Sermons

Preacher: Rev. Charles J. Stephens

OPENING WORDS   A Friend Who Cares          (Henri Nouwen)
When we honestly ask ourselves
which person in our lives
mean the most to us,
we often find that it is those who,
instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures,
have chosen rather to share our pain
and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand.
The friend who can be silent with us
in a moment of despair or confusion,
who can stay with us
in an hour of grief and bereavement,
who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing
and face with us the reality of our powerlessness,
that is a friend who cares.

Rosalynn Carter

The church in the past has contributed to the myths and misconceptions about mental illnesses.  I’ve worked in this area for more than 30 years, since my husband was governor of Georgia, and over the years, I’ve had people write to me and say, I can’t even go to church now, people look at me differently. I got one letter from a young girl, 12 or 14, I imagine, whose sister suffered from schizophrenia. She said, “Everybody at church looks at me wondering if I’m going to get the same thing or be the same way.”

Sermon: “Hospitality and Mental Illness”        Rev. Charles J. Stephens

How we respond to mental illness is personally important to me. For years, I have dedicated at least one Sunday a year to a Mental Illness/Mental Health focus. I do so because it matters how we individually, as a congregation and as a society respond to people who suffer from a mental illness.

I am also concerned about our attitudes toward people who deal with a mental illness for personal reason. Over the years, I have worked with many members of the congregations I have served who either are dealing with a mental illness themselves or they have family members who do. Plus I have those within my extended family who live with a mental illness.

Rosalynn Carter reminds us, “People with mental problems are our neighbors. They are members of our congregations, members of our families; they are everywhere in this country. If we ignore their cries for help, we will be continuing to participate in the anguish from which those cries of help come. A problem of this magnitude will not go away. And because of our spiritual ideals, we are compelled to take action.”

David, a friend of mine helped organize and co-facilitate a long running Mental Health support group, at my former congregation. He wrote a blog in which he pointed out some surprising facts about just one mental illness.

2.8% of U.S. adults are bipolar.
Bipolar ranks seventh worldwide on the World Health Organization’s ranking of causes of disability.
Before the Affordable Health Care bill went into effect, fifty-percent of bipolar people had no insurance.
Major cause of lack of insurance among the mentally ill has been that they were rejected by insurance providers due to mental illness.

And bipolar disorder is only one of the major brain disorders. Living with any mental illness makes one’s life journey more difficult. It is of course not the same for everyone. It helps if a diagnosis comes early rather than late. It helps if you are not poor. It helps if you happen to be part of the population with health coverage. It helps even more if you have good mental health treatment available in your area. On top of that, it helps if you receive emotional and practical support from your neighbors, your friends and your family. And, it helps if you are part of a faith community that is knowledgeable, accepting and supportive of people with a mental illness.

The month of May has been designated as Mental Health month for the past fifty-two years. The purpose of having a mental health month is to raise the awareness about mental health conditions, mental illness and the importance of mental wellness.

In 1961, Fifty-three years ago, one year before there was a Mental Health Month; the Unitarian Universalist Association at our General Assembly, resolved that our churches and fellowships study our communities to determine if they provide adequate care for people with a mental illness. In addition, we resolved that our congregations learn about mental illness and show compassion to those who are afflicted. As Unitarian Universalists, we called upon our leaders to influence public opinion whenever they can.

Showing this sort of active compassion in general is what hospitality within a congregation is all about. It ought to be our goal as a UU Congregation to offer basic hospitality to anyone who comes through our door. Which means we must offer compassion to members of our congregational families who are dealing with mental illness. The same goes for our neighbors and those who come as guests. Being hospitable simply means showing respect. Being hospitable means helping to provide for the needs of others. Ultimately, being hospitable means recognizing the inherent worth and dignity of others.

Years ago, when I first realized May was Mental Health month, I wondered why someone choose the merry month of May, this green, promising and beautiful time of spring, to focus on mental health and mental illness.  I soon realized that there is no better time than this glorious season of the year to spotlight mental health and mental illness issues. What better time to concentrate on an illness that can cause one to feel unhappy, sad and troubled than this time of year when we feel like we all ought to be happy and should be joyous because of the bursting forth of spring? Those who continue to feel depressed and stressed can become even more stressed on a beautiful spring day than on a gloomy one.

