Jenny Muraya - To Go Out & Embrace Others
You are listening to the Cumberland Road, and I am your host, TJ Malinoski. Reverend Jenny Muraya is a chaplain at Regional One Health in Memphis, Tennessee. She talks about the resilience of people that she meets being the chaplain and the struggles and joys found in life and death. She talks about what it means to be a child of 2 worlds, both in Kenya and the United States of America, and the thread of hospitality found among people wherever you are, and how our profession of faith is both a process and an encounter. Thank you for listening to The Cumberland Road, and here is a faith conversation with Jenny Muraya.
T.J.:You grew up north of Nairobi in Kenya. What is a meaningful experience from that time?
Jenny:One of my irisly correction is the fact that I grew up with my uncles. I mean, my dad lived more or less within his own father's or parents' compound. Which means that we had my aunties, my uncles, all allowed us, my cousins there. And, it was fun actually praying with them outside going out. Afram happened to have been at the source you know, one of the springs from from the Abadia Mountains, prying from our stream, and just watching the beautiful water.
Jenny:And that really stands up, and it stood up much, much later on as I began to reflect on scripture as God is the spring of living water, and I can still remember it. And I can still recollect that beautiful sight of the spring, the coolness of the water, and, of course, the nice dip in a sunny afternoon. Alongside that, of course, living with my brothers I mean, with my other cousins, who I always call my my sisters and brothers up to this point, was also the fact that if you happen to go to your home and you find that they have put something you don't like, there was that there was that, that thing of I don't have to eat there because I can always go to my cousins and eat what they are eating. So
T.J.:You had options in terms of where you where you got to eat and what you had to eat.
Jenny:Yes. There was options. My parents never thought there were options because they thought we only eat what's on the plate. But knowing that, my my auntie might have been prayer preparing another delicacy. It was always fun to go there and eat from there.
Jenny:No no eyebrows laced. Or simply not eat if I don't want to eat and because I can always make this because that's how I eat at this place.
T.J.:You were talking about a stream. Was it wide like a river? Was it clear water? Did it come out of the mountains? What stands out about that stream?
Jenny:It came from the lochs in the mountain. So it was true it was mold. Literally, you could see the water bubbling up from the logs.
T.J.:Oh, okay.
Jenny:Yeah. Very, very clear water. Very fresh. It doesn't need any purification, no color. Just just nature's gift to us.
T.J.:You attended Christian missionary schools, primary and in high school. What did you learn about the faith during those times?
Jenny:One of the advantage over attending the missionary schools is that Christianity was ingrained in the curriculum, both the state curriculum and also the overt curriculum. So for instance, from a very early age, I learned that before you begin your day, there was a morning prayer. And, actually, even today, the morning prayers that I learned when I was in grade 3 are the same morning prayers that I find myself reciting over and over again. Before I go to sleep, it taught me that I have to say a prayer, a prayer of thanksgiving, a prayer asking the holy spirit to watch over me as well as my guardian angels. And no matter how you know, so many years later, I'm now over 60, and these are things that I learned when I was about 8.
Jenny:The prayer still remains in me. When I say the lord's prayer, another prayer that I learned from my maritime, I still can't bring myself to say death. I'll still go to forgive us our sins because that's the way I learned it from the very, very beginning. And any other any other addition is always like, I'm not sure that we should be going there. In addition to that being in missionary schools, it also gave me the advantage of being near somebody who actually left their home to come to our country.
Jenny:To spread the gospel. To help us. Missionaries may have their own share of disadvantages in the sense that they were agents of colonialism. Around the other hand, it is through them that I am who I am. I became a Christian because they came to Kenya.
Jenny:I got my education because they came and introduced education and quality education. Education that is not just, exam oriented, but education for life. No matter how old I become, I always hear sister Rashira, one of the nuns who taught me, saying that a woman without education is nothing.
T.J.:Wow.
Jenny:And that has driven me up to now. Always looking in terms of, if I am well educated, how can I impact that on not just my kids, but also other people who allowed me? It also taught me from a very early age because most of I mean, all the schools were boarding schools. It taught me to be able to relate to other people who are not related to me, people who are from different parts of the country to have a cosmopolitan view of life, a view that is more accommodative of others.
T.J.:Yeah. I guess you're right. That would be easier for me when I was younger. But now that I'm older, there's something about having your own space and having your own routine. And anytime, you know, there's additional people, kind of, it can disrupt that.
T.J.:It can disrupt the routine. And it's not that you don't enjoy their company, but at the same time, it sort of shakes what you've come to expect or or your plans of the day or the morning. So I guess if I was trained early on, then I wouldn't find it disruptive at all. That's interesting. Never thought about it before.
T.J.:Jenny, I wanted to ask you, could you share with me the prayer that you learned when you were in primary school that you still use today?
