As usual on Fridays I did my chaplaincy stint, went round both floors. I think a new recruit is coming next week although I don't mind going round both, I don't feel quite so bad then at missing all the rooms with precaution notices outside, warning us to wear gowns and gloves and masks. The hospital have even changed the precaution notices and are a bit more specific about the dangerous diseases lurking within, or the two of them that are very difficult to treat.
Afterwards I had lunch with Bill in the cafeteria.
Yesterday at the training day we were introduced to someone who will be joining us soon. He is a pastor from California, and is intending to open a Cowboy Church in Shawnee. What - I asked myself - is a Cowboy Church. I guess the guys will be wearing blue jeans and stetsons, and the women prairie skirts, and they will sing hymns like "When it's Round Up Time in Heaven" and "Silver Spurs on the Golden Stairs" (notice that I know my Gene Autry).
However, I asked Fr Clark and this was his response -
Sweet Mother of Mercy! Cowboy churches are "themed" communities, the idea being to associate being Christian with being macho, redneck, super-patriotic, derisive of science and education, and part of the "cool" cowboy sub-culture with its distinctive apparel and swagger. So I fear your new chaplain is a dork. I do hope I am wrong.
He also told me about a Raw Church where the preacher wears black spandex and lifts weights. I told him I have got to go there. I've got to get a picture of that for the folks back home.
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