Contributed by Melody Howard Yuhn
What makes our church a family? Shared faith, shared vision, shared worship, and shared meals are top of mind for me. Our worship expression is sacramentally focused, and each week we gather to be fed by Word and Eucharist. The Eucharist is so important to us that many would say “they haven’t been to church” if they didn’t receive the Eucharist during a worship experience. So when one is unable to attend church due to illness or infirmity, they can oftentimes feel isolated from the family. The Eucharistic Visitor is a very rewarding role that directly touches families each week in countless ways.
The Eucharistic Visitors program is a pragmatic way for us as a family to include our brothers and sisters who are not able to make it church. This is typically the ill and infirm of our parish. This could be elders who live in senior living complexes, middle age parishioners who are off for a few weeks for that needed knee replacement, a family who has welcomed home a new baby, or even youth who have been ill or injured. The program uses trained lay persons who are willing to go out once per month after the 9:00 am service to go make two or three visits, taking the Eucharist to those in pastoral care. A brief “one page” service is said with the family, and the consecrated Eucharist is shared.
Sounds complicated! Sounds involved! Sounds challenging! Not at all. The service is simple, the guidelines are clear, and any adult lay person can partake in this ministry. All that’s required is about two hours of your time once a month, and a willingness to go out to the community and visit with parishioners whom you may otherwise never meet. This ministry is not only a practical way to help the clergy keep in touch with our family through your help, but also is very rewarding. Many families are really grateful when their loved ones are able to receive the sacrament at a time in their lives when they are otherwise unable to come to church.
Many years ago a deacon used the following analogy to explain the Eucharistic Visitor ministry. Imagine you are with your family during a Holiday, a major Feast day. For many of us that might be Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, or a special Birthday. The whole extended family has gathered. A special meal has been prepared. It’s sumptuous, and the anticipation of the delight of being fed by food and fellowship is palpable. But you have the flu and are cloistered upstairs in your bedroom. You can hear the family, smell the meal, and long to be there to share in the family’s joy. As you long for connection, a knock on the door comes. It’s a family member, who’s prepared a special tray for you. He delivers a portion of the meal just for you, and stays a bit to visit and share family news. Through that thoughtful act, you now feel the love of your family, and the connection is ever stronger.
We who are many are one body, for we all share one bread, one cup.