LINE OF DUTY

“If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” (James 1:26-27)

This past Wednesday afternoon, in the midst of working on Sunday’s sermon and getting ready for Wednesday night’s Prayer meeting, I got a craving for a Dunkin Donuts ice coffee! I also realized I hadn’t yet picked up the church’s deposit bag at Framingham CoOperative Bank. Those of you who live in Framingham know what’s right next door to the downtown Framingham CoOp Bank branch - YUP Dunkin Donuts! So with the speed and excitement of a 13-year-old, I taped “Back in 20 minutes” signs on the doors, and bounded out to my 20-year-old Volkswagen Golf.

The old VW’S air conditioner has been inoperable for two years. It was HOT in that car and the prospect of a cold ice coffee felt great! Suddenly, my cell phone was vibrating. Fumbling to answer the phone in downtown Framingham traffic, I heard a strange woman’s voice saying the word, “Ashland”.

“It’s GOTTA be a wrong number!” I thought. I thought wrong. She repeated, “This is Officer (last name) of the Ashland Police Department. Is this Pastor Baril?” I wondered why an Ashland Police Officer would be calling me on my cell phone. I quickly learned that the husband of one of our Members had died, and that I was needed at the home. Providentially, I reached my wife Mary Ann on the phone at her desk at Marian High School, and fortunately she was able to leave with me immediately for Ashland.

In many respects, I’ve often thought that a television show about what pastors (really) do and encounter would be fascinating, but it WOULD often violate people’s privacy in their most vulnerable moments. For that reason, I won’t go into too much detail here, but as Mary Ann and I walked in up to the house past an ambulance, fire truck, and two police cars, there was the sense of peace that God was with us. This was the kind of “pastoral call” that really needed a “woman’s touch”. Mary Ann and I tend to be exact opposites, and on a number of (usually stupid) issues, we tend to clash. But Wednesday, we were totally in sync and functioned as one, and it was really just great! There was some very practical and earthy stuff to do at the Ashland home; there was the spiritual stuff, the business side of things as the funeral director arrived and the body was removed, there was functioning as pastors, functioning as friends, and functioning as servants, and being whatever we needed to be and doing whatever needed to be done. No, it wasn’t “fun”; but it was one of those kind of situations where you’re really glad to be in the ministry, and where you feel like you made some kind of a difference.

Mary Ann has taken over laying out and producing the church’s Sunday bulletins over the past few months. (Marian High has given permission to produce them there and they look really sharp.) Wednesday morning, Mary Ann had run the August 16 bulletins. Each weeks’ bulletin highlights one of the families or couples in the church to pray specifically for. I remembered that the August 16 bulletin called for prayer for this woman and her husband who was now deceased.

After such a strenuous afternoon, I hated to say, “Mary Ann, you’re going to have to change the bulletin...” but once I explained myself, she heartily agreed. The bulletins were rerun on Wednesday night asking prayer for this dear lady at her time of loss.

Mary Ann was exhausted and so I encouraged her to stay home and relax on Wednesday night instead of going to prayer meeting. I arrived at our church building with my son Jon at 7, greeted by my “Back in 20 minutes” signs, and noting that I wasn’t set up for prayer meeting and I’d left my office air conditioner running.

I kind of chuckled to myself, thinking, “Boy, that was SOME 20 minutes...and I never DID get that ice coffee!” We had a small turnout for prayer meeting, but we had a good one, nevertheless.

Wednesday, August 12. Quite a day. All in the line of duty...