Of Water and the Holy Spirit and Walking the Halls

I spent my afternoon yesterday blessing the hospital.

That's not a self-congratulatory reflection on my work generally. It's a very specific statement: I devoted most of the afternoon walking the halls, in alb and stole, stopping at intervals for prayer, and sprinkling holy water everywhere. Modeled on a house blessing, it's my service for blessing the whole hospital.

It's become something of a tradition. Blessing space was a part of our "received tradition" from the original hospital of our system. The hospital was blessed this way before the doors were opened to patients, and as space has been added or revised, it's been blessed again. But I've also made it a practice to bless the whole hospital at least once a year.

But yesterday was a different facet of the tradition. It has also become tradition to re-bless the hospital before a visit from a survey team, whether from a state health department, or the Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, or a group assessing corporate quality. This last was the occasion for the service yesterday.

If you've read much of this site, you'll know that I'm an Episcopal priest in an Episcopal institution. As an Episcopal practice, this reflects more specifically the Anglo-Catholic, "high church" pole of the Episcopal tradition. Still, it's well within the bounds of the tradition. Indeed, since the implementation of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and the subsequent revision of the Book of Occasional Services, house blessings specifically, and this form generally, have become more popular.

Certainly, the blessings are popular here. Staff members don't commonly see me in my vestments in their units and offices, and so they take note when they do. For most of our staff, blessing with holy water isn't part of their background. But almost all of them recognize it as prayer to bless the space and the people in it. One result is that folks who would never experience this in their own faith communities take great delight in it. At almost every unit or department someone will say, "Give me some extra, Chaplain. I really need it today!" And I'm happy to oblige. Some are surprised when they get their own individual sprinkle; but they're always pleased.

And many are pleased to see me in places that I don't visit as often. Everybody understands that I spend most of my time on patient units. At the same time, they're happy to see me blessing the boiler room or the lab or the accounting office. Folks in Surgery have the best show: they get to watch me cram my vestments into the disposable coveralls we call a "bunny suit" so that I can go into the sterile zone to bless the operating rooms themselves.

Now, this is not a rigid liturgy. I’m not so very formal about it. Staff people are busy. That would make it hard to assemble a formal procession at all, or even to assemble an ad hoc congregation on each unit. But I also make use of the informality to make stops along the way. It’s a good chance to stop with employees in the midst of things, catching up on personal and family issues. I can’t say I know what’s happening with every “member” of my “congregation;” but then, what pastor does? What I can do is stop with those whose concerns I do know. Since I’m in their space, in places I don’t visit as often, they’re frequently ready to talk, to catch me up on the issues in their lives. And I don’t think the vestments hurt.

The rite has a lot of support from the administration. For one thing, we have a solid record in our short history as a hospital of successful surveys. Now, I don’t want to make claims that make the rite somehow magical. The blessing is entirely a work of the Holy Spirit, and what God does, God does. We work hard as a team to be ready for these surveys, to offer quality work always and to put our best foot forward. But people appreciate the sense of support. And the administration appreciates the way it supports community and morale.

And it is good for morale. Every institution needs rituals for a sense of community, and this is one of ours. People appreciate both the good will of the rite, and also the relaxed and joyful attitude I seek in the process. In any case, the sense of success is palpable. As a former CEO said, “It’s not part of my tradition, and I don’t claim to understand it; but it sure seems to work.”

It’s a lot of walking to bless the entire hospital. It’s also a lot of fun for me. In an institution that claims to be faith-based, and in fact to be Episcopal, it is an act from the Episcopal tradition that seems to be comprehensible at some level to all our people. It expresses a level of good will and of faith both in the presence of God and in the value of the people we bless. Yesterday, I blessed the hospital. Today we had a good survey visit. I don’t claim that I always understand it myself; but it sure seems to work.