Hospital Board Meeting Prayer: November 2

Prior to the departure of the local hospital chaplain several months ago, I was asked to fill in for him (and then eventually take his place) offering a prayer of blessing on the work of the Board at the beginning of each monthly meeting.   Somewhere else I have posted one of those prayers, and thought it would be good to do so again for the sake of anyone being asked the same and perhaps looking for a little assistance, provocation of thought, or just needing a prayer fast.

The process I use for developing a prayer is consistent with the prayer and healing ministry we use in the parish, and for which gifted individuals are trained.  The question asked is, “How shall we pray for you?”, and in this case is asked while in prayer as such:  “Lord, how do you want me to pray for the hospital board this month?”  The answer to that question offered in prayer is then the focus of some introductory comments, and then the prayer itself.

This month I discerned the need to pray for “clarity of communication.”  Not just being communicative (I’ve prayed that one, too, over them), but clear communication.   Sometime the next day or so, I found a wonderful and humorous illustration.   Looking for an optional phone number for the doctor who is the current president of the board, I ran across one of these internet pagemarkers for doctors that I thought had some helpful information (there are maybe 20 to 30 of these web companies who list information on doctors, complete with opportunity for “reviews” — the real reason they are in business, of course, is for advertising revenue).    On this particular webpage my eye caught the word “Gender”, I suppose to be helpful if someone wanted a gender specific doctor.  However, in this case the resource webpage got it wrong.    The doctor is a male, and the webpage had him listed as “Gender:    Female.”

I took a copy of the webpage over to his office and left it for his office manager to deal with.   That was last week.  Today, just before the meeting I went online to see if anything had changed, and indeed the webpage now proclaimed that Dr. _____  “is a male doctor with 29 years experience.”   Okay, then.

Still, I’ve had lots of experience doing web searches where the same info gets repeated (probably without permission) over and over from an original source to many different websites.    So I did a quick search and found another one of these doctor info webpages and our Dr. was once again identified as “Gender:  female.”

I went to the Board meeting, and having been beckoned forward to offer a prayer, I started by saying that I have had lots of experience with being both a board member and board officer, and found many times where the minutes or just further conversation told me that what was said at one meeting had not been clearly understood or articulated, and that this was of critical importance, and that unclear communication can actually affect the identity of the institution.

I continued by saying that as an example of getting communication correct, if one were to go on the internet to find some information about your board president you might find this…..  and then I shared the above about the webpages, holding up printed off copies.   Of course, there was some polite laughter, and the board president was helpful at that moment by putting his head in his hands and shaking his head.

Then I said,  “I’d like to pray today for the board to have the blessing of clarity of communication in all they do.”    And then I prayed:

“Almighty God,

You are the author of Peace (pause);

You are the author of Truth,

You are the author of Clarity.

Let Your paths of Peace, Truth and Clarity be now upon this Board,

and upon all involved in this meeting today.

so that what is said is heard,

what is heard is clear,

that the Mission of this Medical Center is furthered for the benefit of all in this community.

I pray this in the name of my Lord, Jesus Christ.     Amen.”

Once the prayer is over, I usually get a perfunctory thank-you, and then I go back to my seat and stay awhile.   I don’t like to do “drive by” prayers; I want to be there to let the witness of the intercessor be visible to help remind those attending of the prayer just uttered and help let it thus “settle in.”

However, today I did have to leave quickly.  But I did sit down just for a few minutes  as the meeting began with the minutes, etc., and then I quietly left.

It is a real honor to have been asked to lead these moments of blessing, and by most accounts it is a service that is well received, even by those professing other faiths who are present.

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