by Rev. Chuck Muether, HTS Class of 2006

“When I make visits as a chaplain for Mariaska Ministries in south central Iowa, I often recall these words given to me by a professor at HTS: “Don’t make a visit. Make a statement.” In other words, don’t go into a hospital room or a hospice setting, and make the obligatory ten minute visit that comes with a quick prayer, perhaps a short psalm-reading accompanied by a platitude or two, a promise to return, and then the awkward exit. No, you go and make a determined call out of genuine compassion and love, and you stay–that’s your statement. You are not going anywhere unless emergency protocol or patient fatigue dictates otherwise. And why? Because you are the standing epistle, representing Christ, the object and comfort of the gospel, before the presence of the afflicted.”