Lay Eucharistic Ministry

I met with Mary after church last evening. She invited me to participate in St. Timothy's Lay Eucharistic Ministry program. This is a handful of church people who take the Holy Eucharist to people who are unable to attend services because they are sick or in the hospital or nursing home, or because they are temporarily disabled. It's an important lay ministry because Mary's busy schedule doesn't allow her to visit everyone. She explained what this entails and we went over the service; it's much like our 5pm service only a bit abbreviated. I am honored to be asked to help with this. I feel that Communion is such an intimate way to be connected with God and also with my community of faith. And it will be a privilege for me to share in this intimate ritual with others. I will partner with another experienced person until I'm comfortable doing this on my own. As Mary said, this is not a ministry for everyone. It's important to feel comfortable around folks who are ill, disabled, confused. Being a nurse, those things are part of my profession, I came home, googled LEM, and found a couple of books on amazon.com to help me learn about being a lay eucharistic minister.