What Chaplains Do
Chaplains regularly visit women and men at their places of work all over Scotland and beyond from Dounreay Atomic Power Station near Thurso to woollen mills in our border towns to offshore Oil and Gas installations in UK waters.
Historically these chaplains have been ordained clergy of the main churches, but in recent years there has been the welcome advent of 'lay' chaplains.
Although some of this visiting is done by full time chaplains who have been appointed by the churches to the specific task of Work Place Chaplaincy, much of it is carried out by parish clergy in their own locality.
This activity is avowedly ecumenical. Occasionally, when it seems appropriate, chaplains will conduct funerals, weddings or baptisms, but as a general rule of thumb they guide people towards the parish minister or priest for these services.
No charge is made for the services of a work place chaplain, but contributions are welcomed to the Industrial Mission Trust which provides an important additional monetary resource.
The daily task of the work place chaplain is sometimes described as 'doing theology on the hoof', telling the stories of faith and seeking to relate the ancient truths to modern conditions. Stories that tell of a creation that is good, a beautiful and fragile earth demanding our respect and touch a chord with the rising grasp of the importance of 'green' policies: Stories that tell of man, created from the dust of the earth and given life by the very breath of God in his nostrils underpinning the inalienable dignity of all women and men and of our crucial relationship with the earth we inhabit.
It never ceases to delight that these stories, rooted and expressed in the imagery of another age are far from worn out and consistently bring new thought and new challenge to the often arrid orthodoxies of our modern age.