Sending Communion to the Homebound.

A lot of questions go unanswered; because a lot of questions are never asked.  That's why I'm glad that recently someone asked a vestry member about why the Eucharistic Visitors don't go out as often anymore.

It's a good question and one that we can answer easily.  But there's a lot of background information that goes along with it.

The rubrics of the Book of Common Prayer allow for licensed Lay Eucharistic Visitors (LEVs) to bring communion to people who for extended amounts of time are not able to come for regularly scheduled worship.  The license is given by the bishop with the approval of the rector of a congregation.  These ministers are specially trained because they hold the sacred elements of the sacrament as well as have a unique relationship to the people they visit.  Often they are given the opportunity to minister in other pastoral ways by listening to the people they serve.

At All Saints we coordinate these visits through Judy Skillern and the team of LEVs.  If someone is ill for an extended amount of time they communicate in various ways that they would like a visit.  Sometimes they call the church office.  Sometimes we meet during a pastoral visit or phone call.

Once they have communicated their desire, then the team of LEVs will call them the week before a visit and confirm that they would like to receive communion that Sunday.  Sometimes they're not up for a visit.  And so we wait for another date.  If they would like Home Communion, then it is communicated to the Altar Guild and celebrant that the Communion Kit will be going out that Sunday.

During the Eucharist on Sunday we use bread that has been blessed during worship, and we place it in the Communion Kit. We bless the wine that is in the Communion Kit and then the Celebrant charges the LEVs to proclaim the Unity that our brother or sister share with us through the sacrament.

Sometimes before or during the service our communications get mixed up.  And we're ready to conclude communion with the post communion prayer.  In those situations  it is the celebrant's prerogative to continue the liturgy and send the LEVs out immediately following the service.  We try not to let that happen, but sometimes it does happen.

Some Sundays we have more requests for a visit than other Sundays.  Eucharistic Visitors' are important because their ministry signifies the unity of the church and the love we share.  Thanks for asking the question!

Praying Together and Preparing for our Future.

Over the last few weeks I've had the opportunity to answer some questions with some of you about my upcoming pilgrimage and time of renewal.  After Easter Sunday I'll be stepping away from ministry for three months as I respond to a call to pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago Compostela.   By Easter Sunday we will have fulfilled the most emotionally and spiritually exhaustive season of the Christian year which is Holy Week.  Paradoxically, Holy Week is the most fulfilling.  But on that afternoon of April 20th I will crash and hopefully sleep for a day or two.  I can't really explain the spiritual and emotional drain of preparing new sermons for the holy season.  I can't really explain what it takes out of me to do that.  What I know is that at the end of it all I will be drained.

April 21st is the beginning of my sabbatical; some anxieties and other emotions about my absence have started percolating.  It's something I have sensed, and I naively assumed you all understood why I need this time away.  But I realize that in the secular world sabbaticals don't appear to be common place.  And so the question arises, "Why do you need spiritual renewal?"

I've been on the same side of this question as you.  Years ago I was serving on the vestry of my home church when our rector came to us requesting time away.  I loved and respected my priest.  I saw that he cared for us and, along with the time he spent in the office he also set aside personal time to teach or be up at the church for stewardship days.  He gave up what we would consider personal time with his family to counsel couples, visit hospitals, and attend meetings on weeknights away from his family.

Being young and trusting I saw his request as analogous to Jesus needing time away from the disciples.  Jesus modeled sabbath for us.  The gospels record frequent times when Jesus steps away from his disciples in order to renew himself.  Albeit, Jesus didn't appear to take three months away; I just assumed our rector needed more time because he wasn't Jesus.

While my perspective was one of support for my priest I listened as other church members offered resistance to the plan and request for sabbatical.  Phrases like, "I don't get to take a sabbatical, and I work just as hard." or "Who's going to pay for this?" were the most frequent challenges.  Resentment bubbled up through those voices and at times I remember thinking how these normally very kind people were acting so out of character.

What was needed was perspective.  The priestly vocation is unlike a vocation and calling in secular business.  The closest analogy I can conceive of is teaching; although it is not exactly the same.

Every academic year good teachers pour themselves into their vocation.  Teachers try to expand the minds of young children, some of whom thirst for knowledge, others do not.  Regardless, she teaches both types.  A teacher balances the emotional, educational, and disciplinary responsibilities of diverse groups of young people. Each of her students learns in a different way and each of her students has a different personality that she engages in order to teach.  Each of her students come to her from different home situations.  It matters to a teacher because she loves the children in her care.  She invests a lot of emotion in the lives of her students.

Teachers deal with diverse parents who don't understand why you can't break the rules just for them.  Parents are not always kind or respectful to teachers.  But teachers are always expected to be respectful back, especially if you want the parents' support in helping the children.  Teachers are professionals who balance the administrative requirements that at times have nothing to do with teaching.  The emotional and psychological stress of balancing these multifaceted expectations is released at the end of the academic year through time away during the summer.

Teachers need the sabbatical time each summer in order to renew their passion for teaching, tolerance for administration, and love for the children in their care.  They need that time away in order to come back ready and refreshed for a new group of students.

As I struggle to communicate how a priestly vocation requires sabbatical time away I think of the things that I share in common with the teaching profession.  Teaching is of course more intense in that teachers engage students on a daily basis.  But similarly there is a great deal of emotional and spiritual investment in the lives of the people I serve.  There is rarely a time when I don't have someone I love who is not life threateningly sick.  There is rarely a time when there are no activities that I am not expected to participate.  Mentally and emotionally I carry with me the personal struggles of my parishioners as well as the corporate struggles of the church institutions.   The burdens are not laid down when I leave the office.  All of these aspects of my calling take their toll on my effectiveness as a leader.

And like a teacher at the end of a semester we look forward to that time when the mental stress can be laid down.  But not just for the sake of putting the past behind.  Like a teacher the sabbatical is intended to give the rector much needed rest in order to renew and regenerate excitement for the coming work.  In August teachers go back to work and pour themselves into the lives of the people they love and serve.  With new vigor, vision, and enthusiasm I want to bring new perspective in my own ministry to help nurture and teach the people in my spiritual care.  I have that calling from God and this time away will help me be my best for you.

As I spend this time away I hope you'll follow my updates on the blog.  I ask you to pray for my strength and safety as I travel the 500 mile Camino de Santiago (The Way of St. James) pilgrimage in northern Spain.  I'll be staying in old monastery and pilgrimage hostels along the way.  I'll be praying each of the hours of the Daily Office in the Book of Common Prayer.  Pick up your prayer books and pray with me.  I'll continue to study leadership development through June and July and I'll be ready then to dive back into God's work with you.