Gotta Love the Bat Phone!

My husband refers to it as the Bat phone.  A couple of times each semester, I bring home the black backpack, which contains the Minister on Call (MOC) manual, a charger, and a slightly older model iPhone.  Batman would have a way cooler model.

Like the Bat phone, though, this iPhone—the MOC phone—only alerts the holder if there is a problem. 

MOC—Minister on Call—is a role I share with a handful of others to assist the Chaplain’s Office.  Ministers on Call join the team of on call professionals to provide 24/7 coverage for the campus community.  In my view, it’s one of the lesser known, nicer features of attending a school like the University of Lynchburg. Someone is available to respond to any crisis, any student trip to the hospital, any need to provide support in the event of bad news from home.

Minsters on Call include the university chaplain and assistant chaplain, Nathan Albert and Katrina Brooks, along with several others of us who have completed a 400-hour hospital training called Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE).  CPE and the “Bat” (oops, MOC) phone are the equipment needed for the job.

Like so many things, the pandemic has altered the way we do things.  Visits to the hospital are less a part of the MOC routine.  Because ministers are called only in the case of extreme need, the weight of carrying the phone is much greater than it once was.

A week or two ago when it was one of my weeks to be a Minister on Call, I became aware of a shift in the way the phone’s presence impacted me.  I carry the phone, giving thanks for its silence, which signals that all is well—or more or less so.  The phone is there in case of emergency, but it is also there as a reminder.  I carry the phone offering prayers of thanksgiving and prayers for the continued well-being of the students, faculty, and staff of the University of Lynchburg. 

The Bat phone is a call to prayer.  Those of us who hold it hold each of you tenderly, prayerfully through the weeks of the semester, seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day.  You are so very loved.