. Joan B. Murray, Founder and Staff Chaplain