Jenny:It went something like this. My guardian angel to whom God's love commits me here, Ever this day or night, be at my side to write and guide, to rule and direct. And if morning may come, I mean, any of you, if if you should come for me before the morning is due, I pray that my soul to keep in eternal grace. In Christ's name I pray. Amen.
T.J.:Amen. That's amazing that you have kept it in memory and still use it. That's pretty pretty interesting. Jenny, you told me that, you received confirmation or made a profession of faith at the age of 15. You were baptized as a toddler, but you made a profession of faith at 15.
T.J.:Let's talk about that for a little bit. What was that like? Was was there a pivotal moment, or was it through a confirmation class? What was it at the age of 15?
Jenny:I got baptized when I was 3 months old because that is the tradition of the Anglican church, which I grew in. My parents were what you can call 2nd generation Christians. So it was mandatory at the age of 3 months for the woman to ritually go back to church. At the go a ritual of readmission because once a woman got closer to to giving birth, she was kind of excluded from the church life. So, ritually, she had to come back to church and be reaccepted, and they allowed even to take communion.
T.J.:So what was the distinction? Why was there that ostracism during pregnancy?
Jenny:I I I mean, it was it was thought that a woman who is pregnant is richuary and cream. Oh. Maybe they borrowed a bit of that from the old testament titles. No. But, apparently, it happens to be quite a big beef even today in Kenya, especially among the the Kikus of Central Kenya.
Jenny:So the cruise are 2 pregnancy. 1 got a woman kind of withdrew from the social life. It also has got, a social perspective to it in that as a woman approached giving birth, she went into secretion, so she withdrew from community. Maybe as a way of protecting her and their born child. And then after the child is born, she was reintegrated into the life of the community.
Jenny:So, I guess this then was a way of the church continuing that tradition and marrying it maybe into Christianity and giving it that Old Testament's perspective about pregnancy and unfairness. So so alongside my mother coming to church to be really accepted. And to be accepted in full communion because it got close to communion. Mhmm. Then I too was baptised as a child of God.
Jenny:But being baptised is an in fact of course. I I didn't know much about it. But one of the things that came out of that is that in my baptism, my godparents and my parents also pledged that when I became of age, they were going to bring me to the bishop for confirmation. So back again to your question, prayer before confirmation, there is, confirmation classes, that took that took me through the stages of it's like a miniature, introduction to the bible, which for me was a continuation because all along since I was in preschool, I went to Sunday school, learned the bible stories, grew up knowing the laws and the commandments, and knowing really how to relate to others as my brothers and sisters in Christ. But at the age of 15, alongside those classes, I also shared the inclination to now confess that I have accepted Christ as my personal saviour.
Jenny:And that I'm intent in living for him. Following his word. And of course following the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Fully aware that the fact that I made an acknowledgement that I'm now confessing him as my saviour and lord doesn't mean that I have left the world. So I would say that it was the minute to which I got to that professional faith was both a process and an encounter.
Jenny:A process in that it was not like something I woke up in the morning to do. It was gradual. It was through other people who inspired me. Other people who I saw living their lives as Christians. Who had to acknowledge God as their Lord and Saviour.
Jenny:And then God's getting to that point where, yes, I wanna live for him. Knowing fully well that it does not take me from the world. It does not remove the temptations that you come by way. But there is always our coming God who forgives and forgives not just 99 times, but a million times. Always there with open hands to receive me when I go back to him after falling.
T.J.:So growing up in, Christian missionary schools and in the Anglican church, Looking back when you were in your teen years, did you feel like a sense of pressure to do confirmation, make a profession of faith? Or is that very much individualized where it's encouraged, it's there, but there's no hands on, there's no force to do so. So I guess another way to ask it, is it expected or is it open ended?
Jenny:To an extent, it is an expectation. It's another right to pass. It's something that one has to pass through. That's on the other hand, one can pass through the light of confirmation without giving their life or acknowledging Christ as their Lord and Saviour. So for me, it was an expectation, but an expectation expectation in which I, as an individual, was also making a commitment to God.
T.J.:It was still yours. It was your relationship. It was you making the commitment. I just wondered Yes. How how that I just wondered how that works in different settings and what that was like for you.
Jenny:For me, it was, by by 15, I was still in high school, at the thick of my adolescence. We know the teenage pressures that comes with it.
T.J.:Yeah.
Jenny:So it was really like looking at simple things, which I think are simple today. Something like, I've now made a commitment to be a Christian, to be a follower of Jesus, to obey all the ten commandments. So what do I do when a boy lights me a letter? Do I read it? Or do I trash it?
Jenny:Do I respond to it? And how do I respond to it? Fortunately enough, I I being in boarding school since I was 8 or 8 years old up to that point. I also taught me that I can rely on the adult who allowed me, who I took to be like my parents. That is my teachers in the school.
