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From the Assistant Rector
COMMUNITY
OF HOPE UPDATE
“Would my gifts and talents be put
to good use in a pastoral care ministry?”
A little over a year ago, a group of three folks
joined with me in discerning if Pohick Church should initiate the process
of forming a Community of Hope. This training program would equip laypersons
to commit to a lay pastoral care ministry. We hashed over the material
provided by St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in Houston, Texas. We
heard Jennifer Sassin’s experiences with the Community of Hope
when she served in a Community of Hope back in her parish in Houston.
We reviewed what had been at Pohick, what is and what was not at Pohick.
With a little bit of logic, a lot of prayer and the urgings of the Holy
Spirit, the Community of Hope took its initial steps toward formation.
In early January, a group of your fellow parishioners and I began to
explore the question posed at the beginning of my article in earnest
as we began the didactic portion of the Community of Hope curriculum.
With able instruction from Deaconess Kathy Garrison and Chaplain Phil
Brooks, the class plunged into the basics of a pastoral care ministry.
Sr. Eileen Heaps, OSB gave us insights into Benedictine Spirituality,
which the Community of Hope is based upon. This ministry is meant to
serve you and also to provide for the spiritual growth of the lay pastoral
care ministers. The initial training sessions are followed by monthly
meetings of the lay ministers with the Circle of Care meetings. It is
a way of taking care of the caregivers. We will meet for prayer, support,
and ongoing training.
Following this training, the Lay Pastoral Care Ministers will commit
to a ministry among the parishioners of Pohick Church. They will visit
us in the home, hospital, and nursing home. Join with me as we celebrate
the new and continuing ministries of Bill Stewart, Ellie Crump, Jennifer
Sassin, Frank Sassin, Carolyn Cockcroft, Patricia DeYoung and Ruth Cunningham.
They have truly answered God’s call to serve God’s people
in this ministry.
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