Ponderings, Pleas and Prayer: A Qualitative Content Analysis of Danish Hospital Chapel Guest Books

Abstract

In Denmark, religious behavior is usually very private. Little is known of religious and spiritual needs of patients and family during critical illness and hospitalization. We aimed to explore contemporary thoughts and prayers related to critical illness and hospitalization expressed in hospital chapel Guest Books. Qualitative content analysis of written texts was performed on Guest Books completed from 2005–2019. We identified the main themes of health and illness, life and death, and science and religion. Visitors welcomed the Guest Books as a place to express religious and spiritual thought, even in a nominally nonreligious society.

Appendices

Appendix 1 Main theme I: Health and disease

Hope

• 1. “Dear God. Help me recover, and all the others that are here” (GB 23 note 119).

• 2. “Dear God, help me to not go crazy in the future. A new beginning is near” (GB 36 note 1).

• 3. “Help her through this difficult time, let her get a chance for a long and full life just like all the little healthy children” (GB 36 note 181).

• 4. “Give me strength and peace to endure a difficult course of illness, mentally and physically” (GB 46/47 note 101).

Endurance

• 5. “A special thanks to the hospital chaplains for the spiritual care that you provided and that helped him endure a very difficult time” (GB 1 note 20.b).

• 6. “Dear God. My dear boy almost 1 month will have surgery Monday in his little heart. I pray that you protect him during surgery and the time after” (GB 13 note 163).

• 7. “I believe that love will heal my daughter who at this moment is in surgery for cancer, and I pray the cancer will be completely removed from her body” (GB 16 note 24).

• 8. “Thank you because she is still with me. She survived surgery, thank you mom, thank you God, thanks to the neurosurgical unit” (GB 36 note 78).

• 9. “Dear, will I have to go through another ordeal? I don’t think it’s my turn again” (GB 36 note 47).

• 10. “Take care of me now, I’m at a difficult place in life – my illness is returning, but I won’t give up” (GB 46/47 note 76).

• 11. “I pray that you will take very good care of her during surgery. Be with all the people around her and let them do their best” (GB 46/47 note 69).

• 12. “In all the chaos I’m going through, and all the wards I have visited, and all the procedures I have endured, I finally found peace that was hard to find here, here sitting in this chapel. I don’t know why I have to endure this; it’s like looking through a mirror, but some time I must see it face to face – healthy in body and soul” (GB 46/47 note 43).

• 13. “Life is a gift, some say, but life can also be difficult. I have somewhat recovered from an eating disorder now. Thank you, God for protecting me during the difficult time when my family failed me” (GB 46/47 note 162).

Illness

• 14. “Once again, the physical exam went well” (GB 2 note 107).

• 15. “Even if they sit and listen to what I say, it is as though they don’t understand. But, as I said, I am 14 years old, and admitted again, but hope to get rid of this terrible disease! Am sure that one day, I will find someone who understands what I’m saying” (GB 13 note 90).

• 16. “Let his scan be positive. You won’t get him yet. He’s only 20 and has a long life ahead of him” (GB 13 note 193).

• 17. “Dear whoever hears me. I ask once again that my test today will go as it should and that our little girl is well. I pray with all that I have in me” (GB 18 note 38).

• 18. “When I was terrified of losing my life and mind, you helped me” (GB 40 note 9).

Cancer

• 19. “Dear Lord. Thank you for holding my hand through my illness. You were always by my bedside; from the day I was told that I had cancer. I thought I would die, but today I was told that it is gone. I found you on my journey and promised never to forget you. I didn’t fear death, but I must say that I appreciate life more than I did before” (GB 1 note 96).

• 20. “Dear God! Help my friend to decide to receive treatment after breast cancer surgery. Dear Jesus, show her the way, she is afraid of accepting chemotherapy, afraid of side-effects such as losing her hair, nausea and vomiting” (GB 2 note 20).

