MARCH 18, 2022 — Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital and the Spiritual Care team invite you to a special ceremony honoring the Sweetwater Chapel.
The chapel has served patients and staff for more than 20 years and will be decommissioned with a special service on Monday, April 4 at 1 p.m. Employees are invited to attend the short service within the limits of the Sweetwater Chapel’s capacity restrictions.
“When the Brazos Chapel opened in 2017, the plan was to close the Sweetwater Chapel,” said Chris Siebenaler, CEO. “Other priorities have delayed that action, but now is the time to move forward. This closure will create much-needed training space for our employees.”
The Brazos Chapel has become the go-to site for hospital-wide spiritual events. Prayer rooms and outdoor meditation gardens remain available to our employees, patients, and visitors.
Selected sacred items in the chapel, many of which have been donated, will be moved. That includes the large Bible, which will be walked over to the Brazos Chapel as a group as part of the service. The beautiful stained glass that hangs in the front will be moved to the Main prayer room next to surgery.
For those seeking a final visit, you are encouraged to do so in the days before the ceremony. The ceremony will also be streamed live on Facebook inside Chris’ Corner. For those who cannot attend live, whether in person or on Facebook, that video will stay in Chris’ Corner permanently after the conclusion of the service.
The service will feature reflections, readings and prayers in recognition of the Sweetwater Chapel’s place in our hospital’s faith-based tradition. All attendees will be invited to join in the processional to the Brazos Chapel, taking the Bible to its new home. For your planning purposes, it is expected to last roughly 30 minutes.
Our sacred spaces are a concrete expression of our hospital’s vision of hope and healing. They are the result of the Houston Methodist commitment to serve as a hospital with a soul.
Abraham Philip says
I am grateful for the Chapel and Chaplaincy service! Thanks for letting us know this service still is an integral part of the Houston Methodist Hospital.
I got the opportunity to volunteer there, that was a memorable time of interaction with Patient and opportunity to pray for them. One time, one of the terminal ill young patient pray for me and blessed service of chaplaincy!
Even though this chapel is going to close but I do appreciate in a honorable way closing where many beloved one kneeled down before and after their shift not only pray for themselves but also prayed the patients who they had taken care of that day and remember the hospital staff!