Excuse me for perching like monks in the medieval period.

When they were singing they just had a little seat that they could perch on.

Without going into too much detail I’ve received incredible hospitality

and support after a very silly thing that I did.

I’ve been in Utah from the end of August, and when it was very hot I went

outside, opened the patio door and went and put a rather under-ripe avocado pear in the sunshine thinking I could have that for my tea, and walked on these tiles that were heat retardant and they burnt, rather badly.

Initially it was thought that they were second-degree burns, but then I was admitted for three and a half weeks into the U in the Intensive Care Burn Unit.

The

experience, I’ve walked in another man’s soles for a week, because a cadaver graft was done in order to try to prompt my own flesh to “granulate”, as they say.

And then, this part of my leg is recovering from a -- it’s like a bad graze. When you were a kid and you were on a bike and you were cycling around and trying to do interesting stuff and you grazed, it hurts more than a cut sometimes. And this hurts more than the feet.

But I’m really grateful for the hospitality and the specialism

and the professionalism of those at the U Burns Unit.

So, my feet are not my own.

I have to look after my mortal body, because that’s a commandment God has given us it to honor. But also, it’s not just my own now, the immense amount of energy

and attention and work from so many people makes me ponder how responsible I have to be with what I’ve got to get me through to the Heavenly Jerusalem.

Well, that’s me, why I’m here at BYU. Thank you for that introduction.

It was also good to hear from Blake that there are border patrol chaplains.

Can you wave at me if you're border

patrol? Hello!

A really significant ministry, no doubt, in the public eye at the moment

across the world.

So thank you for your service to people who will be under all sorts of stress, both people who are trying to cross the border and to people who are trying to protect it.

Army?

Where’s the Army?

Good morning, and welcome.

Or if you’re in the Army, I suppose this is afternoon now.

And the Navy? Have we got any Naval chaplains? Welcome. All sitting in a pool here at the front.

Air Force? They’ll be at the back, I guess, at the height.

Yep, there we go!

Great to see you.

Police? Do we have any police chaplains?

Thank you for your service and for what you do to support people in the frontline and on the protection of the domestic world of the U.S.

And fire, have you any fire chaplains?

Nice to see you.

Being on the ward with two little children among them -- I won't use their real names, because I think that’s probably against the regulations. Let’s call one of them Kevin.

This little boy Kevin has been in there since the Fourth of July, because on the Fourth of July an adult threw a firework at him.

And he was wearing polyester-type clothing, and it sort of all melted. And just to see the attention and the love and support that he’s been

given, and receiving and appreciating is inspiring. But I don't underestimate the trauma that there are for people who have to deal daily with these sort of tragedies. And so,

fire chaplains, I’m sure, are immensely called upon.

And prison chaplains, do we have any prison chaplains here?

Welcome, nice to see you.

Really important ministry.

A ministry which, perhaps, par excellence, reminds us that we are people of hope, that we never paint ourselves into a corner.

And one of the things I have learnt and really appreciate from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is where you put the notion of repentance.

It is not under the umbrella of gloom, which it can be in some traditions.

But it’s under the massive umbrella of hope and joy and new start.

And thank you for embodying that to people who, perhaps, because of their background or their choices or, perhaps, even mental health issues, have ended up incarcerated.

A really important ministry, as all of them are.

Are there any educational chaplains here?

Oh, there we go, just the one.

So I’m very honored to be with you, and I will talk a little bit about it.

And as part of an introduction as to how I try to see and understand educational chaplaincy.

There is -- I hope it’s going to go behind me, if it can -- a page from the website of the University of Oxford.

There we go, I think it’s there.

Oh, there’s a handsome looking chap.

This is the "Faith and Chaplaincy" page of Pembroke College, but connected to the University.

And one of the things, clearly, I think that we’re all really anxiously looking at is COVID, how we rebuild a community now, a real-life community. They start on Monday -- oh, today!

They start on the 4th of October.

Yes, today the new students start at Oxford. It’s a much shorter term, only eight weeks, three times eight weeks.

But this would be the first time since COVID happened that we’ve got students live and present, so that’s important. Now, how do we do that? What’s does the chaplaincy do with regard, and how it connects with the rest of welfare.

You’ll see on that screen that there are lots of red boxes, which sort of -- bit of a jargon buster. So, what’s evensong, for example.

