I started my day at a nursing care facility, visiting with a hospice patient who could be described as “pleasantly confused.” She was seated in her wheelchair in a communal area, talking to herself. She seemed somewhat anxious so I sat next to her, greeting her with a smile. Usually she is able to focus on me and have a (slow-motion) conversation. Today she did not look up. She seemed preoccupied, stuck in an uncomfortable world.
I asked simple questions about her well-being but she kept repeating “Bless God” or “I bless God.” What a great opening for me to affirm her strong Christian faith. I offered reassuring words about God’s presence, hoping she might become less anxious. I played a hymn for her: Great is Thy Faithfulness. She settled down and listened. She mouthed the words to the refrain for a couple of verses: Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see; all I have needed Thy hand hath provided: Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!
I’m always comforted to discover in my patients how the music they have sung in their youth lodges deep within and yields comfort. She muttered the words “grace” and “mercy.” I affirmed that those are much-needed words. Still looking down at her lap, she murmured, “God is with us.” I echoed her statement of faith as a reminder of what I believe! I closed with the Lord’s Prayer, another act of worship that folks with dementia often remember. As I finished with an “Amen”, she was quiet for a minute. Then she began to pray her own prayer, eyes closed and head in hand. I could only understand a few words but they were fitting. The words from this unlikely Election Day prophet gave me hope. It almost seemed that she was picking up on the tension of the politics that swirled about wildly just beyond those facility walls. I wondered what signals she was picking up that led her to be unusually anxious?
As I stood up to say goodbye, I touched her arm and wished her a blessed day. She looked up at me. Up to this point, she had been absorbed in her own thoughts. She spoke clearly: “Show God’s mercy.”
I’m grateful she provided a worship experience for me this morning. I needed this time with her, a woman who has lived her life in the Church. She reminded me of Who is Sovereign and Who I am called to serve. With her thoughts flitting nonsensically through her head, she focused on loving the God whose presence she clearly felt. So I offer her timeless exhortation to you:
Show. God’s. Mercy.
Preaching Life 