00:00:08.040 - 00:00:33.950

35 years ago in India Mother Teresa to be in her presence at that time was truly humbling. And from an audience that I was participating in A gentleman stood and asked her a question he said and ask

00:00:34.340 - 00:01:03.790

, what can we do this tiny woman so very patiently and passionately answered. Look at the person on each side of you begin their by loving them. Her words have penetrated my heart for all these years

00:01:03.790 - 00:01:23.920

. Since then, I shall always remember those, those words. We all have the capacity to care for others. As simple as that may sound. I'm a very hands on person and meaning that I

00:01:23.920 - 00:01:42.820

am more comfortable being with an individual are sitting on the floor playing with a child than I am being seated at a board table. So that being said , I feel that my calling has been, so

00:01:42.820 - 00:02:08.260

to speak, to meet with people where they are eye to eye and hopefully provide safe space for dialogue . Um are just to be present, to be with someone, not to fix them are to advise

00:02:09.840 - 00:02:30.460

but to just be there for care and support. And one of the example that comes just recently, very touching to me. Um after a an hour long chat with a young woman with whom I have

00:02:30.470 - 00:03:04.770

been very closely related for 25 years as a mentor and friend, she texted me and said thank you for being my rock to me that says it all , that's what it's all about. So, this

00:03:04.770 - 00:03:31.480

brief look into my life, I hope it shows some of what my interest and strong feelings about pastoral care means to me and how important I think it is and your ministries um okay, what an enormous

00:03:31.480 - 00:03:55.050

challenge it must be for each of you, right ? When I as one person and Iraq to one person, you are mountains too many. Mhm. So, I feel that this area of ministry is

00:03:55.050 - 00:04:26.660

critical um and very, very important going forward. It requires so much patience, time and listening skills for each person that you come in contact with to know that you value them, respect them with no

00:04:26.660 - 00:04:58.660

judgment, you're there for them wherever they are with care and support. So my sincere best wishes are to fill as he fulfills his role in pastoral care at Austin. I am honored to have you occupy

00:04:59.240 - 00:05:21.400

the chair that bears my name? Thank you. Mhm Dr. Philip Browning Household joined the Faculty of Austin Seminary in 2016. He previously served on the faculty of boston College School of Theology and Ministry,

00:05:21.940 - 00:05:40.030

Where he had been assistant professor of pastoral care and counselling since 2012, active in many organizations. He has served as co chair of the group on inter religious and intercultural pastoral theology for the Society for Pastoral

00:05:40.030 - 00:05:57.630

Theology, and he was a member of the advisory group on clinical pastoral education for the massachusetts General Hospital in boston, as well as the Committee on Ministry for boston Presbyterian. Helsel earned his PhD in pastoral

00:05:57.630 - 00:06:15.680

theology and practical theology from Princeton Theological Seminary. He also holds the MdF and pastoral care and counselling from Princeton and the B. A. Summa cum laude in bible and religion from Anderson University. He is

00:06:15.680 - 00:06:32.440

ordained in the Presbyterian Church, usa, and was perish associate for pastoral care that Freehold Presbyterian Church in Freehold, New Jersey. Helsel is the author of two highly regarded books, pastoral care and counselling an

00:06:32.440 - 00:06:53.600

introduction and pastoral power beyond psychologies, marginalization, resisting the discourses of the sai complex. In addition to offering numerous journal articles and book chapters, he also serves on the editorial board for the Journal of Pastoral

00:06:53.600 - 00:07:12.800

care and counselling Professor Helsel clearly has an impressive teaching and publishing resume, but what is even more impressive and what is immediately apparent when you spend time with him is his personal character. He is a consistent

00:07:12.800 - 00:07:30.210

voice for justice in faculty discussions, advocating for those on the margins, In every committee meeting where I have served with him, he is constantly mindful of students and their well being and astutely perceptive listener.

00:07:30.220 - 00:07:49.130

Helsel never dominates discussion, but instead encourages others to find their voice. He works in short so that others can thrive. I think if we want to know what authentic pastoral care looks like, we need

00:07:49.130 - 00:08:09.610

look no further than Phil Helsel. It is this character that makes him an indispensable member of the Austin Seminary faculty and a welcome partner in any conversation and in the ongoing work for justice, peace and wholeness

00:08:09.870 - 00:08:39.960

. In our broken world, Phil congratulations on this milestone in your academic career. We honor and appreciate you and look forward to the words that you bring to us today. Yeah, thank you sincerely,

00:08:39.960 - 00:09:03.310

Dean Jensen, President Wardlaw and to my distinguished faculty colleagues. I would like to especially thank nancy Taylor Williamson for endowing the nancy. Taylor Williamson distinguished share and pastoral care at Austin Seminary and seeing fit to

