It was following this that we were invited to a training session about the 'spiritual care of the frail elderly'. I suppose that on one level this simply means providing Christian fellowship for those who can no longer get out and about. It is the sort of thing a clergyman or pastor might do (if one were available), or a church leader, or simply a friend who comes along to share a prayer and read a scripture. One doesn't expect too much - their spirit is willing but the flesh is by definition weak. Nevertheless, the old patterns of fellowship are preserved, the old hymns and familiar thoughts are brought back to mind.

It is difficult to think of any person in the New Testament who can be thought of as 'frail elderly'. Even the woman who for 18 years had a 'spirit of infirmity' and a bent back and was healed by Jesus (Luke 13) was not necessarily elderly. Simeon and Anna (Luke 3) were certainly elderly, but were out and about and alert.

Mental alertness is one of the points visitors need to consider. Mental frailty, bodies failing and minds failing too. Short term memory gone. The same question or comment repeated time and again. Dementia ('a mental disorder marked by memory failures, personality changes and impaired reasoning'). Only the past is clear in the mind.

Bodily weakness may respond to encouragement and advice, but mental weakness requires a different kind of care. If the mind is not functioning, is it still possible to feed the spirit? Can an elderly person with Alzheimer's be a functioning part of Christ's body, the Church? Or is the condition rather like a premature if partial death?

How can Scripture be shared with people who are elderly and frail? Someone might choose a Gospel passage from a lectionary as the Gospel for the day, but this may not be particularly appropriate for the elderly. For example, suppose Luke 14.25-27 came up. "Large crowds were travelling with Jesus... to them he said "If any one comes to me and does not hate his father and mother.... even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple." In these words Jesus is challenging the fit and active to face up to the cost of being a disciple. Sharing with the elderly, surely it would be better to quote the words He spoke to the burdened and heavy laden, telling them to come to him and find rest for their souls (Matthew 11.28).

The risks in using the Luke scripture with the frail and elderly are apparent. They may not understand what Jesus is saying. It does not properly apply to them. They may forget straight away what has been said - like the good seed scattered on the path which the birds came and ate before it could take root (Matthew 13). On the other hand, there is the argument that just having Scripture read, whatever the Scripture, carries a blessing, carries a kind of magic. I am not sure whether this is a valid point, but is it true that we also who are mentally agile can be blessed by a scripture - even if we do not fully understand it? Is it good to listen to familiar Scriptures whether they specially apply to ourselves or not?

There is a general point here, about how we approach Scripture. As students, we need to be precise about what it means and how it applies. But as carers, how much does it matter that we get our understanding precisely right?

At the training session it was said that even just one word in a passage can speak to an elderly, frail person, 'strike a chord', 'ring bells', even if taken out of context. "Yes", said someone, "in the reading it speaks of taking up your cross. That would appeal to old people who each have their own 'cross' to bear." Now in my opinion Jesus was not talking about the ordinary 'crosses' of daily life, which we describe in this way, but rather of the suffering that comes specifically because you choose to follow Him. Therefore old people who picked out the phrase in this way could be misunderstanding Scripture. But, emotionally speaking, they would get a blessing from it!

Emotion is perhaps the issue here. The frail elderly respond to the touch of a hand, a kindly voice, a listening ear, the tune of an old familiar hymn; to the company of someone who is specially for that moment giving herself personally to them; to a spoken prayer; to the sense of God. Intellectually, they may be all over the place. But they are receiving some sort of spiritual care, given in love.