They can click on that and it says what it is.

But then there’s a picture of what we do in the chapel.

Every term we have daily prayers.

And this is embarrassing, but for the first few years I was there,

I just used to wander into chapel myself and say some prayers and then wander away. And I thought, actually, not very long ago, “I wonder if anyone else would like to come and pray?” Stupid question -- well, no, brilliant question, but stupid timing.

And I’ve never been alone since.

I’ve never been alone. Every morning, different people.

We have a new master, a master’s the head of the college, and it’s

the Right Honourable Sir Ernest Ryder who was the president of the Court of Appeal, like a Supreme Court judge, really.

And he’s joined us, and he’s one of the least judgmental people I know -- if this is being broadcast, I hope he’s not listening

-- and witty, and he comes to morning prayer and he wears his gown.

And I thought first of all, “Oh, it’s because he’s a judge, they want to dress up, you know.” But it’s not.

He said, “If I come, and I would just as I am, it would be an individual praying. But as I come, it’s the college praying.” And that sort of support is certainly rare in Oxford colleges.

And I can't believe how blessed I am to be a chaplain after two other masters, who’ve been very nice, but to have one who puts his life on the prayer line.

So I’m really lucky.

The next bit, there’s sort of a carrousel.

Here’s a student who says why she likes coming and singing.

There’s another one, you may know him, Nicholas Cole.

He’s one of the young Fellows, and he comes every morning.

The next one, if you click on that, that’s our Organ Scholar. He was organist at Coventry Cathedral, a major place. So we’ve got fantastic music capacity.

And the next one is Theo Van Lint, who is professor of Armenian.

The Armenian community use the chapel as a place of worship regularly.

As do Roman Catholics, as do Methodists, and all sorts. Including this guy here, who is a Buddhist and who comes and explores with us spirituality.

It’s a place of holding, not a closed place.

But a place dedicated to God and all who are wanting to find Him or to ask questions about who they are.

So it’s a great privilege, a massive privilege to be there.

And one of the things I will kick off by making an honest testimony,

is that over the last five or five and a half years since inspiring service, and since meeting, first of all Matt Holland, who’s now one of the Seventy, but who then was the president of UVU who came to Pembroke

for a sabbatical.

We used to have what we cheekily called “Mormon Coffee Mornings”.

Wrong, the use of Mormon, and wrong for the use of -- we didn't drink coffee.

We didn't even drink tea or herbal tea, we had cocoa.

Which I think is kosher, I think

that’s okay.

And he said at one point, “I’d like to you meet my dad, I think you’d get on well with him.” And initially, this is where we as chaplains need to sometimes call in our intuition and instincts.

I thought, “I bet his dad is a bit worried about him being a member of The

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I’ll happily meet him and try and say how impressed I am with that church.” And when I did meet him I realized that wasn't quite necessary.

And I will say something else, which will sound a bit spooky, when I first met

him, when he got out of the car the second time outside the university

church in Oxford, it was as if -- it wasn't like reunion with an old friend, but it was like reunion from something much bigger.

There was a real sense in which this was something to pick up.

And I have no idea, I can't explain it, and won't try, but since those

days, since those first days, my friendship and devotion and commitment to the Church as a fellow traveler -- I brought my big Bible, but it’s down there. I don’t need it. It’s, I think, from Doctrine and Covenants, where after the story of

the martyrdom of Brother Joseph,

Brigham Young, as president, gives an announcement to all of those who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and those who travel with them.

And I commit myself to those last few words, to travel with that church.

Why?

Because my love for the Lord Jesus has increased beyond any factor I could imagine, simply by being part of the fellowship with this community, with the restored church.

And making the promise to the BYU Honor Code based on the Word of Wisdom, only including shaving, since making that, that has been a tremendous

guide to my path. So you don't reach out your hand when you’re with other people, not knowing whether or not they have difficulty with drugs or drink or whatever.

You don't reach out your hand and collude, you offer the option of not

drinking, of not putting one’s self at the center.

So that’s why I am committed to continually exploring and working with the Church.

I better get on, because that’s a bit long.

But if we go a little bit further down, this is the -- if we scroll, Adam, sorry.

He’s fallen asleep now.

