Sickness

I received a text on Saturday night from my supervisor saying that she had been sick for a couple of days and to let me know that I may be on my own this morning.  There has been a bug going round so it was her turn to share in the misery.  I was doing the whole service this week, so I replied saying to have a day off, and I promise not to break anything.  When I spoke to her on Sunday, she told me that, holidays aside, it was the first time she had missed a Sunday in ten years.   She hasn't had a student that would be able to pick up the load before.

Businesses usually have contingency plans in place, so this got me thinking about our church contingency plans.  When I crashed my bike, I was supposed to be on the projector that day, so as a result, there were no words on the screen.  No great hardship, but what if I had been preaching.  The Session Clerk of Lane End used to keep an emergency service in his briefcase, to be opened if both of the Ministers were indisposed.  Other churches have instructions to do a service of songs of praise if the Minister doesn't arrive.  I have a couple of generic services that aren't lectionary based that I can use if I am called at short notice.  At some point in the future, perhaps at lease one of these will be transfered to my phone or tablet.

Ministry is unlike any other job I have worked in.  Most jobs I have had involved me working with dozens of other people that could fill in if required.  And I had no jobs that required to be undertaken at a specific date and time.  As Ministers, we have to be on stage at 11am, or have arranged for someone to take our place.

The other thing is, my supervisor couldn't have just sat at the back and gone unnoticed.  Whatever happens, the Minister is still the Minister.  Ministers still end up getting told the concerns of the congregation, whether or not they want to sit at the back and be unobserved. 

Lesson for the day.  Ministers need business contingency plans.