Sunday, February 17, 2019

So, the Decision Is Made

So, after some consideration, the name of the blog has changed. Yes, it has been “Episcopal Chaplain at the Bedside” for a long time. I was at bedsides for a long time - near enough to 40 years. However, I am now retired, and “at the bedside” just doesn’t apply in the same way.

This is not to say that I will never be “at the bedside” again. Right now, though, I don’t have any plans for that. Indeed, at the moment I simply don’t have any plans. I have already been encouraged to try a fair number of volunteer opportunities. Soon enough I will make some decisions; but not yet. 

In the meantime I am still observing from the high ground. There are a couple of meanings of that. First, for the last seven years I was employed I was a Director for a health system and a major teaching and referral hospital. Most of my work was from the high ground - or, as is thrown around (perhaps too) often in organization speak to take “the 30,000 foot view.” While I still saw patients, the vast majority of my work was to see things from the institution and system level, and to see and help others see how chaplains contribute. 

And now I’m on the high ground in an entirely different sense: in retirement we live about 1,000 feet higher above sea level than we did. We’re up on the Plateau in Tennessee, with a different perspective on many things - although perhaps not as different as one might imagine.

But I’m still Episcopal, still a priest, and still at heart a chaplain. I’m still thinking and observing, and I’ll still be here. Some things have changed, and more have remained the same. So, I’ll still be thinking out loud, now in this new location.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Brother Marshall, I have not been very active in the blogosphere in recent years, but I have a strong sense of connection to you and to others who have given so much to the healing of our Church through this medium. Congratulations on your retirement, and on entering a new phase of life! It is good to picture you up there on the high ground. I've always felt that you were well planted (theologically, psychologically, pastorally), close not only to the bedside and to the ground of everyday life, but also to the invisible ground of our spiritual being. You were never one to talk down to people. So I have no doubt that you will make appropriate use of your lofty position.
All the best,
Mary Clara

Marshall Scott said...

Thanks so very much, Mary Clara.