I've now worked at two different churches in my time in ministry. Every church has its own culture, own expectations, and own priorities. Each church's culture and expectations are no better or worse than the church down the street, just different. The two churches have been pretty similar in a lot of ways, but one of the differences that I noticed quickly at McKinney was the importance of doing hospital visits. Every pastor does them regularly, whereas at Countryside we did not do them daily but would visit if a member we knew well was in the hospital.
As a young pastor, for whatever reason I viewed regular hospital visits as somewhat old fashioned, like something you expected pastors to do a few generations ago, when they were paid in produce and poultry. It's not that I didn't enjoy doing them, in fact from the very beginning I've loved that opportunity to go and visit with those who are sick, those who are bringing new life into the world, or those who are hoping to hold onto this life for a bit longer before going to the land of the living. In many cases this ministry of presence is the most pure and humbling ministry I do all week. As Paul says in Romans 12, "we weep with those who weep, and rejoice with those who rejoice." That's the ministry of hospital visits.
I was recently studying Ruth 1 in Hebrew and came across a passage that gave me a more pure perspective of this visitation ministry. In Ruth 1:6 it says, "for she had heard in the land of Moab that the Lord had visited His people in giving them food." That phrase, "that the Lord had visited," in the Hebrew is פָקַ֤ד יְהוָה֙, (paqad Adonai). The verb "paqad" has a variety of different meanings, but often means "to visit" or "to care" in association with the Lord. This is the construction used in Exodus 4 when the LORD says He has visited or has concern for His people and in I Sam. 2 when the LORD has concern for Hannah's grief at being barren. In each of these instances, what greater news could Naomi or the Israelites or Hannah had heard, than that the LORD, the God who is alive had visited, had cared for and was concerned for them?
Certainly there are passages instructing us to visit one another in the NT, but this concept of the paqad Adonai is the foundation of the the ministry of visitation as it is grounded in God's nature as a God who visits, ultimately in the incarnation of Christ. For He left the glories of Heaven and visited this world for a brief thirty years, making His presence, concern, and care for humanity known by visiting our world and even our fallen human nature. Though our hospital visits do not come with the same power, or miracles as the paqad Adonai, we visit to show our concern, our care, and ultimately to be present with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We visit because our hearts are full of gratitude because of the grace and concern we have been shown from the paqad Adonai.