Jenny:Yeah. So I TJ, I can tell you that there are quite a number of times when I had to take the letters to my teachers, and just ask them what do I do with this letter from this boy? I don't want anything that would take me from the grace of God. And being in relationship, to me, that's the only thing I could think about, that this is going to read on to something some emotional entitlement, and I'm not ready before that. And I remember one of them telling me, okay.
Jenny:Just write the letter back and tell him you appreciate his letter. You appreciate his admiration, but this is not the right time to to engage in that because you want to concentrate in your education. Of course, looking at looking back at it now, I think I would advise any young person coming to me to do a similar thing. I would I would be more of trying to coach them as to how to still maintain their Christianity and look at that other boy or that other girl as one of God's children, as one in which we are asked to love, but to to love as a Christian, as one loves another brother.
T.J.:Oh, but, Jenny, that's so hard when young boys and young girls in their teens with all their hormones, you know, just trying to figure it all out. I think it would take, required multiple coaching and encouragement. It it wouldn't just be one conversation. It'd probably be many.
Jenny:It's it's it's multiple. It's multiple conversation. Fortunately, in high school, we didn't have, we we did have mentors among the teachers. We did also have clubs and societies, whereby we were able to throw in our physical energy and also learn from and be mentored. So it was not just a conversation.
Jenny:That's that was the that came to an end after I wrote the the response to the letter. It's one that's continued on.
T.J.:So what did for for you, Jenny, what did it look like, the Christian faith and the Christian practice as a teenager in Kenya? Is a Christian any is there a distinction between other people there in the school but also in in young adulthood? Is I guess what I'm trying to ask is in in Kenya, you know, I I'm very familiar with, the United States of America and, grew up in an environment that was very, very much Christian faith. But what did that look like for you? What does that look like in a typical life when you were growing up in Kenya?
Jenny:It's meant that from that moment on, I had to start associating more and more with other people who to have committed their lives to Christ. Walk alongside the older people in faith. It also implied that, I become more intentional in not just attending the Sunday service, but also the weekly fellowship meetings. In the school, of course, we did have the Christian Union being a member of that. Being being, volunteering myself to talk to other girls who had yet come to an acceptance of Christ.
Jenny:And from that time, I also learned that it's not just enough to go and tell the person. I wanted to become a Christian. It was more of pulling them, befriending them, helping them out with the small things in school. Like, if they have a problem with their homework, and I'm able to asking them, can I help you? Mhmm.
Jenny:Can I help you to complete your course? Something that will give me time with them, quality time with them. And then from there, we can move on to talking a bit about God, encouraging them to read their bible. Not just because it's a requirement as we ought to Christian religious education, but taking it to a new child, that this is something we need to live into and not just reciting the Bible for the exam purposes.
T.J.:Yeah. Different than a textbook, on, I don't know, civics or business or geometry. It's a different type of book. I like that. You had to wow, you learned something very early on to develop relationships to be able to share the gospel.
T.J.:Because the good news is about being in a relationship with God as opposed to just waylaying people with information and to make a choice, you you went the long route in terms of developing trust and a rapport and an interest in other human beings, just just like Jesus does.
Jenny:Yeah. Kind of like, more of I I think it's the way that I saw it. I had that experience that I got attracted to Christianity through other people who are Christians and who are living their lives for Christ, for the ministry. At an early age, I did not even know that they were doing this because of Jesus. But I could sense there's something more.
Jenny:They are so genuine. You know? Somebody coming all the way from Italy. Like, I remember one of the nuns, sister, Rosheera. Sister Zonta was another.
Jenny:When they told us stories, they could tell us stories of of their family, and I could hear that these are people who came from from not even the upper upper class. They were all kind of up there in terms of their social status, And they were willing to abandon all that, to come and live a life of simplicity.
T.J.:Mhmm.
Jenny:A life of poverty to come to a straight line. And I was able to kind of, from a very early age, connect what they are doing with what we were learning about the missionary societies. And when they spoke about, the willingness to come and close the culture, so to say, to come and live in Africa, to come to the unfamiliar. Then the other part of me was saying there has to be something driving you to want to move from your comfort zone, to come into a territory that is so unfamiliar, that is so unpredictable. There is something that is driving you from just wanting to be there with your comfort at home, with your Italian language, to come and want to learn not just English, but to also learn the local directs, to be able to communicate.
Jenny:To be willing to let go your pasta. You know? I mean, let go your food in Italy. Your pasta, your spaghetti in the works to come and eat with us, our githeri, our wungali, which is our local food. There has to be something more than that.
Jenny:It's not it's more than an adventure. It's something that you're living for. It's a call. And for that reason, actually, by the time I was going to confirmation classes and getting ready for confirmation. On the same token, I actually toiled with the idea of becoming a nun.
Jenny:And to me, it was like, I wanna be like them. I wanna do what they are doing. I want to give my life in totality to to Christ and to helping his people, which was another conversation all altogether when I told my dad that I want to become a nun. Because number 1, nuns are Catholics. They're not Africans.
