Rev. Dr. Carita L. Brown
Chaplain Major, Pennsylvania Air National Guard, 193rd Special Operations Wing, Middletown, PA
My prayers are very different in my personal life than they are in my professional life. In my professional environment, as a part of a pluralistic military setting, the ministry of presence plays a paramount role in my care of airmen. Requests for prayer can be private or public, as an individual or in community. These prayers span the gamut from blessings and celebration to desperate pleas of agony and everything in between. While public prayers tend to be more formal and require particular language (for example, I cannot pray in the name of Jesus unless it is in a voluntary setting), private prayers are sacredly specific to that particular airman.
In celebratory times, I am often asked to give the invocation at various ceremonies: promotions, retirements, assumption of command, change of command, hall of fame inductions, etc. When a member asks me to pray for them at one of these events, it is my honored privilege as their chaplain to provide spiritual care and presence and to discover what is meaningful to them. For each of these, I meet with the airmen, craft an original prayer, print it out and leave it with them after the ceremony as a reminder of the blessing they carry with them into the next chapter. I am also called on to pray in difficult moments: funerals and memorials, remembrance services, POW/MIA services, to name a few. These are hard and holy moments where presence is a prayer, a powerful symbol of God-with-us.
In my personal prayer life, I am much more free flowing with my prayers—both in my words and in my movement. I was born a dancer and I love to move as I pray, to pray with my entire body. At times when I cannot speak, dance becomes the embodiment of my prayers. I am also drawn to moments of silence with God. When I was a hospital chaplain and worked the night shift, I would visit our five chapels in the middle of the night, to see if anyone needed a chaplain. If a chapel was empty, I would use it as an opportunity to be silent with God, to allow God’s holy presence to fill me. I would find solace and restoration to fuel me for the rest of my shift.
Those of us who serve God as ministers, clergy and chaplains often forget that we too need to be refilled by God. I think of Jesus calling the disciples away with him (Mark 6) to go to a quiet place for rest. Part of prayer, for me, is taking regular time away to be with God. Going off grid, away from technology and distractions, even just for a few hours or sometimes a few days, creates space for me to hear from the Lord. It is a time for restoration, replenishment and renewal. As Jesus tells the disciples in Mark, the ministry will be there when you get back.
Pray. . .Give. . .Go.