There we go, he’s woken up again. Thanks, Adam. This is the official University of Oxford page and for this reason I want people who are Buddhists and Armenians and Muslims and Jews to know that

the coming to Pembroke and the Chapel is a place of advocacy for them.

Not just tolerance, that’s a horrible notion.

but advocacy.

And that’s why the Church is mentioned two or three times on this page, The Church of Jesus Christ.

Including this, which if you can now press play you can watch this, as will I.

[Video Begins] Male VO: As the oldest English speaking university in the world, the University of Oxford enjoys a rich religious heritage.

Theology was first taught here over 800 years ago, and the institution has been

printing Bibles for many centuries.

A modern-day Apostle, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland recently addressed the Oxford theology faculty.

He explained to scholars and theologians how The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints regards the Book of Mormon as another testament of Jesus Christ.

Coupled with the Holy Bible, there’s no document more powerful than the Book of Mormon as evidence of God’s continuing loving voice, and as a witness of the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ.

They can't know, really, about us without knowing the Book of Mormon, so I’m very anxious for people to read it.

I was touched that so many were in attendance.

And number were, of course, theology faculty and theology students.

The fact that it was Oxford is no small matter.

That made it doubly nice.

Elder Holland also joined a distinguished panel of experts to express their views on how Christian doctrine can be translated into Christian

practice as we serve one another.

These are they who serve the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the homeless, and those who are sick or imprisoned or in pain.

They do all of this after the pattern, and in the spirit of Him who said, “Inasmuch as you’ve done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.” Reverend Dr Andrew Teal: It was great to have somebody from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles right in our midst, to be able to model that sense of energy and immediacy and joy

and accessibility, and a determination to understand and to engage. It was very refreshing, indeed. Male VO: Panelists included Lord Rowan Williams the former Arch Bishop of Canterbury and a prominent leader in the Anglican community. Lord Rowan Williams: Above all, Christian service means honoring the image of God

in the other, the human other, but also in the whole world.

Giving to it the kind of loving attention that God gives to what God has made. [Singing “O Come, All Ye Faithful”] Male VO: Elder Holland also met together with

other worshipers at Oxford University’s historic Pembroke Chapel to herald the start of the Christmas season, and to reflect on how we can invite Jesus Christ to guide our lives.

The carols and the scriptures would be beautiful and rewarding anywhere, but to have that opportunity at Oxford reminds us of the inseparable link

between religion and education.

And that was really captured, I think, in the Christmas Festival.

The true meaning, the unique joyous meaning of the birth of this baby was not

confined to those first hours in Bethlehem, but would be realized in

the life He would lead and in His death, in His triumphant atoning sacrifice, and in His prison bursting resurrection.

These are the realities that make Christmas joyful.

That was wonderful to see. Nice to look home to the chapel there, it’s just a lovely place to be.

The chapel seats 120 people and we had 240 in that night.

And one of the things that we have every term now, every term, there’s a Roman Catholic, an Orthodox, an Anglican, a Protestant, a Baptist, and there’s always a preacher and a service which is dedicated, and which has the flavor of the ward. You saw our new ward bishop was there, actually, in the crowd.

And he’s preaching when I get back next term, we use the hymnal and we have

on the altar a large Bible and a large Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price, and a single candle in the middle

to show that actually we want to end the cisms and to work towards reunion. As somebody said at General Conference -- I can't remember, I think she was president of the Young Women's -- “Come unto Christ, and don't come alone.” That

part of our mission as a chapel is to bring people and communities together.

And why this is on the university website, and the Church is mentioned three times on this webpage, is because there is a residual

prejudice, hate to say, about the Church.

It’s somehow seen to be not quite mature.

And so it’s really important for me to stick my neck out and to say, “That if anyone’s looking to come to the Pembroke College at University and find this page

and happen to be a member of the Church, they will know that this is a place where they will not only be supported and welcomed, but promoted

and an advocate.” Moving on, that’s one of our chief things as chaplains is not only to be the pastoral cuddly person.

I quite like doing that, don't worry.

It’s quite nice to embrace and to engage with people.

But there’s something else, isn’t there? There’s something about, in which ever zone or experience of ministry you are, you have to inspire, not only friendship and comradery, which I know is marvelous.

But to see, and I’ve heard stories, particularly from military

chaplains about the desire to pray before jumping out of an airplane is something that atheists, agnostics, want to be in on.