Jenny:So this meant that I'm telling him that I want to even change my
T.J.:denomination from being
Jenny:a Greek honey to becoming a lawman Catholic. What was that conversation like? It was humorous when I look back because just said, oh, that's a beautiful idea. But this is what I'd like you to do. For you to be more helpful, more useful to the congregation that you want to enter into.
Jenny:I like you to complete your high school. I mean, complete your secondary school education. Go on and complete your high education. Go to university and complete university. Then equip to the degree, you'll be more useful to them than if you are to go straight on to becoming a nun now.
T.J.:Sounds like a very wise man. He never said no.
Jenny:He didn't say no, but I think, he also knew that dreams do die off with time.
T.J.:And he was very wise in encouraging you to do these, not to let go of that calling, but to try these other things along the way to help prepare you.
Jenny:Yeah. It's it's something a very good thing because I I think what we're saying is you need to mature a little bit more. You need to think to to have time to reflect as to whether that is what you want. Because truth be said, the other girls who, as soon as we are done with secondary school education, they went straight on to joining the convent. And what my dad was saying that postpone your joining the conference.
Jenny:Acquire more education. Maybe grow up. And then by the time you do a completing, you're completing university, which would be at the age of 21, 22. Then you'd also be at that stage when you can make your own decisions and have tested the wow to know whether really that is something you want to get into, or there is another way out.
T.J.:Well, again, sound like a very wise man in encouraging his daughter. Jenny, you wrote to me that you are a child of 2 worlds, Kenya and the United States of America. What is it about the people that are alike and what makes the people of Kenya, the people of United States distinctive?
Jenny:As a child of 2 worlds, a dual citizen of Kenya and USA, as a person who has lived in USA for the last 11 years, almost 12 years going next year in August. I would say that with time, if you ask me who I am, I'll say I'm a Memphian because Memphis is what I know is my second home, and I have lived here for a good portion of my adulthood. One thing that, of course, is from there is the fact that the gospel is the gospel wherever you go. I forgot to love the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should have life. It's a gospel that is preached both here and there.
Jenny:There's a lot in common in the sense that we are all striving to be more and more like Jesus each and every day. To be Jesus to the other people, to to to go out and embrace them with the love of Christ. But the 2 countries are also very different in the case that in the sense that Kenya can be said to be a third world country, while else US is a super country. So it's got its own it's got its own differences, especially economic carrying expectations. Like, for instance, every now and then, I'll get a letter from somebody from home saying that they need help.
Jenny:Help in maybe pangolence. The economy is so bad. They need help to meet the abuse. There's somebody who cannot go to school, so they need a little help from me to be able to buy the provisions for their kids to go to school. The church we're used to worship, they are expanding or they have this project.
Jenny:They need me to send them some money to help in that. And so although I'm I'm still in Memphis, I'm still very much into my own country. Being here has actually taught me to think first and foremost as as an individual. While I was being Kenyan means that I am part of a wider community. A wider community in all sense of the word in the sense that I share in the life of the community, literally.
Jenny:When I go home, I can't remember a single time I have gone there, and the neighbors have not come to see who has come. And they're not just coming to say hi. They're bringing me chicken. They're bringing me some fruits. They're bringing me some some food to share with me, to share with mom.
Jenny:And with the same token, they also expect that I have something that I have to share with them. So when I'm going home, I go to carry some presents with with me or some money to give But which is a joy.
T.J.:That's nice. I mean, it's a reciprocal hospitality. It's received and gift. Reciprocal. Mhmm.
Jenny:Yeah. It is. When I come on the other side, I will call my friends and tell them I I have come back. And it's different. They'll tell me, welcome back, and that's a little story.
T.J.:You're right. That's very true. People are glad that, you know, you've returned from travels, but there's no gift exchanging. At best, you might get, are you okay? Did you have a good time?
T.J.:But then it's over. The it's just a different type of hospitality.
Jenny:Yeah. It is. It is. It is. Because even that convert that that person calling to ask you back, they're really offering hospitality.
Jenny:When somebody calls and says, okay. Tell us how home was. You know, we share I share my experiences, and then they update me as to what has been going on when I have been away. And that's the way it's done here. So that's a difference.
Jenny:Both of them are acts of hospitality but with a difference.
T.J.:So comparing growing up in Kenya and the United States, we've talked about the small actually, the big differences in hospitality. How about the practice of the Christian faith? What what surprised you the most about the practice of Christian faith here in the United States?
Jenny:I think the the first thing that I do remember shocked me when I went to MTS is to actually see somebody smoking. Yeah. In a Christian establishment. Yeah. Because in Kenya, smoking and drinking are associated with people who are not committed Christians.
Jenny:So to see a smoking designated area in a seminary was like, Jesus Christ, what is this? No. And then, of course, there there have been other things with time that while I shock. And then I gradually learned to to look at Christianity from another dimension.
