A few pastoral notes...

   Scam Emails from the Pastor

Many have reported this past month, receiving emails from me asking for gift cards or other urgent emergency needs. These FRAUDULENT emails have been a growing concern among other pastors in the area, and other non-profit organizations. Please know I will never request gift cards, money transfers, or other financial requests through email. Please do not share your personal financial information, or information from purchased gift cards with anyone through email. If you have any questions as to whether an email is genuine or not, always call the church office to confirm. This will also help us alert others to look out for these scam emails. There are often, though not always, signs that the email is a scam.

-Look at the email address of the sender. It will often not match my church email address, or the email address of others from an organization.

-Misspelling or poorly phrased wording is often a giveaway that an email is fraudulent.

-If the stated need is “URGENT” or has to be sent asap, your red flags should go up. Scammers will play off of people’s emotions and tell convincing stories that are untrue.

Hope Lutheran Defibrillator

We have had first responders called to Hope a couple times this past month, which prompted some to ask, “Do we have a Defibrillator at Hope?” The answer is YES! Hope has a defibrillator located in the main hallway near the sacristy door under the coat rack, inside of a designated cabinet.

A defibrillator is a life saving device that delivers a high energy electric shock to the heart to stop dangerous irregular rhythms and “shock” the heart back into normal rhythms. Many have been trained in its use, and it gives clear verbal cues on how to use it. A defibrillator will not deliver a shock if it is unnecessary to do so.

Hospital & Home Visits

Your pastors would love to call on you in your home or the hospital for a pastoral visit when we are aware of your need. Making these visits is one of the great joys of pastoral ministry, giving us a glimpse into your space, and providing an escape from paperwork, books, and other administrative duties we’d sometimes rather knock off the end of our to-do list.  Here’s the thing though. Sometimes we are the last to know of your needs and when it comes to the medical facilities, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability laws, also known as HIPAA, prevents us from finding out what hospital or facility a person is in.

Here are some helpful tips to be sure we make it out for a visit:

Call or email the church office with a request for a visit.

Share where you’d like the visit. Some would like a prayer before going to the hospital while others prefer a visit at the hospital. Be sure to share which hospital as I’ve been to 9 different ones and countless rehab/therapy facilities over the last 10 years.

Let us know what timeframe would be best. Would morning or afternoon work best, or any time of day? If you’re going to only be in one day, we will do our best to work a visit into our schedules.

Follow up with a phone call or email. If you share a request on a Sunday morning at church or out in the community, know that between the request and us writing down the information we might be stopped 3 or more times. Things get busy and our memories are not as sharp as we’d always like them to be.

Please forgive us if it takes a day or longer to get there. Sometimes we have prior commitments or are hundreds of miles away with family.

Have friends, family or a staff chaplain let us know. By far, the most frequent way we come to know someone is in the hospital or wants a visit is when a friend or family member lets us know.

If you want communion, please ask. We will sometimes bring it with, but if it’s requested we will be sure  to have it.

Pastor Matt