The reality is that regardless of our age, intelligence, gender, economic status, ethnicity or anything else, one in every five Americans experiences a mental disorder in any given year.  Actually, half of all Americans will have some mental disorder at some time in their life.

That means that nearly every person sitting here in this congregation will be touched in some way by mental illness. And if we actually are a supportive and welcoming congregation to those who experience a mental illness, every person sitting here has the ability to be touched in some way. Unfortunately there are many within our community and country who suffer mental illness in silence. All too often, when someone suffers with a mental disability, he or she cuts themselves off from their community. They may even stop coming to their place of worship out of a sense of shame, regardless of the fact that their faith community can and ought to be an important source of healing, wholeness and hope.

Radical and open hospitality by family, friends and, in our case, by the congregation is a source of hope and healing when suffering from a mental disorder. Hospitality is valued within all of the major religions. We know that this is so within the Islamic, Jewish and Christian religions because we are most familiar with these three. The literal meaning of hospitality is the extending of one’s hand to another, and being near enough to another to actually listen to one another and recognize our mutual vulnerability to the forces of life.

Yet often we hear others use the word “crazy” to describe some unexpected behavior. This happens among friends, neighbors and even within our families. But also happens in the media and even among professional journalists, When journalist do this they are often reporting on a violent crime and yet research provides evidence that more violent crime is perpetrated against people with a mental illness than committed by them. Thankfully, “The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has disseminated guidance to the media on how to accurately and professionally portray people with mental illness in such a way that you fulfill your responsibility to dispel the myth that people with mental illness are violent or that they are fair game for ridicule.

Religions generally agree that we ought to care for people who are suffering. And yet, most of the time, we tend to be oblivious of the impact of mental illness. We think, why doesn’t he or she act more appropriately or why don’t they try harder to fit in. Fortunately, because of both scientific dvances and cultural evolution, there is more hope than ever for those who suffer from a mental affliction. We, as a Unitarian Universalist Congregation can be and ought to be powerful force for the improvement of the world if by fight the stigma and shame that still surrounds illnesses of the brain.

We can do that when we are able to talk openly about the impact of mental illness on our lives. Doing this helps attack the stigma and discrimination that surrounds these maladies. We fear what we don’t know or understand. Just think how far our country has come in recognizing same sex relationships in the last ten years. More and more people have gotten to know about brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles or a parent who is GLBT and they let go of some of their fear. The more our communities are educated about the causes and treatments of mental illness, the more likely there will be earlier diagnosis and treatment for those of all ages.

Unfortunately, serious emotional disorders exist even among children and adolescents and not only among adults. Mental health issues affect one in every five young people at any given time. Too often, suffering from a brain disorder is masked by the fact that the teenage and young adult years are filled with multiple transitions and the difficulties of growing up as well as issues of poverty and abuse.

A lack of an awareness of the symptoms of mental illness and the fear of the stigma keeps many young people from asking for help. Fortunately, with the increased public awareness of mental health and mental illness, more and more people are getting the treatment they need before the symptoms become too severe.

We realize today that there is a direct relationship between the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual dimensions of our lives. We are beginning to move beyond the silence and ignorance that has surrounded mental illness for too long. It is now time that we increase our efforts to reduce the prejudice that too often continues within our society.

During our lifetime, science, medical treatment and pharmacology have made significant advances in understanding the brain. Never the less, there are far too few resources here in our state and in our country to respond positively to people with a mental health issue.  What kind of country, what sort of political leaders want to deny treatment to people who suffer from illnesses, not only mental illnesses but also many other illnesses for which people cannot obtain the essential treatments they need?

Our UU values and principles call our faith community to reach out and provide empathy and hospitality to people living with a mental illness. These values and principles call our faith community to work together with other communities of faith to create greater justice, equity and compassion toward people living with mental illness.

As a supportive faith community, we have a unique opportunity to promote greater hospitality to those in our area and beyond who live with a mental disorder. It is time to make some long overdue attitude adjustments within our society about mental illness.