00:09:03.310 - 00:09:18.950

put me in it. And I'm especially taking away your comments about what can we do? Look at the person on each side of you today. I am grateful personally to you for the journey that's taken

00:09:18.950 - 00:09:37.140

you into pastoral care even more deeply. Let me introduce myself just a bit. Um, and give you a bit of a sense of some places where I've worked and how they've shaped me from a general

00:09:37.140 - 00:09:54.960

hospital on the US Mexico border to hospice chaplain, see in the latino section of a city to working as a pastoral care minister, and also training as a pastoral counselor in suburban New Jersey to co teaching

00:09:54.960 - 00:10:09.710

pastoral care with the Black scholar in Atlanta, appointing me with the unique concerns of african american communities in Atlanta to teaching Jesuit priests and training about the disciplines of the spirit and pastoral care all through it.

00:10:09.720 - 00:10:31.000

There have been some themes that have emerged from me repeatedly. The theologian erroneous described the glory of God as humanity fully alive, what makes humankind fully alive and what can be done to foster these things erroneous

00:10:31.000 - 00:10:50.950

, clearly thought that our lives reach their true potential in light of God's glory, the abundance that comes from dwelling in God's presence, I think of pastoral care as reminding people that they are kept in mind

00:10:50.960 - 00:11:09.550

by God. Isn't it true If we feel kept in mind by others, we can make deadlines run marathons, climb mountains all because of that sense that we feel remembered. The variety of human capacities all

00:11:09.550 - 00:11:28.580

flow from these deep wells of flourishing, these reservoirs of peace that have to do with God's remembrance of us. So the central act of pastoral care says in so many words, God remembers us pastors create

00:11:28.590 - 00:11:48.000

care packages for nursing homebound residents. During covid, God remembers us, a chaplain makes and keeps an appointment. God remembers us a deacon shows up after a family's journey of becoming suicide survivors. God remembers

00:11:48.000 - 00:12:05.350

us. A pastor reaches out to an elderly caregiver in the congregation and hears about the burdens of daily caregiving. God remembers us. A pastor says the name of the deceased during an all Saints Day liturgy

00:12:05.360 - 00:12:31.760

, God remembers us and even when we can't remember when our recollections fade into obscurity, God remembers us . I would like to underline three dimensions of pastoral care that I find important dignity, lament and vocation

00:12:33.740 - 00:12:48.220

. Everyone has dignity, regardless of race, gender , sexual orientation, disability status. Emmanuel Artie says , what's at stake if we miss out on the diversity around us is that we miss the fullness of

00:12:48.220 - 00:13:05.610

the image of God in that person, dignity is the sense of the image of God in each person , regardless of what they can do or produce. And dignity gives you that sense when you come to

00:13:05.610 - 00:13:24.750

a conversation that you're going to get some gifts because of who that other person is. The second dimension of pastoral care is lament. It's that job like moment, that value of the shadow of death.

00:13:26.120 - 00:13:41.230

I believe every time we have a lament conversation with someone in our care, God is listening. God is the third person in all lament conversations. That's why we don't have to change the subject when somebody

00:13:41.230 - 00:14:01.820

cries out why God, or how long God is the one listening to the laments of pastoral care? Finally, vocation, vocation is that sense of purpose inherent in each human life. It's bigger than the

00:14:01.820 - 00:14:18.580

work you do, but hopefully it includes that too . It might involve some identity project, that that purpose, that is the distinctive way you're meant to give back to the world. Vocation isn't just reserved

00:14:18.580 - 00:14:35.500

for ordained ministers, but the priesthood of all believers , it's the way you're called to serve a bigger purpose. Each family can have a vocation. Dare I say that the chair exists, in part because

00:14:35.500 - 00:14:56.260

the Williamson saw their families vocation as being related to pastoral care and a Pts. So, pastoral care in a variety of contexts affirms that God remembers us . It speaks against all the circumstances of despair arrayed

00:14:56.260 - 00:15:11.670

against us. And right now there are plenty, it helps us feel more human because it names what we're going through in new ways, and helps us put those experiences of suffering into context, and it

00:15:11.670 - 00:15:41.340

adds that spark, that moment of vitality that lets you know. Yes, this is why I'm here . This is what I was meant to do. Let's continue the conversation. Yeah, yeah. On

00:15:41.340 - 00:16:00.250

behalf of the Board of Trustees of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, I now declare that Philip browning Helsel is now placed in the nancy Williamson, Chair of passport care Phil please take a seat in your chair.

