Communication and Alcohol

I had one of 'those' conversations a while back with a recovering alcoholic. They had come to faith and life was beginning to make sense and take a new shape thanks to their relationship with God and a growing realisation that they were forgiven, loved and accepted. What they longed for was to be able to take communion, but this was not possible.

A bit shocked I asked what stopped them. Was it because they had to be confirmed? No, it transpired that they had been confirmed, but the couldn't take the wine because of their past drinking habits. Asking the minister if there was a way in which non-alcoholic wine could be provided, they were told that this wasn't possible and that unless they choose to take the wine, communion just was not available.

I contacted the minister and during the conversation asked whether he'd ever used gluten free wafers, a question which was answered in the affirmative. So I asked why he couldn't use two chalices, one with wine and one with non-alcoholic wine. the response was that it had to be from the same cup and so this was impossible. Not only that, but it distinctly says that it has to be wine in the Bible and that it has to be one cup! Apparently, it doesn't matter what 'bread' is used as it just says 'bread' and so meeting medical needs with gluten free was permitted.

Having asked about Christmas, Easter and other 'peak' times, I pointed out that he used two chalices during the communion services one a number of occasions. He accepted this but pointed out that the source of the wine was the same vessel at the beginning and so he was maintaining the requirements from Scripture.

When I have been faced with this situation in the past I have merely, without really thinking about it, provided a second 'non alcoholic' chalice and would use gluten free wafers for people who would find the bread or (flying saucer paper) wafers a problem.

Why on earth do we struggle to be so very right when in doing so we become so very wrong such that the cup of fellowship become a source of separation or even condemnation. I use the term 'condemnation' because in one situation where the alcohol was an issue, the minister told the members of the PCC that 'n' couldn't take communion because "He was an alcoholic!' (what wallies some clergy are)!

So, just something that has been playing on my mind this morning for others to consider and advise me perhaps, but also for us all to consider how in our haste to be 'right' we deny everything that jesus came to do, say and be.

Pax

Suddenly he realised, 
here were no gluten free wafers!

Mental Health - starting to take a look

Following on from my Good Friday experience I have started taking stock of the people and situations around me and have realised that there are so many issues and attitudes which collide. Some show our society off to a bad light and others damage and mar the image of Christ in the Church and the Church in the world.

What has to be said is that the Church is made up of very human, humans, and this sometimes shows. But (always a but somewhere!) the Church is also made up of some truly Christlike people too and it would be wrong to tar the Church because of a few poor experiences (which after all might be their learning experience, albeit a costly one for some at times) and some ignorant (they can hopefully be taught) and costly (in terms of broken and wounded people) errors.

A few of the sadnesses I have discovered thus far:

+ A fair number of people have the attitude that once someone has had a mental health issue they are 'mental' for the rest of their life. This is obviously not always the case.

+ A fair number of people assume that mental illness has nothing to do with physical causes and ascribe the effects (which we call mental illness) to a number of odd causes ranging from abuse to demons! This often gets the 'cheer up' response to depressives and the enforced exorcisms that I have received mail about!

+ Those with mental health issues fluctuate and can be testing at times. I know this from experience and have to struggle to be open and accepting of this, especially at 3:00am! But if we stop and take a look in the mirror, so too can we be testing and a trial to others at times, so what's the difference they have a condition with a name, that's all (what's our excuse?).

+ I am amazed to find that some people don't like to be around those with mental health issue in case the 'catch it' and because people thus afflicted can be embarrassing.

I have started a thread on the Cavedwellers blog about this issue, anyone who wishes to join in is more than welcome (you'll need to join). I thought this was a better option than directing the blog to this issue, which I think is going to take some unravelling.

Thank you for the mail and comments I have received, I hope that from it I might be able to develop a positive way forward at personal, church and wider levels.

Pax

Mad Priest - what the professionals say

MP wrote: "I wanted to send the following to Vic but was unable to find an email address for him so I'm posting it here.

A couple of years ago my diocese sent me to see a professor of psychiatry, chosen and paid for by themselves, who was to report back to them with an assessment of my ability to perform my priestly duties. The following is a scan of the conclusion of the psychiatrist's report:"

I have posted this as a remedy and source of information for some who have written to me privately to show that there is a degree of openness and transparency that denies some of the =comments received and perhaps warrants some consideration.

I am not seeking to vilify nor applaud, but engage in honest discussion. What I find before me leads me to consider my own attitudes and responses regarding mental health issues. Hopefully others will find themselves occupied likewise.

