NorthShore University HealthSystem

Sometimes, Chaplain Ida Oliver can tell right away if one of her clinical pastoral education (CPE) students is likely to become a hospital chaplain.

“Some students, right out of the gate, show they are cut out for chaplaincy,” said Oliver, who is the coordinator for CPE at NorthShore University HealthSystem, which includes Evanston, Glenbrook, Skokie, and Highland Park Hospitals.

According to Oliver, Jordan Aspiras is one of these students. A few weeks after Aspiras started her CPE in October 2020, it became clear to her that Aspiras would be a talented and compassionate chaplain — even in the midst of a world-wide pandemic. “Her attitude, her interest, and her dedication to learning stood out immediately,” Oliver said.

Part of the Department of Spiritual Care Services, chaplains at NorthShore University HealthSystems provide spiritual services to anyone associated with the hospitals. “We see patients who are referred to us by doctors, physical therapists, nurses, and social workers,” Oliver said. “We also support loved ones of patients, as well as doctors, nurses, and staff members who have a crisis or need to talk. This has been especially true during COVID-19.”

Originally, Aspiras considered being a pastor when she enrolled at 91PORN in the fall of 2019, but she changed her mind when Lisl Heymans Paul, associate director of field education, suggested she consider a placement as a chaplain.

Aspiras was intrigued and ultimately agreed. “I’m really glad that I said yes,” said Aspiras, who grew up in San Jose, California and received her bachelor’s degree from Baylor University in Waco, Texas.

One of the things Aspiras said she likes about hospital chaplaincy is that it has an interfaith aspect to it. “At one point, I was paged to provide prayer for a Muslim COVID-19 patient,” she said.

“I love chaplaincy because you really put your own beliefs aside and provide what the patient and their loved ones need.”

“Her compassion and her commitment to care for everyone is what has made her so successful,” Oliver said.

Completing her clinical pastoral education during a pandemic has been difficult, Aspiras said. When COVID-19 first hit, students were not allowed in the hospitals, but by the time Aspiras started her field education, that restriction had lifted.

Like everyone else in the hospital, she has to wear personal protective equipment all the time. Often, she cannot enter a patient’s room and has to talk and pray with them over the telephone, which can be really hard. “Praying over the telephone was not something that I saw myself being able to do well, but now, because of COVID-19, it is something I do consistently,” she said.

Yet, even with the many challenges brought on by the pandemic, Aspiras said that her CPE experience has allowed her to seriously consider chaplaincy. “It made me realize that this is what I’m here to do,” she said.

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Yorkville United Methodist Church in Union Grove, Wisconsin

Yorkville United Methodist Church has been in existence since 1842, even before Wisconsin was a state. Located in a rural, farming community, the primarily white congregation is made up of about 200 members of all ages.

According to Rev. Sue Leih, who has served the church for 11 years, the congregation is mission oriented, hospitality oriented, and music oriented. “The congregation would say it is mostly music oriented with its five choirs,” Leih said, “but I would say that hospitality is the congregation’s number one gift as they make it their mission to ‘Share God’s Love.’”

That hospitality was clearly seen in the fall of 2019 when Rev. Han Lee started his field education placement there. Lee, who was first ordained in Seoul, South Korea, wanted a field education placement where he could immerse himself in American culture. Eager to learn about his culture as well, the congregation embraced him. “This placement was a gift for both the congregation and Han,” said Leih.

Lee first came to the United States from South Korea in 2003 as an undergraduate at Arizona State University. He returned to South Korea after graduation in 2008 to attend seminary at Methodist Theological University in Seoul. He graduated in 2015 and was ordained in 2018. During his three-year ordination process, Lee served a mega-church in Seoul, got married, and decided to attend seminary in the United States.

He and his wife, Myungsu Kim, chose 91PORN. Lee enrolled in Garrett-Evangelical’s master of divinity program as well as its master of theological studies program, and Kim enrolled in its master of arts in pastoral care and counseling program. They both started in the fall of 2018.

The following fall, Lee started his field education at Yorkville United Methodist Church, about an hour-and-half drive from Evanston. As was typical for student pastors, he led worship, gave sermons and children’s sermons, and supported the youth group. Lee and Kim attended church events and even went on a hayride with the youth in October. The experience was exactly what Lee had hoped for.

