Skip to Main Content
//meadville.edu/
Menu Search

Quick Navigation

Donate
Request Info
Our Programs
Master of Divinity
MA in Leadership Studies
MA in Religion
Global Initiatives
Course Offerings
Academic Calendar
Learning at MLTS
Contextual Learning
Signature Courses
Internships
Teaching Pastors & Mentors
Take a Class
Becoming a Student
Application for Spring 2021
Visit Us
Tuition & Fees
Financial Aid
For New Students
FAQs
Who We Are
About Our School
Unitarian Universalism
Faculty, Staff, & Trustees
Meadville Lombard Alums
Student Organizations
Student & Alum Stories
Library & Archives
Library
Archives
Special Collections
Mission and Policies
Visit the Library and Archives
Fahs Collaborative
Fahs Mission & History
Fahs Curriculum Catalogue
Fahs Innovation Network
Fahs Resources
Fahs Staff
Support the Fahs Collaborative

Secondary Navigation

Current Students
Academic Calendar
Request Info
Visit Us
Donate
Alums
ML Commons
Transcript Request
Contact Us
Home
ML Commons
This Big White Box

This Big White Box

By Eli Snider
August 2019

[One of the requirements for our MDiv program is to complete a basic 10-week unit of Clinical Pastoral Education in a program certified by the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education that focuses on pastoral encounters with persons in need or in crisis. Eli Snider, one of our second-year students, delivered this essay at a CPE graduation ceremony at Providence Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane, WA this summer.]

As I reflect on my time in CPE and what this experience has meant to me, I think about my relationship to Sacred Heart. Not the institution, the actual building.

I have had a relationship with that 12-story building. Early in my relationship, I would look up at its imposing presence, its windows shimmering in early morning, and all I could think about was how much concentrated suffering, pain, and death was confined in this big white box. I imagined a heat map of Spokane, of tragedy and death, and I imagined Sacred Heart glowing like a firefly from a satellite view. And every morning I had to walk into that building. Some mornings I hated it. I was an unfortunately appointed grief doula, ironically enough in the building I was born.

And then something began to change. The more conversations I had with staff chaplains, my peers, and patients, I realized something transformative. This building is not a concentration of suffering, it is a concentration of life — everything that goes into life.

And life contains all things. Regret also walks hand-in-hand with gratitude. Death also walks with thankfulness of lives well lived. Close calls walk with second chances. Pain surfaces communities of support one didn’t know was there until misfortune visited.

It occurred to me, no, I was not a grief doula, I was a life doula — helping to deliver all the emotions that accompany life in its rich, brilliantly ironic, complexity. The exposed honesty of everything life has to offer, all concentrated in this big white box, this is what Sacred Heart has come to mean for me.

Eli Snider

MDiv Student

Eli Snider is in his second year of studies in the MDiv program. He worked in the field of non-profit leadership before following the call to ministry. Eli has a diverse volunteer history, including mentorship through Big Brothers Big Sisters, building homes in Mexico, founding a charity to support an orphanage in Thailand, and supporting refugees at World Relief. He is currently applying his experience in entrepreneurial business as the coordinator of the Religious Innovators Network – a collaborative initiative between the Church of the Larger Fellowship and the Unitarian Universalist Association.

Back to ML Commons

ML Alums & Students: Send in your stories!

We want to lift up your ministry and share what great things you are doing. Please contact the Communications Office to set up an interview!
Email Tomo Hillbo
Meadville Lombard Theological School
610 South Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60605 (773) 256-3000

Footer Navigation

Contact Us
Alums: Update Your Info
Visit Us
Transcript Request
Job Postings
Sign Up for Newsletter

Social Navigation

Facebook
Twitter
Vimeo

Utility Navigation

Legal
Copyright & Permissions

友情链接

  • http://www.zzyida.net/
  • http://www.zzyida.net/
  • http://www.zzyida.net/
  • http://www.zzyida.net/
  • http://www.zzyida.net/