• 21. “Thank you for the staff that works with cancer at this hospital, taking such good care of me professionally and humanly” (GB 13 note 63).

• 22. “Dear God. Thank you because I have been cured. Help me to become a better person” (GB 13 note 152).

• 23. “Dear God, help my husband to survive! Help our small children to keep their father! Help him – give him a longer life, he should see his children through daycare, preschool, school and high school” (GB 16 note 124).

• 24. “Our lord, why should I have this wicked cancer in me? I ask to get well; I have lost the will to live. Help me God. Have lived with disease for a year and a half” (GB 23 note 12).

• 25. “DEAR GOD (drawing of heart). Could you make sure that cancer got cancer and died of cancer! Now it has taken my beloved mother and now also my beloved father. It’s just not right” (GB 40 note 213).

• 26. “Don’t let the leukemia win. Help her and help us through. We must win this battle” (GB 59 note 91).

Gift of life

• 27. “With all our hearts, we thank the person that let his/her lungs continue life in our daughter” (GB 1 note 20.a).

• 28. “Thank you dear one who has given me a kidney. You have given life back to me and my family” (GB 1 note 30).

• 29. “It is very lonely and scary leaving the hospital. I thought I was well, but I now have cancer in my newly transplanted liver. Nobody can relieve my anxiety. So, I ask you God, have mercy on me, give me peace in the knowledge that you will fix everything” (GB 8 note 99).

• 30. “Thank you for letting me keep my new kidney for over a year. I think it will stay with me till my final hour. And thank you to my beautiful mother who gave me this gift” (GB 13 note 119).

• 31. “Dear readers, to all of you that doubt if you wish to donate your organs, I will encourage you to do so. When we die, we leave this Earth, we bring nothing with us, there is only our body. God returns to the body. I have lived for 7 years with my new heart and my 2 new lungs and I’m fine. I now have a wonderful little daughter who is 3 years old, and I will soon have a second child” (GB 13 note 132).

• 32. “I was born at this hospital in 19xx. In 2004 I was reborn after being at the very edge of life. Thank you for life! Thank you to my donor! Thank you to the hospital! To endure the deepest darkness and be reborn to a new life” (GB 16 note 31).

• 33. “Thank you for being with me on Friday when (x) gets one of my kidneys. Thank you for surgery according to the plan … Thank you for full recovery of both of us” (GB 23 note 37).

• 34. “Dear people and God. After a heart transplant we are farther out in the universe and see reality a little closer. Loving thanks to my donor and my God, Born again” (GB 23 note 146).

Appendix 2 Main theme II: Life and death

Birth

• 35. “Dear God. Thank you because my little daughter was delivered safely into this world. Thanks for the support and care I received through the people that helped her out” (GB 13 note 78).

• 36. “Dear God. Thank you for my little sweet baby. Thank you because she is healthy and beautiful as an angel. Thank you for everything you have given me in life” (GB 13 note 135).

• 37. “Protect our little girl. I beg with all that I have left in me. Don’t take our little girl” (GB 18 note 13).

• 38. “10 weeks too early fighting kidney failure and bladder problems. Is in surgery today to fix the bladder” (GB 23 note 80).

• 39. “I have never been so scared and frustrated at the same time. Help me to give my very small daughter the strength she needs to fight this battle, she mustn’t give up” (GB 23 note 140).

• 40. “… a prayer to be heard. A prayer for the small unborn child, that shouldn’t be born yet. A prayer for the small life that will become a life, a life that should begin, but wait, not yet – wait as long as possible. Every day in the mother’s belly means so much – just stay there – stay and grow ready to be born. Little life, you are so welcome – but not yet, wait, wait till February or even just January” (GB 46/47 note 126).

Survival

• 41. “Give me strength, God. I really need it. I want so much to experience my small child grow up to be big and wise. Hear my cry for help. Don’t give up on me” (GB 2 note 19).

• 42. “Thank you for life – thank you for the chance to finally live instead of just surviving” (GB 13 note 137).