T.J.:To
Jenny:to look at life and to be to begin to reflect on what is it that is at the call of my Christianity or my relationship with God. To look again and reflect on the words of Christ as he said that which tarnishes you is not what is coming from the outside. It is what is coming from the inside. And today, we reflect on that as to what that means for me. But just to taught me something else, you know.
Jenny:You you can talk about issues all day long if they are happening elsewhere, if they are happening on the other side of the fence. But when you begin to mingle with people, when you begin to have relationships with people, it changes everything. You begin to see the humanness of the person. You begin to see that they too are are joining I'll I'll they're going through the journey of life with you. They too have their own struggles that are very akin to my struggles.
Jenny:They too are relying on grace to carry them through. They too are human. Yeah. And and and with that thing, I was able to kind of embrace my smoking brother in the seminary. And not feel that sense of, you need to repent.
Jenny:Make a 360 degree turn and throw your cigarettes and start a new life altogether.
T.J.:There's a shared there's a shared empathy when we spend time with one another and really get to know one another, where those initial perceptions, they they get changed, and they take they take a different type of shape because we we get to know the other person more deeply. And so the faults and the failures and the sins and whatever else aren't necessarily the distinctive measures of who that other person is. I'm not saying that they go away. They're just not as distinctive and as sharp.
Jenny:That's true. They're no longer sharp. And it's a daily awareness of what John writes in his epistle. That if you say you're not a sinner, you deceive yourself, and the truth is not in in you. Because I too have fallen short of the glory of God.
Jenny:And worried not for grace I wouldn't be who I am. So and then to really it's to to be introspective of how my life is. But above it, to remember that it is out of his love. I hope
T.J.:it that
Jenny:I am who I am.
T.J.:I was hoping you wouldn't go there, that that inward self reflection. Oh, it's it's so much easier to to, observe somebody else's faults and sin. We'll just skip over that epistle and go, well, that doesn't that doesn't apply to me. But but it does. It does.
T.J.:Jenny, how did the Cumberland Presbyterian Church find you? Or how did you find the Cumberland Presbyterian Church?
Jenny:MTS. MTS. MTS. MTS. When I came on, when I came to MTS or when I came to Memphis, I was picked from the airport by a Cumberland Presbyterian.
Jenny:I didn't know he was Cumberland Presbyterian. The seminary did not have accommodation for me. So it took me to the home of a Cumberland Presbyterian who was willing to host me, which when I look back was really a shock because that was going to be her fast interaction, close interaction with a black person. And more so with an African person. But she was willing to to take me in.
T.J.:A complete stranger.
Jenny:A complete stranger, who had actually committed herself to hosting me maybe 2 days before. And it was like a bang, and I I got here on a Thursday. And on a Sunday, she took me to Akamalat Presbyterian Church.
T.J.:Alright. Now I'm hearing some hospitality that you were that you were familiar with in Kenya.
Jenny:I think that was more than what I'm familiar with in Kenya because in Kenya, we take in relatives. We don't take in total strangers. Mhmm. Usually, we don't. We'd rather somebody else did it.
Jenny:But this was this were people who've just took me as I am. Mhmm. And before I knew it, by the time I even thought that, by the time I even put together that the person will pick me from the airport, and the couple that I went to live with are Cambara Presbyterian. I'd already begun to enjoy and to begin to visualize that, yeah, these are people with a difference. And then I went to the church.
Jenny:And by the time I left the church service, it's like, this is a church I've always gone to. There was hospitality again, like you say. Mhmm. And I I was just like, I want to come back here. And then one thing led to another one.
Jenny:I tote with the idea of joining the Episcopal Church here. And I didn't find a home there. And I I talked again to my Cambodian, Fred, who picked me from the airport, who happened to be the, the dean of students of MTS, of my physiological seminary. And tell me, okay. I can I can maybe give you a reference to a church, a church that you already know?
Jenny:And you go there, visit with them on Sunday, and see whether you like them or whether they like you. And if you don't like you, if you don't like them, then I can refer you to another one. And I went on Sunday and forgot that I was supposed to have another option. And here I am.
T.J.:That's hilarious. You forgot. There was no need
Jenny:to
T.J.:to to return.
Jenny:No. No. By the time they were asking me they were saying we hope to see you on Sunday. I was like, of course.
T.J.:Well, let me take, at least one step back. Memphis Theological Seminary, MTS, How did you get connected to the school? And I guess this is more of a call question. How were you called into ministry? And then we can jump back to the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
Jenny:Like I said, at the age of 15, I was already toying with the idea of becoming a nun and going into full time ministry.
T.J.:Mhmm. But there's a there's a fork somewhere along the way in terms of the Catholic church and the Anglican church, protestants, Catholics.
