This small incident is at the heart of a web of ideas that grew piecemeal. The chaplain became known as the keeper of the capellan (a relic) and then the 'keeper of the tradition of the bisected cloak'.
The Chaplain has become the one who engages with the world outside the Church Building at the point of need and offers concern, love and practical help.
It is important to recognise that the word chapel derives from the chaplain, ... and not the other way round. The Chapel was the place away from the cathedral or parish church dedicated to the special ministries of the chaplain - a missionary outpost.
So, to bring this model up to date, the modern day chaplain is what the Church should be all about. It is a concept far removed from the maintenance mode which is the danger so much now. It is a practical way of harking back to that very early example of practical and unconditional help.
The type of help offered by the Churches will be a great deal more varied these days. It might be advocacy or support rather than practical help, but the principle will remain the same, the principle of 'being there' for people, whoever they are ....
Perhaps a Fresh Expression of Church, but building on traditions hundreds of years old.
Notes from the MIBIC 2005 'Keeper of the Tradition of the Bisected Cloak' Conference.
'It is important to recognise that the word chapel derives from the chaplain,…
.... And not the other way round.'
In other words - this is the Conference Edition of MIBIC Matters. Puzzled?
The above statement does not mean that the MIBIC Group has entered in to a phase of destructive tailoring. It means that we have been thinking about the nature of chaplaincy.
Rob Jones, who is the connexional co-ordinator for Higher Education chaplaincy and currently also taking an oversight role for the MIBIC workplace chaplains during John Ellis's secondment, introduced to the Group an embryonic paper which seeks to develop a common statement that can be agreed across all types of chaplaincy - Forces, Higher Education and Prison included - as to what a chaplain actually is.
It would normally be considered that Workplace chaplaincy has its roots in things that happened in Sheffield with Ted Wickham in the 1930's, or even further back with mission to Railway Navvies in the 19th Century.
But Rob took us back to St. Martin of Tours. In about 337CE, as a reluctant soldier in the Roman Army serving near Amiens in France, he encountered a destitute man at the City gates in the depths of Winter. Using his sword, he cut his military cloak or capellan in two, and gave one half to the shivering beggar in the freezing cold.