Pax

Made known in the breaking of the bread

The long journey home.
Not the distance, just seven miles,
But in time, an eternity, which was what we thought we had with Him.

Two of us, trying to understand,
Talking about the things He'd said and where it had all gone wrong.
It couldn't have gone any more wrong, could it?

Then suddenly this bloke walking with us.
"What you talking about?" He asks.
Where’s He been? Hasn’t He heard? So we tell Him.

About a man who was more than just a man,
Teacher, healer, sage, prophet, God made man, the Messiah,
Or so we thought.

But then there was the garden,
The Sanhedrin, the trial, Pilate, Herod, Pilate,
The mocking, the beating, the procession to Golgotha. His death.

And this morning, we were starting to come to terms with it.
The women come back, screaming and shouting, saying He's not dead,
He's risen and the tomb is empty. And it was and we don’t understand!

Then the bloke says to us, "You Thickos, you just don't get it, do you?"
And you know what, we didn't!
So He tells us - Moses, Abraham, the Prophets and jesus - it all made sense,

How could we have missed it?
How could He have known it?
So we've arrived home and it all adds up.

And He's set to carry on, but we persuade Him to come in.
And as the meal is on the table, He takes the bread and he breaks it,
Giving thanks.

And in the breaking of the bread, in the hearing of the living word,
We recognised Him and He was gone!
And so to were we, back the short distance to Jerusalem!

Baruch ata adonai elohenu melech ha olam, shehecheyanu, v'kiyimanu, v'higiyanu laz'man hazeh.
Blessed are You Adonai our God, Ruler of the Universe who has given us life, sustained us, and allowed us to reach this day.

AV - Getting some perspective

So it's over and done and won't be back for another ten years or so (hallelujah). They didn't need to count the second choice votes as:

a.There weren't any, and

b. They weren't needed anyway!

So those who managed to turn out and exercise their democratic rights voted to maintain the status quo, which is the only success from the whole sad and sorry (did I mention costly?) episode. The only thing sadder than the vote was the fact that Clegg has developed and 'anti-Midas' touch in that whatever he appears to be touching is turning to something of much less worth than gold! I think that is a sadder than the fact that many of the Lib Dem types, not realising that they are at least in power (which is a minor miracle considering they're really only a 'protest and lobby group' within parliament at best) are now muttering about 'wicked' Tories and making the coalition struggle. Do that and they'll realise that not only aren't they fit to govern but they'll prove it in a splendid way such that the next election will make last week's polls look like a vote of confidence!

So, we move on and rather than engage in clever mathematical exercises or mutter about 'majorities' and point to 51% we need people to understand that the person who receives the most votes is the popular choice. What we need to do is look at how we can raise the turnout such that the percentage of the population who votes are the 80's and 90's.

We also need to see the parties stand for something other than all stand on the same bit of popular policy ground and claim imaginary differences based on historic traits. After all, Labour is no more the working man's party that the Conservatives these day, it's only the moronic masses who haven't realised that who keep voting because of the 'working class' fallacies! Tories aren't all monied 'yahoo henry' types with loadsamoney either. Liberals (or whatever they're called this week) are always the middle ground party who claim to support 'whatever the others don't' and oppose 'whatever the other support' and they'll raise the taxes!

How about some credible parties with some real policies such that people want to get out and support them. The weird and wonderful parties out there, like the Greens and others, stand for what they stand for and as a result they get people who believe in them vote for them, just isn't enough of them to make a difference! But it's a lesson the others might learn.

Pax

Madness and the uninsane

Looking at the post from the 'Mad Priest', which I posted yesterday (hard to believe that) I have received a number of comments, some of which are published on yesterday's blog, and others which are not.

Some tell me that we need to keep the insane from ministry positions, an aspiration which I'm afraid is all too late! Others tell me that the we need to keep our ministers 'pure', but I never realised that mental illness was a state of sinful existence. Mind you, when in the pentecostal movement I was told that mental illness was the result of unconfessed sin, perhaps that will suffice?

The reality is that the Mad Priest's response is one that demonstrates a degree of anger, bitterness and resentment at those whom he considers to have removed him from ministry and whilst I might not agree with the labelling of his bishop as a bigot, I can understand the reasons. What we see is the response of someone who is hurting and this is surely another area where we need to offer sensitive support (and perhaps a little correction in the form of a more measured, less vitriolic, response).

That the man chooses to live as he does is something for him to have decided and for those who are engaged with him to dialogue over if it is a problem. The problem for me is that it is an easy task for people to decide how they think someone should live, but perhaps there are reasons for them not conforming. Again, the key is engagement and dialogue - tow elements that are rarely to be found when dealing with the mentally ill (current or past - cant guess at future).