Jenny:By the time I completed my my university, the dream of becoming a nun had gone. There were better things to do. And I I did again think of a call until I became my headmistress of a school. And as a headmistress, I was also in charge of answering and mentoring the young people in this call. And one thing that came out of that is that I felt that there is an emptiness in my counseling That I needed to learn to integrate my Christian beliefs to the counselling that I was offering to the young people in the school.
Jenny:So I enrolled for a certificate course in Christian education because it was convenient. It's met twice a month only for 6 hours. So that was manageable. And then at the end of that course, I surprised myself because I got a distinction. And I had begun to fall in love with theology.
Jenny:So again, there was another opening for a diploma that could not take me away from my teaching responsibilities. So I ventured on with that. And by the time we were coming to an end, that looked at me and he said, Jennifer, I know of a lot of people who have had the promise that I'm yet to forget anybody who starts by having a degree, and then they go looking for the promise. Usually, they move from having a degree into doing their masters or their PhD. And it just so cut to me that I need to be a little bit more serious now.
Jenny:And do something more than that. On the same level, I was speaking. My kids by then were grown. One had already left Kenya to come this way. The other one was done with high school.
Jenny:I have 2 boys. So there was nobody really at home. And I thought, supposing I take some time off and go and study abroad, how would that look like just to have another experience? And I shared that with a visiting. And he said, okay.
Jenny:I can see whether I can get you hooked up to a college in Memphis. Actually, he didn't say Memphis. He said in US. And I said, okay. Go ahead.
Jenny:Ahead. Well, actually, 4 of us who made that request. So when he came over, he sent us, application forms to fill in. And of the 4 of us, I'm the only person who did. Oh.
Jenny:But as I filled it in, I did not actually think that anything was going to come from it.
T.J.:Mhmm.
Jenny:So I went from toying with the idea in July 2010 into actualising everything and by August 2011, I was here. Everything was a bang, bang, bang. And at one time, I didn't even think I would get here because there was a financial implication on relocating. There was money that was needed, and my bank account was empty. It had nothing to write home about.
Jenny:And I shared that too with a few people. I shared that with my brothers and sister, and they said, no problem. We'll see what we can do. I shared that with the church, and the community came together, raised funds. And using those funds, I was able to not only come, but I was good to go for 1 semester.
Jenny:And then MTS was also going to give me a very, very good scholarship. So the so with that, then I was able to to come and join my physiological seminar. We start off, but in faith that at the end of that semester, I have to be able to manage through the next semester. Possibly without having to go back to my people at home and tell them I needed more fads coming from you. Because I could tell that they too are given their all.
Jenny:And I don't know. I I think Christ has a way of increasing the little that we have. Giving us manna and you know, manner when we need it. And my journey and my course attempt years was just one such experience, from the way that I got employment in MTS. The whole process of completing the course, being able to to to to pay my my housing, my meet my daily needs with illiterate getting from the seminary, with friends who jumped in in straight ways, with a loving church family at Colonial, with some elders who could even tell me, okay, we have so much food in the pantry.
Jenny:What do you want to take home with you? Come the change of seasons. Jenny, you know, if you need a quote, just go to the quote closet and get one. That's why it is there. Occasionally, they dip hands into their own pockets.
Jenny:And before I knew it, I was done with seminary. And they still continue to support me through. Another another thing that I just loved about being part of the Canberra church, I wouldn't trade it for any other. I wouldn't trade, my church family in the colony for any other family.
T.J.:What is it about the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and its people primarily that you like the most, that speaks to you the most?
Jenny:What speaks to me is is John 3 16. It's a message that is inclusive. It's a message that reminds us that the love of God, the way that he loved us, and the way that we also call to love one another in the same love. Extend to one another the same grace that we have received. It's connectional.
Jenny:When I go to the presbytery meeting, I meet other people who are Cumberland Presbyterian, and it looks like a family reunion. It's it's just a way of life. It's more than a denomination. It's a way of life.
T.J.:Well put. Jenny, you are a chaplain at Regional One Health in Memphis. What does a typical day look like for you as a chaplain? Unfortunately,
Jenny:have come to, who unfortunately have come to to the trauma center. As you know, we regional one subs areas of 200 miles. All the serious cases of trouble comes there. People who have been shot, people who have been stabbed, people who have taken over those people who have had vehicle accidents, industrial accidents, farm injuries, boat injuries, and the works. And when they come in, I wanna know who they are.
Jenny:Most of the times, you don't even have the name of the person. We only know we are waiting for this patient who has lately been shot, and they are coming. Their injuries are serious. So as they come in, since I'm not a medic, my main concern would be to work with the paramedics who have brought them to this car to find out who they are. What's their name?
Jenny:What's their date of birth? Is their family? Do you have their contacts? And then from there, go out and find out. Do we have family members who are coming looking for their loved ones?
