So I started carrying my old green Occasional Services book to work with me. I marked PC at time of death, Emergency Baptism, Laying on Hands.
Today was the first time I used the book.
I was called to a room where a man is to be removed from life support — the family is in agreement that this is the right thing to do. The man and his siblings are Roman Catholic; the rest of the family is Presbyterian or unchurched. I phoned the priest on call to see if he would come over to perform the Sacrament of the Sick, but got his machine; I suspect he had already gone over to serve Mass as they have a 5 o’clock at that church. I left him a voice mail saying if he received the message and could come over by 5:30, we’d all be grateful.
I walked back to the room and shared all of that with the family. They thanked me for trying. Then I offered to read the Lutheran/Protestant version of commendation of the dying if they would want me to do that and if not, that was certainly okay. The Presbyterian wife wasn’t sure what to do; she didn’t want to do the wrong thing and offend the Catholics in the family. She asked the patient's sister to weigh in; this lovely lady listened to my offer and said, “God is God. We all believe in the same God. But this isn’t my decision to make. It’s hers.” So with the approval of the Roman Catholic side of the family and the wishes of the rest of them, I read a truncated version of the service while they all held hands and joined in the Lord’s Prayer. It was a lovely moment and I was so glad that Sharon had reminded me of these rituals and that I had been able to help this very nice family.
An hour or so later, Father called back. "I guess it is too late for your patient," he said. It was. The man had passed as soon as life support was removed. I was a little bit nervous as I told Father how I had handled it. I was afraid he would get territorial or something. But instead he said, "Thank you so much for doing that."
God IS God. We all believe in the same God.