What I am concerned at is the potential for the Church to continue to shoot its wounded in this area, even if the occurrences are limited and few and far between. Surely one, wrongly handled causes us problems? It was for this reason that I have posted Gordon's story and the comments from MP. Not to be provocative 9in the wrong sense) but to provoke some thinking and a desire to see a balanced and positive response to this issue.

So . . . please take the time to read the two pieces - ask yourself what you would do if you were them and then ask yourself what you would do if you were presented with them?

What would Jesus have us do?

The time has come when the potter no longer looks for perfect vessels, cracked pots will suffice well if they can but contain just some of the Holy Spirit. Broken, shattered but able to be used for purpose? Then what right do we have to respond badly?

Pax

Madness and the believer

I find the issues around the subject of mental illness and Christians rather disturbing. Because of this, here's one of the things that appeared in our parish magazine this month:

Loving as Christ Loved Us
The subject of mental illness has cropped up a lot recently and I am saddened at the response of many to this subject.
People have used words like ‘locked up’ or ‘managed’ I get the feeling that this is an area many of us struggle with. And as we struggle, I get the feeling that a man, somewhere in time, is holding a scroll of the prophet Isaiah, and reading thus:

"The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor;

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

To proclaim liberty to the captives,

And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

To proclaim the year of the LORD’s favour, and the day of vengeance of our God;

To comfort all who mourn; giving them beautiful headdress instead of ashes,

The oil of gladness instead of mourning,

The garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;

that they may be called oaks of righteousness,

The planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified."

If we cannot stand with those who know the Lord and have broken minds;

If we cannot stand with those who know the Lord and have broken lives;

If we cannot weep with those who weep, grieve with those who grieve, love those who are unloveable and yet know the Lord, what hope is there for the lost?

What hope is there for the Church?

Who can be saved?

What reason is there for His rising up today?



I wonder what the response will be?

Pax

Tales from a Mad Vicar

No, not the one in the image. These words, a response to a previous post on the church and mental health, come from someone else:

"I am an unemployed Church of England priest. I am unemployed because 12 years ago I went through a couple of years suffering from a serious depressive illness. I was in and out of hospital and nothing the psychiatrists prescribed would shift it. Eventually I met a young occupational therapist and something clicked. Together we came up with a regime that pulled me out of the hell I was living in.

About ten years ago I was well enough to start working again. At the time I was the vicar of a two church parish, although I had been off work for over a year. I suggested to my archdeacon that I could manage one parish for a while until I was strong enough to cope with both. I was told this would not be possible. Then I was called into the bishop's office and he told me that I should retire and there was no job for me in the Church. I fought hard and he eventually gave me the post of assistant curate on a two year contract. He also insisted that I saw counsellors who reported back to him and undergo review procedures far more intrusive than what other priests had to go through.

At the end of the two years I had to fight again to keep my job. Again I was given a two year contract. At the end of that, after another fight, I was given a one year contract and at the end of that I was told there was no job for me, and I wasn't given any contract. However, I carried on working and they still paid me for another two years. Last September, the bishop finally got his way and I was dismissed.

During all those years of temporary contracts I did a perfectly fine and appreciated job and did not have a single minute off work because of illness, let alone mental distress. I have managed my depression by sticking to the regimes that were formulated with my OT and with medication.

During all those years the bishop never once considered putting me forward for a full time post. I am certain that he was convinced from the start that somebody who had suffered from mental illness could never be trusted to take on any position of responsibility. I also think he believes that all mental illness is the same and that we are all schizophrenics. He certainly does not understand that major depressive episodes are usually temporary and that even those who suffer from occasional relapses can be perfectly capable of holding down a job as well as anybody else between episodes. Basically my bishop was an ill-informed bigot.

Of course, having been subject to such prejudice for so long and held back from pursuing my vocation, all the parishes I apply to for work are suspicious of me. After 75 rejections in less than a year I gave up. This would never have happened if I had been in secular employment because my employer would have been breaking English law if he treated me in the same way as my former bishop. My bishop used the church's exemption from employment laws to get away with worse than murder - stripping me of my vocation and my reason for living.

The Church occasionally makes the right noises about mental illness but they are, in reality, a bunch of hypocrites."

'Mad Vicar'

A very sad and sobering tale, especially as one of the accusations about the Church used to be that we were 'the only army to shoot its wounded', an accusation I thought (hoped) we'd grown out of.

Please pray for this minister and the many others in the same boat.

Pax