Jenny:If the parliament give me a phone number, I want to find out I want to call and find out whether that phone number would elect me to the next of kin just to inform them that their loved ones is with us. Help them to to to link up again, to connect again with their patient, their loved ones. Of course, there's a trauma center. It's it kind of brings out the the low edge of Memphis On a daily date on a daily basis, there is somebody who has been shocked, somebody who had been stabbed, Somebody whose life has come to an end. Someone who was at the peak of their life.
Jenny:And the life is gone. Families who have lost their loved ones. Apart this celebration that was to be in a few days' time. In a few days' time, they are not going to celebrate their birthday. They're going to be barring their loved ones.
Jenny:Sounds like in original one is all about tears. But it's not about tears. It's about learning for the from the resilience of people who are struggling with life, who are seeking meaning in their lives, people who are grateful for small things, Like, just been told your loved ones came in. He was intubated to help him breathe better. We are about to remove the tube and see how he's going to breathe.
Jenny:And suddenly you see the face right up. And you're like, really? But, you know, it's, it's a learning curve for me. It's been a learning curve for me to learn to appreciate the small things in life. Celebrate.
Jenny:Have a sense of gratitude. Yeah. And it also changed the way that I say my prayers. Whenever I say my prayers, I remember people who allowed their people who are exposed. People who are suffering.
Jenny:People who have lost their loved ones. And with that then, I read the scripture differently. I look at Psalm 30. Weeping may tarry for the night but joy comes in the morning. And as I pray, I pray that the joy may come.
Jenny:That dawn may come with joy, that they'll be able to smile again. And sometimes I don't have even to go far. I pray with family members who have just lost their loved ones, who did not see it coming. They have just launched. It has happened.
Jenny:And we say a prayer with them. And by the time we say amen, they're sharing their memories of their loved ones. And we we have a a moment of laughter. And that just speaks about the resilience of people. It just speaks about the peace that comes when we look up and rely on on on God's grace.
Jenny:To see us through the second. To see us through the day, to take us through.
T.J.:Jenny, how do you care for yourself when every night that you work on the shift, you are pouring yourself out for others who are in need? There's that balance there that's hard.
Jenny:Okay. It sounds like it's very hard, because being a chaplain is really caring for other people. But we have also viewed a caring community among us chaplains. So as I head over to the next chaplain, part of what we do is to debrief. And then after debriefing, the next thing is prayers.
Jenny:Prayers are very important to me. I when I'm coming home, I'll take the longest lout, especially after having a busy night. Take that time to have a slow drive and kind of calm myself down. Listen to Christian music. Be reminded of the love of God.
Jenny:Sometimes I just want to yell and pour myself out. As something else that I've heard very, very helpful is having a sense of humour. Seeing humour in the modern of life. Not taking things too seriously. And sometimes I'll just call my friends and tell them I just want you to listen.
Jenny:Don't say anything. Just listen. I don't care even if you have put the phone aside because I know I'm talking and I have the privilege to talk. And after I pull out, I tell the person, thank you very much. And it helps.
Jenny:It's it helps my healing of the soul. I I also like knitting. Also, I I knit a lot. I love walking. I love, noticing small things in the neighborhood.
T.J.:Mhmm.
Jenny:The trees that are falling, the color of the leaves, looking at the weeds that are growing in the middle of the road and wondering how. You know? And that speaks back to me that in each one of us, there is a strong that lies within. There is a frame that can never be extinguished because it's sustained by by the Holy Spirit. Even in very, very delicate times of our lives, it doesn't fade away.
Jenny:It's still there.
T.J.:You you had mentioned and you wrote to me that you enjoy reading and as a hobby, but also to gain knowledge, but also maybe some of that, decompressing and debriefing. Jenny, what do you like reading? Do you do you read literature? Do you read educational books? Do you read scholarly things?
T.J.:What do you like to read?
Jenny:I will read scholarly things, of course, for my sermon preparations because I still preach a little bit Now and then. I I will of course read different commentaries lead. What other people have said about the scripture? What they think after they reflect on it and then I will also think what do I think of this? I read journals, journals to do with chaplaincy, to see how other people are also coping with the struggles they're going through.
T.J.:I think there's a excuse me. There's actually a a chaplaincy journal. How often
Jenny:does it come out? Month free.
T.J.:Wow. Okay.
Jenny:It's month free. Most of the times, I'll go back to the old periodicals.
T.J.:Okay. How come?
Jenny:So that's that helps me connect, you know, to be able to be connected with others. I also like reading new new books that are coming up on the same line of pastoral care. And try to ask myself, how can I integrate the new skills, New knowledge that is coming as a way of growing professionally? One of the things that I learned from MTS, especially from my new testament professor, doctor Mitzi, is that you can't keep on relying on the old knowledge. You have to be parents.
Jenny:I remember, like, when we were doing, she was insisting books that were published 10 years ago should not be the books that you're looking at. Look for the newer titles. And for that reason, I made it a commitment that every other month, I'm going to buy a new book that has to do with so I can see a different angle to to, you know, I can see the current thread in chaplaincy. And, I also like reading very light books. A book like Animal Farm, is one of the books that I read again, 2 months ago.
