What Do I Do if I Have a Pastoral Emergency?

 No one likes to dwell on the hard places of life; the disasters or emergencies. However, we know that having a plan or knowing what to do for those hard places is absolutely essential. I am inspired by the hard work of the Disaster Planning Team in our church. Their leadership helped me know it is important that I share with the parish what to do in case of an emergency where perhaps the presence of a clergy person would be helpful or wanted. 

A pastoral emergency is a sudden event that has life altering consequences. Examples of a pastoralemergency include: urgent hospitalization with pending or immediate surgery, or a death of a loved one. There are of course other crisis situations or other emergencies as well that may not require immediate attention but you might want to communicate to the church. These emergencies include planned surgeries, illness, and accidents that are not life threatening. 

Who should I call?

 If it is during the business hours of the Church, (Monday-Thursday 9:00-5:00) call 456-2240, the church office to speak to the Vicar or if I am not available, tell Lacey that it is an emergency and she can put you in touch with me. 

Fridays & Saturdays are usually the Vicar’s days off which means that I do not check voice mail or email at work. For urgent emergencies that require immediate attention, please call me at my home 357-2877. I listen to my messages on my home phone frequently. I ask you to please only call me at home on my days off for those dire situations or emergencies. 

 Also, please note that these days hospitals, because of privacy laws, can not and will not contact the church to let us know you are in the hospital. The only way we know is if you tell us. 

What can a clergy person do?   

Both Tony and I are more than happy to come pray with you for both those planned surgeries or inemergency situations. Often, we will have the chance to stay with folks during pre-operative time; if you’ve ever had to have surgery, that waiting before hand can feel interminable. Having someone there to talk to can help the time go by and having a prayer before hand is something that can center and prepare us for our surgery and bless our bodies for recovery. 

In emergency times, we are available to hold peoples’ hands, pray, get coffee and just be present with the family. We offer a ministry of presence and prayer.