Our last Woman of the Week before we break for the holidays is chaplain-in-training Laura Wachsmuth! We asked her to tell you about herself:
"I came to New York from St. Louis a couple of years ago to attend seminary at St. Vladimir’s. Honestly, I didn’t know where my studies would lead, but I was new to Orthodoxy, and I wanted to learn more about the tradition I was entering. Coming out to seminary was difficult as there was much I left behind, and seminary life was not always easy as life is very full and it can be challenging to stay on top of it all. That said, I am so grateful for the two years I spent as a student at St. Vladimir’s. Through my experience I met many amazing, inspiring people, and my knowledge of the Orthodox Church — it’s liturgical life, theological tradition, history, deep spirituality — increased by leaps and bounds. Upon graduating, I thought I would return to the career I held before coming to seminary, teaching, but in the end I decided to do a unit of CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) to see if hospital chaplaincy was something I might pursue. Sure enough, I loved CPE, and in the middle of my first unit, I made the decision to continue on by accepting a year-long residency program in Manhattan at a VA hospital. The VA has given me the opportunity to primarily work with patients enduring mental health challenges, many of whom also suffer from the hold of addiction. I have found that many of these patients are extremely open to talking and often have no problem sharing their hearts. I am honored to be so trusted by the patients I work with, albeit I still feel a measure of anxiety well up when it comes to knowing just how to respond and how to best care for them pastorally. But slowly I am learning how to be in the present and how to open myself up to how the Holy Spirit might use my words, my body language, etc. to bring comfort and encouragement." Axia! #orthodoxchristian #orthodoxchristianity
Our Woman of the Week, chaplain-in-training Laura Wachsmuth, has a longstanding interest in ecumenism. We've asked her to say a little about how she's combining that with her new career:
"From the beginning of my journey into Orthodoxy, I have had an interest in ecumenism. I know many converts come to Orthodoxy with a great deal of pain from the various religious traditions they come from. For me, this was not the case as the Protestant community I came from offered me so much goodness and richness, and I grappled with how to process and fit in what I learned from this background into my new found Orthodox tradition. In and through this process, my interest in ecumenism was born.
"During seminary this interest led me to help start a Roman Catholic-Eastern Orthodox student group, which sought to promote relationships and understanding between the two churches. Along with this, I chose to write my MA thesis on the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation, which has met since 1965 so as to hash out the similarities and differences between the two Churches as a means of forwarding hoped for reunion. This dialogue, I argue in my thesis, is exemplary because it is rooted in love, truth, and the idea that conversion (each side becoming aware of its shortcomings and growing as a result of a relationship with the other ) is possible through the dialogue process.
"Currently, my interest in ecumenism is finding fertile ground in my work as a chaplain resident. The colleagues that I work with at the hospital come from a variety of different religious traditions, e.g. Judaism, Islam, Roman Catholicism, and Protestant. I have become especially interested in the relationship between Judaism and Christianity and am continually pestering the Jewish rabbi with questions I have in regard to this topic!
"I note that hospital chaplaincy also makes me grateful for my Protestant background as most of the patients I work with come from this tradition, and it is quite helpful when it comes to knowing how to serve them via prayer etc." #orthodoxchristian #orthodoxchristianity #ecumenism
As usual, we asked our Woman of the Week, Laura Wachsmuth, to tell us about her morning routine:
"Honestly, I was most nervous about writing this entry as currently I feel that my morning routine is a disaster. I usually stumble out of bed, hurriedly dress, and spend just a minute or so in front of my icons asking for intercession from Christ, my patron saint, Mary of Bethany, and the Myrrh Bearing Women. From here, if I have time, I grab coffee and stumble out the door in order to catch a ride to the train station.
"Ideally, I would love to wake up a bit earlier so that I could spend more time offering my day to Christ and reflecting on passages from His Word. There is a line from the Anne of Green Gables’ series (Wonderworks, 1986) about each day being a new beginning, “fresh with no mistakes in it.” I think there is something powerful about the morning for this reason. At the same time, I recognize I am not a morning person and that in setting a goal for myself, I should beware not to attempt anything too lofty!"
Thank you, Laura!