Jenny:Occasionally, I look at smart one just for the sake of reading something very light. Earlier on, there was a series that's always had 64 pages. We used to call them the 64, and it was always a story. You know, this story is that we always had with we were happy thereafter. It makes for very light reading.
Jenny:So it's it's a way of bringing out the tension that is within and bringing out a bit of my creativity. I like watching TV, of course. I love music. Music. Music.
Jenny:Music. A mixture of music from the good old post performance to the contemporary music. And you can always tell the mood that I am in in the house just by resounding the music. If I'm very, very tense, the kind of music that you have is very loud music and very fast music. And as I begin to calm down, the music also comes down as well.
Jenny:So that tells me a great deal. The other thing that tells me is having a sense of humor.
T.J.:Yeah. I I think I think, God definitely has a sense of humor in the ways that we are created and the ways we interact with one another. There has to be humor in there. And, you know, religion without humor is very, very dangerous. There needs to be that self awareness of who we are as a group of Christians and realize that, we're not perfect and find humor in that, And find humor in our flaws, I think, as well.
T.J.:Just be self aware of them, for sure. Jenny, one last question for you.
Jenny:Yeah.
T.J.:You told me that you were named after your grandmother. And then you, her name and memory continues. Now you are a grandmother. What memories would you like your granddaughter to have of you?
Jenny:That's a big one. I think one thing that I like her to get from my life is that, your current so I take that back. One thing I like her to always know is that you can change your career anytime. Like I said, Ariane, I started off as a teacher. But I hadn't always wanted to be a teacher.
Jenny:My dream was to become a provincial administrator. I thought that one day I could become somebody like the equivalent of a governor of Tennessee, of my country. But that did not happen, and that's the way I found myself in teaching.
T.J.:Mhmm.
Jenny:Then I told God, even 5 years, I'm still a teacher. Help me to accept that. In 5 years time, despite all the applications I made, God kept me on as a teacher. And I came to love teaching. So I went on and did a diploma in teaching.
Jenny:Then I loved the teaching. I and I began to rise up from being a classroom teacher into be a head of a department, a deputy prince point to a prince point to a director of school. And then after teaching for so long, here I am as a church minister. So I like her to know that where you start off doesn't doesn't have to be where you at. The other thing that I would like to always know is that God does not disappoint.
Jenny:His promises are always sure. And none of those promises is that he promises to be always with us. He doesn't promise that our lives are going to be praised. He doesn't promise that there's always going to be milk and honey in life. But he promises to be always there.
Jenny:And that gives a large measure of assurance. That though we weep today, God is weeping with us. Though we feel like we have our dying moments, there'll be joy at reselection. Hopes that seems to have been dashed. They're not dashed.
Jenny:They just postponed onto a later time. They just print defied. And they'll come into flotation one day. I like her to know that in God, there is life. And God wants us to have life and have it more abundantly.
Jenny:But I would also like her to know that there is no way that she can thrive and survive as an individual. She is a member of our community, and the community is what makes her to be what she is. Like, we'd say, Ubuntu, I am because you are, and because you are, we are. You're part and parcel of a larger community. So I hope that she'll be able as she grows up.
Jenny:She's only 4 now. She'll be able to have a caring community and a community that she also she plugs into a community that gives and a community that she will also be able to give to. Enjoy the true meaning of holy hospitality. That's what I pray that she will she will discover as she grows
T.J.:up. Jenny, I've been looking forward to our conversation for months. We've been planning to get together so that you would have the opportunity to share your faith. I really wanted to hear it and be able to share it with others. Thank you so much for doing this, for opening up your life to me and sharing it, for making me smile through most of our conversation that my cheeks are hurting, And for being very gracious and hospitable with your time for me.
T.J.:I I deeply appreciate it. And I'm glad to get to know you better.
Jenny:Thank you very much. It's been my joy to to to talk with you. We haven't had a long conversation like this before. No. I must say that one of the people who have really made MTS to be what it is as far as I'm concerned is Marissa.
Jenny:She was my boss. And the way she became my boss is that she called me in, gave me a position, and I really needed it.
T.J.:Yeah.
Jenny:I will. So it's She was part of, when I say that God had the way of multiplying my resources, making sure that my oil does not land short, neither the flood. And she was one of those people who are used by god to be that. And to me, that's what being a couple of Presbyterian is. So thank you so much for inviting me to to talk with you and to have a conversation, and I love what you're doing.
T.J.:Thank you for listening to The Cumberland Road. You can follow additional episodes on Apple, Spotify, Google, and your favorite podcasting site. In closing, let me read to you from the book of Psalm chapter 30 verses 45. Sing praises to the lord, oh you his faithful ones, and give thanks to his holy name. For his anger is but for a moment. His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