And that sort of friendship, that making connection of human destiny.

To recognize that, in fact, as chaplains you’re right in the midst of it.

The gospel is about conflict, it’s not easy to stand up for the wonderful purposes of our Lord and to engage with people.

Because people have a rage against God.

There is a contention in our world, what’s called a “cancel

culture”, you write people off because they’re not of your group.

We’ll that won't do.

Part of being a chaplain, being military or whatever, is about crossing the aisle.

And one of the things that I’ve puzzled about a bit has been how being a military chaplain, in certain parts of the chaplaincy in the United Kingdom

a chaplain has a rank and progresses through the ranks, but not in the Navy.

In the Navy it’s assumed that the chaplain is the same rank

as whomever that chaplain is speaking to, be it admiral of the fleet, or be it

a new recruit.

Interesting.

But I wonder whether actually that’s something helpful about rank.

If being a chaplain is be close enough to be trusted, it also needs to be far enough ahead to be worth following.

You know, I don't know about you, but I’ve certainly fallen into this trap of wanting to so identify with people, that I forget the role that we’re in, the particularly vocation.

That actually it’s not about me being friendly or popular, it’s about actually being a bit of a light.

And one of the things that struck me this time about military chaplains, because I’ve not really thought deeply about it, was its history, that Washington himself in the Wars of Independence authorized the appointment of chaplains to the Army -- you probably know all this -- because he believed that faith inculcates virtue.

He appealed to Congress, even, for better pay for chaplains, so there we go.

You can quote him when you’re looking for your next pay rise.

And he said these words, which strike me as remarkable, “I need not point out

the great utility of gentlemen” -- and of course now ladies -- “Whose lives

and conversations are unexceptionable being employed for that service in the Army.” Unexceptionable.

When I hear about what you military chaplains get up to, jumping out of

planes and being in areas of conflict, I don't think that’s unexceptionable.

But it reminds us of actually what holiness it, what our vocation is.

It’s not to take on a great role, but it’s to inhabit who we are with authenticity.

And perhaps as a society we put too much emphasis on the great big figure heroes, whereas a lot depends on the unexceptionable, those people who

don't stand out.

We build, perhaps, not on the shoulders of giants, but on the soldier of hobbits.

So people who make little choices for good.

Now, that’s so present in the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants, it’s about the small choices which actually are the foundation

for big ones.

So, being close enough and sharing enough means knowing hardships people around you know, disappointment, disillusionment, even coming across

resentment and stress.

How you handle that is core to how you build resilience in yourselves and how

you help those committed to your care to build resilience.

A note of sadness, I don't know about the U.S., but the number of people who are homeless on the streets of England, in particular, many of whom have

mental health issues, and many of whom are ex-servicemen who cannot cope with

a lifestyle which isn’t regimented and ordered and provided.

I think that has to be part of chaplaincy builds resilience in the people committed to your charge.

So, if you’re in the health and hospitals and prisons, this next bit is for you. And I do draw upon my very recent experience of hospital chaplaincy.

There are some professional chaplains in the U.

The one who kept coming to see me, and I’ll give his name, Johnathan McBrayer, a new Southern Baptist minister.

And I thought I knew what Southern Baptist ministers’ theology was like.

You know, we’re very prejudicial, the English, we imagine that everybody as it is on American television programs, rather than seeing

the wonderful diversity.

I would not have believed this guy, and wouldn't have described him

as a Southern Baptist, but he was.

Then there was somebody, and I think Blake knows her, who was a Peruvian

Shaman or Shaman -- I don't know how to pronounce it, Shaman Chaplain.

Which I wondered how many clients from that constituency to you meet as a chaplain in a major university hospital? But that wasn't the point, she came, and I guess she was a humanist chaplain, really.

The Episcopal bishop, a wonderful bishop came and talked.

And I will share something he said, he thinks is a major privilege

being a bishop in this state because of the expectation of service.

The prompt to look outwards, rather than inwards.

And one of the things that he will not allow, because he knows there are a lot of people who become Episcopalian are disillusioned members of this church, he won't allow that.

That’s not enough.

You don't just become an Anglican because you’re fed up with your own community, because that’s not going to last.

And what he won't do, he will not rebaptize people. If you have been baptized in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

the disciplines of the Church of England, the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church, are that these baptisms are valid if they are in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and in water.

