Pastoral visitation

Tuesday was a busy day. First, we went to Peacehaven as usual on a Tuesday to do chapel service and visit the staff and residents. Came home and at 3.00 p.m. our grandson David came to fetch us to NTUC Fairprice to buy our weekly groceries. He now has a driving license and enjoys getting behind the wheel. I must say, he drives very carefully, good driver and I'm proud of him.

We borrowed our son's car and went to visit two elderly ladies in their seventies, both handicapped living in their own shared HDB flat at Dover Crescent. Grace and Mary used to attend Army meetings years ago, in fact Mary sang in the songsters for many years. They are quite house bound and do not attend church these days.

We always visit them on their birthdays, and on occasions like Christmas and Chinese New Year, so it's about four or five times a year, and when we hear that they are sick. We visit them to share God's blessings with them. And yesterday they were very nostalgic and mentioned name after name of officers who used to serve in Singapore - like the Harveys, Douglas and Jean Kiff, Ruth Naugler, Norina Staples, Moira Wright, Peter and Grace Chang, Robert and Thelma Webb etc. - officers who really gave of themselves without counting the cost. Those early day officers lived very sacrificially and wielded tremendous influence on our people. They were in touch with people.

Time always goes very quickly and we shared a prayer with them. We know they appreciate our visit. We can always feel the warmth of welcome.

When we first came home to Singapore twelve years ago, we did a lot of visitation particularly of the elderly. We were twelve years younger then so had more energy. Gradually one by one of our friends have gone to be with the Lord, so the number of elderly needing visits decreases. We cannot take on new ones as we know our limitations. We don't own a car, so have to depend on public transport. Good thing, I still enjoy walking, it's a good form of exercise.

At heart we are still Corps Officers (pastors) and we were so used to clock a minimum of eighteen hours a week. This was mandatory, written in the Orders and Regulations for Corps Officers. I wonder if this is still the regulation? But we visit not because of regulation, but the need to keep in touch to share God's word and blessing with others. To us it is a calling, a vocation in life, doing the Lord's business.

I don't know how anyone can preach relevant sermons if he does not keep in touch with the people he ministers to each week. Of course in our time there were no computers, no e-mail, and most folk did not have the telephone either. We just had to visit the people to keep in touch. We listened to their joys and sorrows, their concerns, the worries and prayed with them.

True there are problems that confront today's pastor. A pastor who finds visiting uncongenial, or too demanding, or is looking for an excuse not to do so, need not look far for arguments to support him. To some modern pastors, visitation is a hangover from the olden days. Or he may say, the time has passed when home visiting was necessary to ensure a church going people.

I'm not going to argue with the modern pastor. I feel visitation is sharing of God's fatherly love. Every time we visit someone, especially the elderly or the sick, their faces light up. We are there to share the Word, prayer and fellowship. People need the Lord and someone to talk with. that's what we find every week at Peacehaven Nursing Home.

Age has caught up with us, we still visit, perhaps not as frequently, but we do what we can as long as the Lord gives us strength. Well, as I posted earlier -"Praise God, I'm not weary yet."

"Wide was his parish, with houses far asunder,
Yet he neglected not in rain or thunder,
In sickness or in trouble, to pay call
On the remotest whether great or small
Upon his feet, and in his hand a stave.... Chaucer: The Prologue to Canterbury Tales

I am aware Chaucer speaks for Christians living in a different era. The situation varies from ours in crowded Singapore. Listen to his praise for the 'poor parson' - a diligent and devoted shepherd of God's flock.

"He stayed at home and watched over his fold
So that no wolf should make the sheep miscarry.
He was a shepherd and no mercenary."

By the way, I love to browse through the books at RSI Thrift Store. Often I pick up real old gems.You still can get Shakespeare,Chaucer Dickens, Austen etc It is only four floors down from where we live. Come and visit the store.