GROWTH MATTERS

GROWTH MATTERS

TO WHOLENESS AND PERSONAL HEALTH

The Newsletter from

G. David Lovett, D.Min. Pastoral Counseling for Growth

The Most Reverend Francis Xavier DiLorenzo, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, Virginia, feels it is important that the permanent deacons in that area have a regular retreat. So, he enlists a retreat leader and insists that the deacons take the time away. For this year David Lovett was elected as the leader for that retreat. The focus was on the need for "Sabbath Rest."

Isn’t it great when someone recognizes the clergy’s need for care? It sends the message that the ministry you are doing is recognized and appreciated. Some of the readers of this newsletter are in traditions where a bishop or some other overseer takes some of that responsibility. Others are not.

Whether you are in one of those communities with an overseer or in a more free-church tradition you may be aware of the current emphasis on the need for Sabbath. There are new books on the market nearly each week now that extol the benefits of a regular Sabbath observance.

Isn’t it about time that we get the message God gave us millennia ago? The legal statement is the fourth commandment, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work; but the seventh is a Sabbath to the Lord."

In the Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counseling we read, "The withdrawal from workaday life is temporary and is always carried out for the purpose of return." This reinforces the Jewish and Christian conceptions of Sabbath. It reminds the followers of those faiths of the "senselessness of uninterrupted, un-reflected work and experience." [Both quotes from P. J. Johnson, III on "Rest and Renewal" in Dictionary of Pastoral Care and Counseling]

The classic work on the understanding of the Sabbath is written by Rabbi Heschel. In it he helps us to see that the keeping of the Sabbath is focused on the celebration of time rather than space. As such, the keeping of Sabbath is not an activity but an attitude of the soul.

Marva Dawn has written the book that shaped the retreat this fall. Her Keeping the Sabbath Wholly offers four primary aspects of Sabbath-keeping. She wants us to be able to cease, rest, embrace, and feast for the Sabbath.

Combining several Sabbath resources with some of the traditional Jewish rituals and music a way to be introduced to benefits of keeping the Sabbath. All this is ready to be used in another similar setting for your parish, synod, diocese, association, or other such grouping. Contact David Lovett at the Knoxville office, 865-584-9001, to schedule your retreat.

Every year around this time we are given an opportunity to remember those who have been Saints to our lives. It is also a time to think of those family members who grieve the loss of that particular Saint. This is the same time of year when the idea of leading a grief group comes to mind.

Just this week a mother was recounting the memory from last December when her son took his life. How does any parent deal with such a loss? What do we, as clergy, do to comfort such a loss?

The conversation led to the resurrecting of an article from The Christian Century, from March 8, 2000, entitled "Grace in the Face of Suicide," by Mary T. Stimming. She was reviewing a book, Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide, by Kay Redfield Jamison. Stemming stated that "In 1995 more young Americans died by suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, influenza and lung disease combined. . . . Studies suggest that the great majority of these people suffered from a diagnosable mental illness, and that most of them received either no treatment or inadequate treatment."

How does the church address such loss? In times past we have talked a lot about the sin of suicide. How much understanding or compassion does that offer to families?

The first thing that happens for many of the families of these suicide victims is what I heard from this mother. They find fault with themselves. So, Stemming says "churches must provide a place where people's confessions can be heard and where they can receive absolution. While the church must disabuse bereaved people of an exaggerated and unfounded sense of responsibility for another's mental illness or suicide, . . . offer forgiveness and reconciliation, and point to the grace of regeneration."

What can your church do? Update your church library with books on mental illness and suicide. Have available an up-to-date directory of medical/mental health and legal services to which people can be referred. Have clergy and volunteers available to help families in the planning of funerals that give sensitivity to the subject of suicide. Continue to be the place where individuals can find hope in times of suffering.

Pastoral counseling is one approach that persons of faith use to address mental illness in our community. This discipline has been seen by the state of Tennessee as worthy of a full license comparable to marriage and family therapists, social workers, and psychologists. The American Association of Pastoral Counselors represents and sets professional standards for over 3,000 trained pastoral counselors in this country. Each denomination has criteria for endorsement. David Lovett is licensed by the state of Tennessee and endorsed by the Episcopal Church for this ministry.