And why he doesn't do this is this is chipping away at some of those resilient

claims that this church is not really Christian.

And I really respect him for sticking out his neck in that way on behalf of his brothers and sisters in this church.

There was the dean of Salt Lake City, the Anglican Episcopal dean who brought me communion, as did Paul Carrey, brought me communion from The

Church of Jesus Christ, the President of Orem Sixth Ward, Elder Holland.

People thought I had a sort of imaginary friend when I kept -- because he rang every day when I was in hospital.

And then when three police officers and two security men walked into my ward, I was being injected at the time, the nurse was horrified and wondered what I’d done, I think, and then in walks Jeffrey Holland.

And I can't tell you just how marvelous his two visits were, not just for me but for the ward and for members of staff.

When I think of who was chaplain to me at that moment when I needed other people to look after me, I want to talk about four of the staff there, one was the assistant surgeon Sidney, one was a healthcare assistant called Sam, one was my nurse called Eric, and there was Lauren.

All of those had been on missions, and there was something

extraordinary about what they were doing.

They were doing their professional job, but they were also being elders and sisters, they were being the priests as they did it.

And I can't tell you why that was the case, but it was that -- those of you who have spent time horizontally and not been able to put a foot to the floor know that the bed becomes, not only the place where you sleep, but it’s your dining table, it’s your toilet, it’s your shower, it’s everything.

And these people came and tended with such humble attention.

Dignity, they gave me dignity. And it made me realize that that is the core of what we are called to do.

And it also made me realize why, perhaps, the U doesn't have any

chaplains from this church.

Which is interesting, isn’t it, right in the heart of Utah.

But nonetheless, that sort of experience was extraordinary.

As was entrusting oneself to other people for things which -- I’m quite a private

person, don't like sort of other people having to look after me

in that way.

But what doing that allows is that people will then share with you their own weaknesses and their own issues.

One of the nurses said that she

had a syndrome where she needed to have a very strict regime so she didn’t get distracted.

But to be able to say that to another human being is entrusting.

And it also gives you back your own dignity as someone who can be there.

One of the things that I’m learning is that a lot of people just want to jump in and help. And though that’s marvelous,

it reminds me of Mark’s Gospel to chapter 10:51, when Jesus came across someone who was ill, He began by asking, “What do you want me to do for you?” Gave that person their dignity.

Didn't immediately presume, “this is what I’m going to do”.

And I think that’s something that we, as chaplains -- I will certainly take

back from my experience on the U.

Because when we’re carers, particularly in emergency or extreme situations, we don't want to dehumanize people, we don't want to take away their

agency or freedom.

And patients, trust me, they can get very tired, and if you're stuck in your bed and you can't even stand up and walk out, you know, people can come in and just grab you.

Well, I think it’s important not to make people feel more marginalized.

And sometimes, rather than doing anything, it’s simply presence. It might just be going and sitting with someone in prison or in a hospital bed.

“I was sick, I was in prison, and you visited me.

You didn't make it all better, but you stood in human solidarity with

me”, the Lord says.

And part of the job for all of us, but particularly, perhaps in healthcare, is to help patients see themselves as part of a bigger picture.

The carers and loved ones, perhaps, at home, and of the need to take

care of our mortal bodies.

These feet are not my own, they belong to the Lord and

they belong to the U,

and I’ve got to look after them.

I’m accountable to both.

“Young and old”, says a Catholic friend of mine, Timothy Radcliffe, head of the Order of Preachers, the Dominican Order throughout the world.

And has set up an office here in New York, in the United Nations.

But he says, “Young and old, rich and poor, we all receive the same

unfailing attention just because we are human beings.

Whatever the faith, or lack of it,

of patients, doctors, and nurses, the care of the sick, whether by nurses or doctors, or chaplains is not just an act of compassion, it’s a small sign of the breaking in of the kingdom in which there will be no more wounds, no more hurt, no more loneliness or isolation, and no more contempt.”

So, whatever our specialist chaplaincy, it’s also about embodying this divine empathy, which is part of our deepest nature.

In Jesus we see God sometimes even -- oh, ouch -- tiptoeing -- that was

appropriate -- onto the scene answering ordinary health needs in the gospels, becoming near to those people and to us in our suffering.

