Fr. Al Allison shares how they are keeping abreast of physical and spiritual needs at Mission Red Bank, Chattanooga, TN — and how that led to meeting the urgent need of a parishioner and her 91-year-old friend who are sheltering at home.
Fr. Al and Heather Allison
A couple Saturdays ago, the Lord kindly spoke something to my wife on a Saturday morning when she woke. She shared it with me when I woke, and we immediately started working to obey His direction to create a network of pastoral care that could make sure everyone in our parish was checked on at least twice weekly.
To address the answers to these questions, we have an active prayer team and an action team at the ready daily to intercede and respond to needs. We also have another prayer team asking the Lord for any vision and direction He might want to give us during this time.
One of our members moved in with a friend of hers to help her through the pandemic. Our member is in her 60’s and her friend (not actively a part of our congregation) is 91 and going blind. After our congregant moved in, she realized that the refrigerator in her friend’s home needed to be replaced quickly so they wouldn’t lose groceries. She reached out to one of our leaders, and the message got back to me and our “hub” in the care network.
A replacement fridge was found (by the leader who was contacted) and we rallied two action team members to address the need. A 23-year-old and an 18-year-old borrowed a truck from another congregant, gloved up, retrieved the fridge, sanitized their hands, drove the fridge over, gloved up, delivered it, sanitized their hands again, then went home to shower and wash their clothes. The groceries were saved and two dear sisters didn’t get lost in the fray.
He is so good and we are so loved!