At any moment pastors can get a phone call or a knock on the door which changes not only your day but the course of your life [and possibly that of your church] for a considerable period of time.  I got one of those unexpected visits on Friday.  It was from a prominent carer in our church, a woman of great standing, dearly loved and highly regarded.  She may well be gone within six months.  Those moments come without warning, and how you respond cannot be learned in theological college.

This is where so much of our role as pastors is about relying solely on God’s enabling.  There is no way I can have an answer ready for anyone who tells me something like that.  Each circumstance is different, each person is different, and each context is different.

There is a lot that pastors can do fairly easily, using their gift mix, which is usually fairly deep.  I can’t ‘wing’ those situations.  I’m either baled out by God or I’m marooned in a sea of stutters.  Just how to help each person is a complex conundrum.  do we help people face death and prepare them and their families for the inevitable?  Do we fight until the final breath praying for a miracle.  If its neither of the two but a mixture how do we hold those two in tension?

I’ve seen both angles taken, and there’s much good to be said of each.  Each has its cons though, and I do prefer the ‘third way’: praying for healing whilst preparing for death.

I find it interesting that the people themselves often make it so easy for us by the grace with which they conduct themselves.  In this particular case I think I am going to learn a lot from this person as we walk this journey with her and her family.

May God steel you for those life shattering moments and give you wisdom in place of your muteness.