• 43. “Thank you for everything and thanks to the sweet staff at my ward. I was in room xx for two weeks and they were the best weeks of my life. I have never had such good care” (GB 16 note 8).

• 44. “Dear Lord Jesus Christ and Dear God. Thank you for the good news today and thank you for being by my side always. Please let me be a survivor and be completely cured so I can be a mother, sister, and daughter again. I believe in you and pray to you for a miracle dear lord. Thank you again from the bottom of my heart” (GB 23 note 9).

• 45. “My daughter is in surgery now and I am grateful that I can be with her, but please take me if it can give her a new life” (GB 16 note 39).

• 46. “Dear God. Thank you for going through this with me. Thank you for taking care of my children in heaven and that I one time will meet them, hug them and kiss them and see them. Greet them … Thank you for the ones I have been able to keep. Thank you for the beauty in life in the dark and spring after winter” (GB 36 note 7).

• 47. “Mother above, or where you are. I know you understand that she won’t have to come to you yet. Let your arms embrace her and stay with her while this is going on” (GB 36 note 77).

Disruption

• 48. “He was run over by a truck. I pray he will wake up and recover and have a good life” (GB 23 note 71).

• 49. “Dearest God, please give him back his mind … let him remember me again and give him his thoughts back. I love him so much (drawing of star). We have fought so long and just want to be young again” (GB 36 note 168).

• 50. “Make sure that he, the nurses and doctors have the strength and faith tomorrow to say goodbye to ECMO and hello to the mechanical ventilator” (GB 40 note 214).

• 51. “Let him wake up and leave intensive care. He is the meaning of our lives; he is the glue that holds us together and he is so needed here on Earth” (GB 40 note 195).

• 52. “How life is great when it has been threatened and how great is God – and God thank you God!” (GB 36 note 93).

• 53. “Dear God. I’m having brain surgery, take good care of me. I want to return to life because I enjoy life here on Earth, I know that I will leave some day, but I would like to wait till I get very old” (GB 59 note 3).

Death

• 54. “Beloved mom, you are missed. Life without you is so empty. They say that God takes the good ones, but he took you too soon! I believe we will meet in eternal life” (GB 13 note 5).

• 55. “I sincerely hope that my dear father, who has meant so much to me, will be permitted to come home – that he won’t die at the hospital, but where he feels the safest” (GB 13 note 60).

• 56. “Dear God. Let my mother leave peacefully and painlessly” (GB 13 note 209).

• 57. “Thank you, God because he died in peace the right way” (GB 16 note 112).

• 58. “God, let it be true that life continues with you after death. It is unbearable if I never see my little girl again” (GB 22 note 7).

• 59. “Goodbye my girl! You lived in my dreams. You were in your mother’s tummy. I hope you are happy where you are. You will always be my girl. Daddy” (GB 27 note 49).

• 60. “God has received a small angel today! We were only allowed to have him for a week. He fought too big a fight for his small body. Take good care of him for us” (GB 40 note 2).

• 61. “Dear God, hope you take care of our little baby in Heaven” (GB 46/47 note 48).

• 62. “Today XX died. Dear God. Be with him and all that care for him. Let no one be alone and let us all feel that there is life beyond this life, et good and safe place where we all come from and to where we all return. Let us feel that love is the greatest of all” (GB 54 note 94).

Appendix 3 Main theme III: Science and faith

Beyond science

• 63. “Jesus, you are the greatest doctor and I think you are with me and hold me all the time” (GB 13 note 144).

• 64. “Help the doctors do the right thing” (GB 13 note 200).

• 65. “Bless the staff with continued wisdom and insight” (GB 13 note 204).

• 66. “JESUS LOVES YOU. He died for you. He lives, he helps God is healer God is the doctor” (GB 16 note 56).

• 67. “Thank you for the doctors and your support for them, doctor over all doctors. We put all at the hospital, patients, staff and relatives in your strong hands” (GB 16 note 152).

