This week we said goodbye to our beloved staff chaplain, Scott Jenkins aka “Padre.” For the past 15 years he’s loved our staff family in ways words can’t express.

That didn’t stop us from trying, however. We put together a word cloud, with each of us responding to a three-word (only!) challenge:

On Tuesday we gathered for more heartfelt words and hugs, then headed over to MHM’s “second back patio”—El Noa Noa Restaurant nearby.

Chaplaincy with our team is not a peripheral, tangential activity. Nurturing a deep and life-giving spiritual life is at the core of everything we are and do. For decades, our two-hour Tuesday morning gatherings have been the spiritual pulse of MHM, cultivating an inner and outer way of walking together in God’s big love.

Padre has guided us, in all the ways we captured in words and the ways we couldn’t. Importantly to him, he hasn’t done it alone. Every single thing he leads, he invites others into leadership. Sometimes collaboratively, and sometimes Scott “leading from the rear” with others of us on point. It truly is an experience of St. Paul’s “body of Christ” imagery of every part and member growing in the unique functions we play in the life of the whole.

As he meets with us individually for care, Padre also cultivates a culture of care we all can share.

Retirement brings a final week, and here it is. Drawing from his Celtic roots at the beginning of each of the four seasons, Padre always prompts us to give attention to what the natural world invites. So good for us in urban ministry! For a last time, Padre graced us with a meditation for summer. What does warmth and fire welcome in our inner lives and in our daily work? We considered Pentecost, and then read aloud a Padre-crafted prayer:

The warmth of the sun’s embrace,

The gentle breeze

 swept in by incoming tide,

the rhythm of seasons,

of new birth, death, and recreation.

All these speak so clearly of your love,

your power and your beauty.

All are expressions of your creativity,

and more importantly of yourself.

As an artist might share her personality within a brushstroke,

within the myriad colors of a butterfly’s wing,

you share the exuberance of your love.

So, open our eyes, Lord, as we walk through this world,

liberate us as we feel the wind and sunshine,

Help us to discover you in the majesty of creation,

unfolding before our eyes.

That we can glimpse you within creation is beautiful,

but it also informs us that you desire to be seen,

to be found… and intimately known…

This I believe.

We’re ever-grateful for your care, Padre Scott Jenkins. Our very best wishes for all that is next!