FROM OUR CIRCUIT PASTORAL LAYWORKER

Denise Johnson

I am now just over three and a half years into the role of Lay Pastoral Worker covering the Preston Ribble Circuit, but with differing focuses according to need. No day is the same and certainly the last eighteen months have been and interesting and challenging place to be a pastoral worker. I have been humbled and privileged to be a part of pastoral work during this time and want to encourage and support you as you seek to support each other.

The level of care that has been given by many of you to others has often been a lifeline, a light in the darkness and much appreciated. Pastoral care is not rocket science – it can be as simple as a phone call, a text or even just a smile. It is in the simplest acts of caring for each other that love really lives. Celtic theology talks of the "thin places" – the places where the distance between us and God is the thinnest. The thin places for me have been when I have grasped the hand of a person in need and brought comfort, when I have been brave enough to ask if someone is OK when clearly they are not, when I have sat in silence with someone when words were not necessary – where are the thin places for you?

Where has your life simply touched another with a profound effect? It is important in these uncertain times that we continue to care for each other, bear with each other and encourage each other. In Hebrews Chapter 10 it says these words

- Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

These few verses have been influential to me throughout my life. For a number of years I worked in Education, often alongside those who displayed challenging behaviour and a disinterest in study. I saw a wide range of teaching skills at play trying to engage and educate these young people – some worked and some definitely didn’t! There was one thing though that always worked – encouragement. A quiet word saying "you did that well" or "I thought what you said in there was great" achieved so much. It is important to spend more time encouraging than criticising, in building up rather than knocking down, in valuing the good in someone than pointing out the negatives,

I hope that you have a wonderful Easter and that you can spend it with those who encourage you and support you as you seek to do that to others.

God Bless

Denise