St Luke's Church Eccleshill - Articles from "The Link"

In our "Questions to the clergy" slot, John will try to answer any query you throw at him, without hesitation, deviation or repetition...

When do you visit the sick?

When Mrs B. was poorly,
she called the doctor round.
He came to visit her that day,
a serious ailment found.
And so, to help her get well soon,
he gave her medicine, on a spoon.

The next day she felt better,
but not completely well.
A neighbour heard she’d been offside,
“Shall I the vicar tell?”
But Mrs B. was very gracious,
“Don’t bother him, his time is precious!”

The next day she felt dreadful -
in fear of many ills.
The doctor came around again,
and gave her lots of pills.
The vicar didn’t go and see,
for she’d said not to, hadn’t she?

When Mrs B. was better,
she sat down with her son.
The doctor got a handsome cheque
with thanks for all he’d done.
The vicar got - well, you can guess:
he didn’t know that “no” meant “yes”.

It says in holy scripture *
that if you’re sick, you tell
the elders of the church to pray
that God may make you well.
So if you ask me, I’ll be there,
but you must ask - that’s only fair!

* James 5:14

Q. Please could you explain what you do about visiting the sick and taking communion to them?

A. We clergy try to visit the sick: to express concern and friendship, to encourage those who are feeling low, and to pray for people to be healed. We follow a bible verse (James 5:14), which says “If any of you is sick, let him call for the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.”

However, please notice that the verse says it is your responsibility to call for the elders, not the elders’ responsibility to guess that you want them. Clergy are not psychic about what people want, and there have been many people who have been upset by misunderstandings of this verse (as the poem opposite shows).

We also take communion to people who can’t get to church but who have been used to taking it at church when they were well enough. At St Luke’s we usually do this monthly, although some of our former congregation prefer to receive communion just twice or three times a year. If this is what you want please ring me up and I’ll arrange it.

Please bear in mind two other things:

(a) NHS confidentiality rules prevent hospitals telling us when you are admitted or discharged, so you have to tell us if you want us to know, and

(b) we clergy are only human and we do make mistakes!

John Hartley