It was 1983 when May was first dubbed as Mental Health Awareness Month. Since then much has changed in the world of treatment of mental illness. Fortunately, faith communities are playing a role in informing their constituents of the latest in treatment and in support.

The 1996 General Conference of the United Methodist Church passed a resolution calling all congregations to become "Caring Communities." This would allow each congregation to look beyond the stigma of mental illness and see the personhood, the gifts and graces, of the individual.

The Episcopal Mental Illness Network provides a compassionate presence within the Episcopal Church for persons with mental illnesses and for their families. In doing so, the EMIN encourages the use of "people first" language as we speak about mental illness.

People first language consists of words that refer to the person first, rather than the person’s condition. Instead of using a global term such as "the mentally ill," we speak of people with mental illness. Even the use of language then begins to show respect and begins to break some of the stigma.

What is your denomination doing to aid the efforts of breaking the silence about mental illness? Does your congregation have regular efforts that work toward eliminating the stigma that has been placed on those who live with mental illness?

It was August of 2004 when the Mental Illness Awareness Coalition held its last full-day workshop addressing the response that the faith community can give to breaking the silence about treatment for mental illness. The attendance was superb for a summer workshop.

This topic is so important that the same Coalition felt the 2005 workshop should come during the National Mental Health Awareness Month, May. The NMHAM theme for this year is MIND Your Health. However, the Coalition wanted to keep its theme the same, "Break the Silence/Stop the Stigma."

Friday, May 20, Break the Silence will return to the Cokesbury Center on Kingston Pike. During that day from 9 to 2 we will explore how the faith community and mental health professionals can work together and support each other.

Clifton R. Tennison, Jr., MD, the Chief Clinical Officer of the Helen Ross McNabb Center, will begin the program and address the use of faith resources in the treatment of mental illness. Dr. Tennison comes from a strong faith background which included some religious studies prior to his medical training.

Gary R. Mauldin, Ph.D., is the Director of the Holston Conference (UMC) Pastoral Counseling Center. He will help us see that even clergy have to deal with mental illness, such as depression, and seek treatment.

Father Ragan Schriver, Executive Director of Catholic Charities; Gil Smith, the leader of "Celebrate Recovery" for Cokesbury UMC; and Pastor Steve Streeter of the Embassy Christian Center will round out the presentations for the day. Each will be an important component of the day’s learning.

To register for this event, you may call Stacy at the Mental Health Association of East Tennessee, 865-584-9125. The fee for the full day including lunch is only $ 10.

I was one of those in attendance at the 2004 meeting. I left the day knowing that I had to do something with the information so that people at my own parish would be aware of the seriousness of this topic. I often think too little about the people in our own parish and town who need help and support as they live with mental illness.

St. John’s Cathedral devoted a Sunday in October, 2004, to informing the parish of these concerns. The sermon at each service and the Christian Education hour were about faith and mental illness.

I hope that Mental Health Awareness Sunday will become an annual event at my church. Will you consider doing the same at yours? If I can help you plan, please call.

Pastoral counseling is one approach that persons of faith use to address mental illness in our community. This discipline has been seen by the state of Tennessee as worthy of a full license comparable to psychologists, social workers, and marriage and family therapists. You or your parishioner may not be aware of that provision in the state law.

The integration of religion and psychology for psychotherapeutic purposes began in the 1930s. This field today provides a unique form of counseling which uses spiritual resources as well as psycho-logical understanding for healing and growth. The American Association of Pastoral Counselors represents and sets professional standards for over 3,000 trained pastoral counselors in this country.

I am proud to be trained as a pastoral counselor through the Pastoral Institute of Columbus, Georgia. My Doctor of Ministry in Pastoral Counseling and Psychotherapy is earned from Garrett-Evangelical Seminary, Evanston, Illinois.

If I can be a source of referral for you or your parish as you seek to address the care of persons with mental illness, please do not hesitate to call. I am honored to serve in this area of ministry with you.