00:16:00.740 - 00:16:18.190

Thank you. Yeah, Phil, I charge you on this occasion here in the virtual presence of your colleagues, your students and the person in whose name this chair is given to be a model of pastoral

00:16:18.190 - 00:16:32.950

care in the practice of ministry. Now, what does that look like? It looks to me like what ST paul says In his first epistle to the Corinthians, the 4th chapter. This then is how

00:16:32.950 - 00:16:48.400

you ought to regard us as servants of christ and as stewards of the mysteries of God. I love that text, I love what it says and what it doesn't say, it says that we are servants

00:16:48.410 - 00:17:03.670

, not routers, and that we are stewards, not owners of the mysteries of God, and that finally, they are mysteries and not certainties, and they are, after all, the mysteries have gone

00:17:04.140 - 00:17:21.610

, and not of someone less than God. I sense fill that you are patched into these mysteries. So keep showing us that keep showing your students, keep showing your colleagues so that through your very pedagogy

00:17:22.450 - 00:17:37.620

we can remember that we too are stewards of the mysteries of God. Secondly, I charge you to bring your integrity, your love for the gospel, your commitment to the church, your pastoral heart,

00:17:37.630 - 00:17:53.820

your love of music and birds and literature, your appreciation for excellence that is never sloppy or indifferent, but is always thought out carefully and purposefully bring all of that into the classroom and into so many other

00:17:53.820 - 00:18:11.500

spaces that become for you, a space for teaching . In other words, be yourself for that will be enough. Just keep being yourself. If you will do that, God will do what only God

00:18:11.510 - 00:18:26.550

can do. God will take all of your gifts given here and will consecrate them and multiply them for the sake of the Gospel and for the sake of the church Phil we are proud that you were here

00:18:26.720 - 00:18:53.430

and we want you to be here for a long time and we want you especially to enjoy sitting in that change friends, let us pray gracious God, we come to you in a time of viral dis

00:18:53.430 - 00:19:15.550

ease to give you thanks for healers and for those who teach others to be healers. We thank you that you came among us as jesus christ who ministered to the heart sick, unmasking their silent lips,

00:19:15.640 - 00:19:41.940

addressing their cries and restoring them to community. We remember that Jesus inspired communities of faithful care that he saw and tended to those who mothers did not see on his right on his left, Jesus loved as

00:19:41.940 - 00:19:59.560

we love and wept as we, we, even to the end of his life, jesus called forth your healing and forgiveness on those who abused him and Jesus sent us out into the world to do as

00:19:59.560 - 00:20:21.440

he did as makers of shalom today, greet healer , we pray for the healers for the pastoral counselors and chaplains whom you have called and sent into this world for those who risk contagion and infection to care

00:20:21.440 - 00:20:41.060

for the dying in our global pandemic, for those who minister to elected officials in their daily tasks, for those who travel with and pastor are armed forces all over the world for all those who sit weekly

00:20:41.060 - 00:21:03.150

with your people to help them see a way forward for those who marched alongside your people crying out in protest of injustice for each person who extends a hand or prayer. A video call or a text to

00:21:03.150 - 00:21:19.340

those in need of a human reminder that we are remembered that nothing can separate us from your love. We give you thanks for those who enable the work of healing to continue lifting up before you ingratitude.

00:21:19.340 - 00:21:37.550

Nancy, taylor Williamson grab that this gift that she has given will continue to bear good fruit for generations to come. As our brother Philip is installed this day, continue to guide his healing work. That

00:21:37.550 - 00:21:56.070

as we are taught by his words and example, we also may be called and empowered to spread your healing and reconciling grace for out your spirit upon us and raise up among us, healers of this,

00:21:56.080 - 00:22:12.830

your beloved creation, enable the school of the church to continue preparing them for your call as they seek to serve you faithfully. That the church may continually be a house of healing until that day when you

00:22:12.830 - 00:22:30.670

return restoring your whole creation and planting the trees for the healings of the nation's by the stream flowing from your throne. Remember us. Oh God of all creation. As we reach out to you with the

00:22:30.670 - 00:22:47.060

boldness of a woman, to touch the seat seat of jesus robe, trusting in your mercy, your faithfulness and your healing presence among us. Even now we pray all these things through jesus christ our Lord

00:22:47.840 - 00:26:30.570

our men. Oh heart. Oh I'm really Oh . Oh and not. Oh okay. Oh yeah . Strong. Oh. Oh. Mhm. Mhm . May you experience the love of God richly as

00:26:30.570 - 00:26:51.550

you dwell in God's glory? And may you share that love with others? Go in the peace of christ a man? Well thank you for coming everyone