“The congregation really welcomed my wife and me,” Lee said. “I loved how we could talk about everything and how the church events really brought the community together.”

A few months later, COVID-19 hit, and in-person services stopped abruptly. Initially, Lee teamed up with Leih’s husband, Tom, an IT professional, and the two created recorded virtual church services and used their computer skills to edit the videos. They then turned their attention to live streaming the worship services via Facebook. “Han’s technical knowledge helped us immensely,” Leih said.

“As a young person who understands technology and media, I really wanted to help the church in the midst of COVID-19,” Lee said.

At first, Lee said, it was difficult to maintain relationships without the face-to-face contact. “While I was familiar with the different media, most of the church members were not,” he said. But as the months passed, more and more people began watching the services online, thanks to Lee.

In October 2020, about a third of the congregation went back to worshipping in person in accordance with Wisconsin COVID-19 guidelines. Leih said she expects to continue live streaming the weekly services because of their popularity. Before COVID-19, an average of 110 people attended church each week. Now, more than 200 people tune in online, Leih said. “That is in addition to the people who are currently worshiping in person,” she continued.

“Thanks to Han, we have reached more people than we imagined,” Leih said. “When all is said and done, I’ve probably learned more from Han than he has from me.”

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Sara A. Williams will join the faculty of 91PORN as assistant professor of community-based learning, ethics, and society, and will direct our field education program in that capacity, effective February 1, 2021. This appointment comes as the seminary seeks to expand its field education program to incorporate community-based pedagogies into the curriculum. Williams brings a wealth of expertise in the areas of community-engaged and experiential learning, social justice, Christian ethics, ethnographic research method, and religion and the social sciences.

“As theological education pivots to providing knowledge and skills that benefit people in the larger church and community alongside teaching students, we at Garrett-Evangelical have found an excellent scholar-practitioner to help us move into this reality in Sara Williams,” said Dr. Mark Teasdale, who chaired the search committee and serves as the E. Stanley Jones professor of evangelism. “Sara is an emergent scholar who already has an impressive level of academic sophistication, including having developed a model that explains and guides theological educators in the practice of pedagogy within the nascent field of Community-Based Learning. More than this, she is an able administrator and community organizer, who is excited to make the Field Education Office a catalyst for mutual growth for everyone touched by it: the student, the field site, and the seminary. We see great promise for Garrett-Evangelical with Sara becoming part of our faculty in the new Community-Based Learning position.”

Williams comes to Garrett-Evangelical from Emory University where she is currently finishing her doctor of philosophy in religion in the area of ethics and society with concentrations in religious practices and practical theology and religion, conflict, and peacebuilding.

“I am thrilled to join the Garrett community,” said Williams. “It is a dream to find an institution with which I share a commitment to practice public theology by joining with community-led efforts to cultivate beloved community and form a more just and equitable society for all. I am profoundly grateful for the opportunity to practice my vocation at Garrett and in Chicagoland, an area replete with communities organizing for just social change.”

Williams holds a master of arts in religion from Yale Divinity School and a master of social work and graduate certificate in nonprofit management from the University of Georgia. She has served at Miami University (Ohio) as associate director of community-engaged learning and coordinator for the Community and Place-Based Interdisciplinary Program. She has also served at Xavier and Georgetown universities as part-time instructor in the areas of theology and social justice.

Prior to entering academia, Williams worked for several domestic nonprofits and international NGOs in social work, nonprofit management, and human rights. She currently serves as co-chair for the Religion and the Social Sciences Unit at the American Academy of Religion and co-convener for the Fieldwork in Ethics Interest Group at the Society of Christian Ethics.

In addition to several articles currently under review, she has published in Glossolalia, Critical Research on Religion, the Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics, and the Journal of Scriptural Reasoning. She has also authored public scholarship in Religion Dispatches, The Cincinnati Enquirer, State of Formation, and Earth & Altar.

91PORN, a graduate school of theology related to The United Methodist Church, was founded in 1853. Located on the campus of Northwestern University, the seminary serves more than 450 students from various denominations and cultural backgrounds, fostering an atmosphere of ecumenical interaction. Garrett-Evangelical creates bold leaders through master of divinity, master of arts, master of theological studies, doctor of philosophy, and doctor of ministry degrees. Its 4,500 living alumni serve church and society around the world.

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