Thomas Matthew who is an American scholar writes, “Suddenly God was seen walking among His people, touching, stroking, comforting, pressing His warm

and lifegiving hands on them.”

And of course in this era of pandemic there’s risk, not only for the risk of military chaplains jumping out of aeroplanes, and I think that’s probably a higher risk than ministering to someone with COVID.

But nonetheless most of the people who in the first round of deaths in the United

Kingdom died were healthcare workers and people who drove buses and public transport, because they were more exposed.

The risk of contagion is personal.

An example from ancient history Eusebius writes, “From the plague of 260 A.D.” -- I’m going to stand up for a while.

I’m going to try and respect you a bit by doing that.

Dionysius of Alexandria noted that a third of the population died of

the plague in that city, the second largest city in the empire after Rome.

And Christians drew attention from the state that was persecuting them

because unlike civic authorities, they stayed with the sick.

The authorities left, they wanted to get rid and wanted to protect themselves, but Christians did not.

So Dionysius wrote this, “The best of our brothers and sisters lost their lives in this manner.

A number of Presbytis, deacons and layman and woman, winning high commendation so that death in this form, the result of great piety

and strong faith, seems in every way equal to martyrdom.” These quotes, by the way, are available for you to just plug in and get them, so you don't have to write anything down.

So that looks at military and fire and all the rest of it. But what about educational?

My own experience, I guess.

Well, obviously, people going to university for the first time -- in this culture here, some of whom will have served a mission, so they’ll all have

already explored that dislocation from the familiar and everything being provided.

But now as students they have to find their own way of living in the world, making their own pathway.

And in Oxford there’s often a sort of imposter syndrome, a shock of not being

the cleverest, because they found at school they were among always the cleverest students.

But now they find they’ve got to work, and that’s a shock for some people.

They have to find a balance.

Many people of our new generation of students have a reluctance to be

joiners, at least that was before COVID. I want to see whether or not that’s the case now afterwards, whether or not people actually want to join in.

However, there’s evidence that people who are under 25 are much more able to and interested in praying than people who are over 50.

I find that interesting.

So, to be a place like Pembroke College on that webpage that I showed you is, I think, to be a place of reconciling cultures, home, religious identity, and living with a new community.

Last year we had a bit of a crisis at college, because Israel invaded

Gaza, you remember.

And on our corridors everything had been find until that, and then people started to do memes.

I didn't even really know what a meme was.

But on the internet they used to post stuff, which was quite

contentious, to say the least.

And it was very sad that we had Islamophobic and we had antisemitic stuff being hurled from people who before then had been good neighbors on the same corridor.

The new master was very, very anxious to address this in a pastoral way, a judge with a pastoral heart.

And so, he looked to the chapel and this chaplain to try to facilitate how we address this.

So I went to the chief Jewish chaplain of the university and the head of

the Islamic Study Center, one of the chief Muslim chaplains, and we met together.

It says, “end of time”, so I’m going to take that seriously, especially if it’s printed behind me, as well.

And what we were able to do was that the Islamic chaplain said, “Sharia Law is not just about looking after your own community, but it’s about building justice where you are.” The chaplain from the Jewish community said that,

“Halakha, or living the Torah, is about enjoying the joy of life.” And so we were able to use those two chaplaincy strands to reconcile all of the stuff that was happening.

So, I’m going to take that seriously, there’s ten minutes left.

And if you want to ask me any other questions.

What I do want to say is one last anecdote, which is true, right for the end.

Unless you’re ready to share your soul with others, chaplaincy will feel a slog.

One of the stories about Elder Faust, who signed when Elder Holland was

principal, or the president of BYU, (Inaudible) site in

Jerusalem, was they had to show that you would not proselytize.

And they assured and assured and assured.

The chief rabi at the signing ceremony said to Elder Faust, “I know that you’re not going to proselytize with words, but what are you going to do about the light in the eyes of these students?” Now, I know that sometimes I have done things or been in a place where my light is dim, and I’ve had to find ways of constantly coming back to be in humility, to be humbled and healed.

And I guess that’s true for us chaplains, whatever our area.

Sometimes we know that the light of faith and love and life is dimmed within us.

And that’s when our families, our friendship networks, this

group, is really important.

To have a group of people who can look us in the eye and tell us when we’ve been a fool and invite us back so that we can give our energy and bring life to those whom we serve.