When I interviewed a man who has been a volunteer chaplain for nearly 15 years with a local fire department in three different localities in the US, I learned something which I am going to ponder with you for a while.  He told me, in your course be very sure you emphasize this, "If you do not like being a fireman, do not volunteer to be a chaplain with a fire department.” He went on to explain what he meant. That is what we are going to think about for several different chaplain opportunities.

First off, then, the volunteer chaplain with a fire department.

The basic issue in the area of being a chaplain for a volunteer fire department is one of being willing and able to be trained in firefighting yourself. While in professional fire departments, you may not be able to get certified as a chaplain, you certainly can be a person who takes the calling of firefighter seriously. The core of the firefighting department is a willingness to learn what it takes to be courageous when facing a life-threatening situation with fire.

A good friend of mine, on New Year's eve one year, was at his son's house playing games with his kids while his wife stayed home to get some things ready for a new year's party the next day. That night, at about 10 pm their house started on fire. A volunteer firefighter saw the flames and stopped at the countryside house and rescued my friend's wife from the blaze. He then did all he could while waiting for the fire department to arrive to save a couple of valuables from the burning house.

Meanwhile, my friend had been contacted and he and his family went to his house and simply watched it burn to the ground. They lost everything they had except for a couple of things the volunteer firefighter had saved. When two a.m. came around and it was obvious all had been done that could be done for the night by anyone who was not a firefighter, he decided it was time, as he put it, "to go home and get some sleep.” At that point, he realized that he had no home to go to and he broke down and wept.

At that moment, there was no one on hand to be with the family in their time of deep loss. The firemen who were still on hand, were carefully making sure no one tried to get into the ruins which were still glowing coals. It was at that moment that a chaplain would have been able to break away from the work of the fire fighters and be present to the family in their grief.  The role of the chaplain then is to be the presence of God to the family who have experienced a sudden and devastating loss.

The chaplain needs to have in mind what to say and more importantly what NOT to say in that moment. When a family or an individual loses their home to a fire, one has to keep in mind that it is the little things which make up my personal history that are gone. I can buy a new couch or chair or table, but I cannot buy another of the quilts my grandmother made for me when I got married. That sort of personal loss is devastating to a person's sense of self and place in the world. Even if the place which burned was not a special house at all, just another apartment like the fifty others in the complex which did not burn, still I have lost MY place and MY address. Where do I live now? Where is home?

In that moment, the person does not want to hear that he will have a different place to live soon. Their focus is on the loss that is just happened. So instead of glibly saying that God will give him a new home, we listen to their hurt and loss and grieve with them. It is a terrible thing to lose your home. There will be time in the future days to come to be a person who reaches out to the ones who have suffered such a loss and do what one can to help in rebuilding a home. In the moment of the  trauma the hurting person simply needs a loving arm put around them and the assurance that God feels their pain and is present with them in it.  Words like, "God is here with you and he weeps just as you do for your loss. God knows those things you lost were important to your identity. He cares. He cares.” Will do more for your listener than quoting Job in his loss, saying, The Lord has given, The Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” The pain of loss is too great to be glib in our words. What she needs is one who comes alongside and brings a strength and peace from God. That is the role of the chaplain.

Ask yourself before you go on to the next section, what would I say to a person I do not know whose home has been engulfed in flames? You need to be prepared. Pray for God's spirit to direct you in being kind, patient, and one who suffers-long WITH the one whose loss it is. You need to prepare to be Immanuel, God with us.

Other times the role of the fire department chaplain will be much less traumatic. The fires will be small and the trauma light. But that does not mean that the chaplain is not needed in those times as well. When my neighbor's car burned in her driveway she simply kept asking, Why is God doing this to us? Why? What have we done? The firemen on the scene simply turned away - they had nothing to answer her. So my wife and I put our arms around her and assured her that God was not doing this to them. It  simply made no sense for her to ask about her own guilt and her own embarrassment before the face of God in her loss. That could come later, but in the moment of the fire, she simply needed to have someone care and not confront her with questions about why God would do this to her.

But then there are the terrible times for the firemen. The times they respond to a car fire and discover a person inside the car. They respond to a house fire and are informed that a family of four children are trapped  on the top floor with no way out. The trauma for the family in their devastatingly terrible loss, but also for the firemen in that event, is terrible. Firemen want to save the children, and when they cannot their souls are singed with horror. It is in those moments when the fire department chaplain needs to be able to bring the presence of God to both the family and the firemen.

The loss of the family is terrible. While the fire rages, the chaplain will do his best to comfort them with his strength of faith in God. To assure the family that God is present with them and is hurting with them is a gift of faith and hope. The firemen, however, will be dealing with their inability to save the children for weeks and maybe months afterward. "If only I had done this or that” will keep coming from their lips. At that time, the chaplain allows them to vent their feelings of helplessness and personal guilt over not saving a defenseless child. They need to talk through their regrets and feelings of being the reason a person has died. They did not do all they could, they did not act with the greatest skill they had and so on. Then the chaplain will be an active listener and do all she can to avoid deepening the feelings of guilt and loss on the part of the firefighter.

So, do you think you want to be a chaplain in the fire department of your locality? Here are some questions to ask:

1.Do I have faith that God will be with me so I can be with those in trauma?

2.Can I deal with the devastation of a fire and not lose my own sense of purpose while at the scene?

3.Can you allow people to ask very profound questions and not feel the need to give a deep theological answer in the heat of the moment? Can you allow questions  to hang in the air and simply respond with an assurance that there will come a time when we can go into that more deeply and then keep your word later?

4.Can you, as the fleshly example of Immanuel, weep with those who weep? Then can you also, gradually, show the way to healing from God's holy presence?

This is only the beginning of thinking along these lines. As we look at other places a chaplain can work, we will begin to see that the idea of being present with people in their moments of crisis have a common purpose: to bring the healing love of God to broken people.

Last modified: Thursday, February 15, 2024, 12:56 PM