• 68. “Dear Jesus. Thank you for being faithful and for always being with me and thank you for being the great doctor that even heals me” (GB 18 note 28).

• 69. “Dearest God, please let the doctor understand my treatment” (GB 22 note 130).

• 70. “Something is wrong, but the doctors are not in my body, I am” (GB 23 note 57).

• 71. “Heavenly Father! … give doctors and staff wisdom and skills” (GB 36 note 64).

• 72. “Give our boy back his childhood. Only you can heal him. The doctors have long since given up! Mom” (GB 27 note 169).

• 73. “Dear Virgin Mary, heavenly queen. Heal our brother in the name of Jesus – ask your son for an immediate miracle” (GB 8 note 22).

• 74. “Dear God! Thank you for hearing my prayer … heal the cancer patient that has affected brain and gets radiation. Heal the burn patient that god a skin graft today! Lord Jesus Christ you can show miracles. Thank you for being with me and helping me to be of use …” (GB 8 note 23).

• 75. “Dear God. We need a miracle. Help my son to be strong and healthy so we can go home and show him that life is something else than nurses and alarms” (GB 13 note 166).

• 76. “She is at the neonatal ward waiting for her fate. Let her have a long and happy life. Take mine instead, if needed. Her chances are small, but so much the greater miracle. Show what you can do!” (GB 16 note 144).

• 77. “Dear God. At first, she got 3–5 h and now 5 days have gone by. I thank you for this miracle. At first the doctors gave up, but now they give her a chance. I thank you for this. She has not given up. The doctors must not give up. We (the family) haven’t given up. You must not give up! We can’t make this miracle happen without your help and this I beg you for” (GB 16 note 150).

• 78. “Miracles happen … the world is God. This is what I lost by his accident … faith in the world as God. It was awful. But miracles happen. Thank you, angel that carried him carefully down to Earth so we could enjoy his wonderful spirit. Thank you, God, that you let him stay” (GB 36 note 111).

• 79. “Dear God. They will turn off her ventilator today, so if you want to save her with a miracle now is the time! – her mother” (GB 40 note 205).

Religious reflection

• 80. “Thank you for the many chaplain visits at the word where I am still admitted” (GB 1 note 24).

• 81. “Dear God. Help us people to live in peace whether we are Muslim or Christian, let us learn to forgive, let us respect each other, thank you God. Please heal xx so she can come home to us all” (GB 2 note 5).

• 82. “To go into the church and try to be present – and accept that we cannot change everything. That life must go on despite illness and challenges” (GB 13 note 19).

• 83. “For two months I have come her to the chapel in connection with my husband’s illness. It has given me faith to believe and hope that he will recover. A big thanks to you all” (GB 16 note 3).

• 84. “Do you promise that granddad will be comfortable in heaven, God?” (GB 18 note 40).

• 85. “Always a pleasure to visit the hospital chapel. Beautiful in here and peaceful. May God bless us all, healthy as well as sick and all the staff” (GB 40 note 70).

• 86. “… Such a restful church to reflect, pray and express gratitude. Thank you! God bless and shine your light on the doctors, nurses and all the staff here!” (GB 46/47 note 22).

• 87. “Hi, my name is Mary, I’m 9 years old and love dogs and want a puppy for Christmas and that my dad recovers” (GB 53 note 52).

• 88. “Dear God, I love my grandfather although he is dead. Please let him know, love” (GB 54 note 99).

• 89. “Dear God. Are you ever bored?” (GB 59 note 125).

• 90. “Dear God. Do you have a Mom and Dad?” (GB 59 note 126).

• 91. “Dear God! I am desperate. What happens now? Help us – won’t you?” (GB 2 note 128).

• 92. “You didn’t help although he believed in you” (GB 46/47 note 90).

• 93. “Dear lord, we have searched for you all day, but we haven’t found you” (GB 53 note 27).