For Pastors
To offer pastoral care for those living in the world of Alzheimer’s/ dementia is to walk alongside them—those who are ill and those who are caregivers—while holding the reminder that God is always with them, no matter how long, how winding, the journey. Unlike many other long-term chronic illnesses, at each new step and stage the one who is ill is both shedding how they have been known and revealing new expressions of who God created them to be.
Pastoral care, listening and presence, name the hope and affirmation that God does not forget, nor do we forget God even when we have a memory loss disease. Insights and understanding change, yet the relationship with the God who formed us in the womb and knew all the days of life before a single one began remains. The image of God that lives within each of us never changes and can serve as our spiritual compass. We are never alone. The same single life flows, evolves, changes, and grows, but is always connected and cohesive no matter the journey. Who we are and Whose we are never changes.