Dear Friends:
The words and expressions of welcome I have received since recently joining the Pastoral Staff here at Princeton UMC have been nothing short of heartwarming. Being Jana’s Pastoral Care Assistant seems to have been neatly and divinely set-up, in hindsight. I had no inkling of the current relationship when I agreed to be Jana’s teaching assistant last spring as she taught the Introduction to Pastoral Care class at Palmer. As it turns out, that academic assistantship, my clinical internship at Cooper Hospital, and the example left me by my father, the late Rev. Dr. William Patrick Ryan, among other experiences, have served to prepare me for the work I am here to do, on behalf of the Good Shepherd.
In the last issue of The Chimes, Jana provided a broad explanation of what my roles would be within the congregation. In the brief interim since then, I’ve walked with several persons and families through grief and loss, hospital stays, chronic and acute illness, loneliness, fear, and family concerns of one kind or another. These experiences are critical to the nuts and bolts of Pastoral Care. They are generally not the primary reason many pastors respond to a call to congregational ministry, but they are at the core of who we are as under-shepherds, charged with the care of God’s flock. In this coming year I see myself as helping to shoulder the load of daily living borne by individuals and families. I will be lifting up your concerns in prayer to God, whose tender care I seek to reflect in some small way.
At Princeton United Methodist, the pastors are not the only ones caring for members in need. We are part of a system of member care, of which our Stephen Ministry is a crucial component. We currently have a dedicated group of Stephen Ministers who have completed their fifty hours of training and are ready to walk with compassion alongside others in our congregation who may be grieving, dying, hospitalized, or going through different degrees of personal or family crisis. Stephen Ministers are not trained to solve others’ problems, rather to reflect the heart of God who is “touched with the feelings of our infirmities.” If your curiosity is piqued or your heart is touched by this aspect of ministry, I encourage you to visit their link under the Ministries tab on our church’s website.
In addition to those trained in care-giving skills, there is another group of devoted members of our congregation who have volunteered their time on an as-needed basis. They are available to help those who need rides to medical appointments, to prepare and deliver meals for persons who are temporarily incapacitated, and to reach out to persons for whom a call or a visit would be helpful. A call to the church office is all that is needed to connect you to one of these volunteers. If you would like your name placed on this list, by all means let us know through your phone call to the office or email to catherine(at)princetonumc.org.
My prayer for this year is expressed in the eloquent words of Francis of Assisi:
"O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love; for it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life."
In Christ,
Catherine
