“I am writing this post because, over the past three weeks, I have spent more time at various hospitals (visiting congregants and the family members of congregants) than I have spent in almost every other year of ministry combined.”

In 1892, John D. Wells delivered three lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary that were transcribed and subsequently published in a little booklet titled, The Pastor in the Sickroom. This book is one of those unique little volumes that every man preparing for ministry should read. It is also one of those volumes that every minister should read through several times throughout his ministry. Sadly this is one area of ministry has received very little attention throughout church history.

I am writing this post because, over the past three weeks, I have spent more time at various hospitals (visiting congregants and the family members of congregants) than I have spent in almost every other year of ministry combined. It has been one of those seasons in which it seems as though everyone is getting sick all at the same time. The sickness of beloved congregants and their loved ones is one of the things that is often far from the mind of those of us entrusted to preach the Gospel. We have our plans, our agendas and our goals–reading, prayer life, teaching, preaching, outreach, writing, hospitality, exercise, family time, etc.–and visiting the sick usually does not factor into what we have planned for ourselves in ministry; nevertheless, visiting the sick is one of the greatest privileges and blessings of pastoral ministry. While there are many other benefits that accrue from pastoral visitation of the sick, here are three benefits of which I am reminded when I am carrying out pastoral visitation to the sick:

1. God calls us to be servants. Visiting the sick and the dying reminds us that we have been called by God to be servants to those in need. There is no glory in the hospital room. There is no public adulation–no praise of man by the bedside of the sick. There is no room for boasting when you are sitting by the side of those who are fearful for the outcome of their sickness. There is no place for self-promotion in the public square. Ministers–especially those gifted in preaching, teaching and writing–need this reminder. Your gifts may by praised by those who see you in the pulpit, but are hidden from the public’s site in the sickroom. Our Savior spent a large portion of His earthly ministry in the presence of the sick–healing and comforting those who were experiencing the misery of life. He who did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many, teaches his ministers to also serve those He came to redeem.

2. Our lives are all exceedingly fragile. One of the unexpected benefits of visiting the sick is that we are reminded of the frailty of our own lives–not only of those whom we visit. Whenever I am in the hospital, I am reminded of the brevity of my life and of the many infirmities with which I am subject to on account of the fall of our first parents. While the minister goes to care for those in their hour of need with prayer and the Scriptures, he is often the recipient of the blessing of being reminded of his own frailty and the brevity of his own life. I often picture myself in a hospital bed and am grateful that the Lord brings to mind that I am only dust and ashes.

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