A Confession and a Broken Heart

 

"There is a Hole in the world now.  In the place where he was, there's now just nothing.  A center, like no other, of memory and hope and knowledge and affection which once inhabited this earth is gone.  Only a gap remains.  A perspective on this world unique in this world which once moved about within this world has been rubbed out.  Only a void is left.  There's nobody now who saw just saw what he saw, knows what he knew, remembers what he remembered, loves what he loved.  A person, an irreplaceable person is gone.  Never again will anyone apprehend the world quite the way he did.  Never again will anyone inhabit the world the way he did.  Questions I have can never now get answers.  The world is emptier.  My son is gone. Only a hole remains, a voice, a gap never to be filled." 

Nicholas Wolterstorff - "Lament for a Son".

Unless my readers have lost someone very close, it is impossible to grasp the void left by death.  Our family has been bereaved by the death of our beloved son, Landon.  Landon was a unique person, so gifted and so full of love for others.  He lived his Christianity by example, always with a deep concern for those in need.  Nicholas Wolterstorff who also lost his son comes close to putting into words how many bereaved people feel, though nothing can really fully express the deep loss and utter devastation.  This is how I feel if this feeling can even be comprehended.  There is a deep truth to those words when our loved ones die.  All the good they would have done in the world is gone with them. I want to be clear.  Death is bad.  Really bad.  Its as bad as people say it is.  Its unimaginable bad.  The gap, the hole, the void that once was full of life, laughter, anger, fear, sadness, joy, in short life, is gone.  Snuffed out.  Nothing that I say in this post is meant to detract from the immensity that is the loss of the people we love in life.   

As I was cleaning out Landon's belongings after his death, I came across something he has saved in his journal.  It was a short faith statement that Landon wrote as part of his confirmation.  It reminded me that while our loved ones are gone, and the void and emptiness is real, and there is a great loss that we have to come to terms with, there are still blessings that Landon left behind.  He certainly lived his faith by always showing in his actions love, concern, care, mercy, and charity towards those who were strangers and familiar.  In this short statement, Landon shared what it meant for him to be confirmed in the faith.  Although his life was cut short, this was a reminder that there is something of us that remains. This certainly doesn't take the pain away.  If anything, it hurts me all the more thinking of what the rest of Landon's life would have born into the world.  Yet in his short life, his deeds of compassion and love went out into the world left a strong echo.  As we are reminded in the book of Revelation,"indeed, blessed are those who die in the Lord, for they rest from their labors, and their works follow them (Rev. 14:13).  I don't think Landon would mind me sharing just one of those things that he left behind.  May it bless you as it has blessed others. 

"I believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and on the third day he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven.  I love God because God loved me first.  As a member of this family, I will trust in God, and turn to God in prayer when I need help or comfort.  As I grow in my faith, I will be led to do the good works that God intended for my life."   

- Landon Gonzalez

Find Resources for suicide prevention for you or for someone you know. 

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The Book of Revelation Series

Jean and Alexander Heard Library: Vanderbilt
Art in the Christian Tradition
"Mosaic of Christ Pantocrator"

Revelation Series: 
We begin a series at First Presbyterian Church of Umatilla, on the book of Revelation expanding on the lectionary readings.  This series is an abbreviated look at the message of the book as a whole focusing on key themes that help to dispel misconceptions and highlight important truths from this book that celebrates the Victory of Christ.  The themes will be broken down as follows: 

INTRODUCTION

Theme 1:  Worship

Theme 2: Witness

Theme 3: War

Theme 4: Warning

Theme 5: Winning

INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK
The title in the Greek reads, "the apocalypses" of Jesus Christ.  The words means something or someone that is revealed.  The translation then, of the "Revelation of Jesus Christ" introduces the book.  Because the word is often translated "apocalypse" some tend to understand that book is about the "end of the world."  At times when there are wars, famines, and disease, it looks like the end of the world.  Yet we should remember, that the "Revelation of Jesus Christ" means that this is the beginning of the new good world begun and revealed in Jesus that has not been accomplished and is breaking out into our world.  This book is not so much about the end of the world, as it is about the beginning of God's new world.  

A reference list of resources on the book of Revelation will also be included below.  

Worship is the first theme we will describe.  The book of Revelation is filled with scenes of heavenly worship.  The worship is due to the victory of the lamb that was slain and is worthy to ascend to the thorn of the world.  The book of Revelation is a deeply symbolic book.  Perhaps this was because of the persecution of the church and the need to be subversive.  Either way, Christians should understand that symbolic interpretation should not be taken literally.  The scenes however depict worship in symbolic terms such as the vision of heavenly worship with the twenty-four thrones and twenty-four elders.  These represent the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles.  The emeralds, rainbow and golden colors are also representative of God's glory.  The picture of heavenly worship either reflects the worship of heaven as reflected in the earthly worship of the church, or the earthly worship of the church as reflected by the heavenly worship.  There are banners, processions, liturgy, incense, altars, and worshippers arrayed in white albs.  This pictures the worship of the church in heaven and in earth giving praise to God for the victory in Jesus Christ, and the Spirit of God.  

The second theme is that of Witness.  Christians were facing persecution.  Many were killed for their faith.  The word "martyr" means to bear witness.  These Christians died as a witness to their faith in Jesus Christ.  When Christian face difficult times and face persecution or are tempted to deny their faith in the face of death, this book encourages Christians to stand fast.  The church goes through times of "tribulation".  It is these times that test what the faith of the church.  

The third theme is that of War.  We face times in the life of the church when there is a kind of spiritual warfare.  The armies of heaven are arrayed against the armies of Satan and the evil one.  These are forces in our world that are the spirit of anti-christ.  That is, the exact opposite of everything Jesus is and stands for.  There is even a world leader that is symbolic of the way the world sees power.  Where Jesus was humble, kind, compassionate, and restores and heals, the anti-christ is the opposite.  The spirit of the anti-Christ it that of power, oppression, subjugation, wealth, pride, and arrogance.  This spirit was embodied in the Roman Empire and in the emperors of the day which tried to bring about a kind of peace.  The Roman peace was much different than the kind of peace brought by Jesus.  These forces are at war and when God's new world breaks, it will destroy the arrogant cruelty of humanity. 

Warning is the fourth theme.  Over and over the book warns the readers that God will ultimately judge the world and the intentions of the hearts of all people.  This warning culminate in the scene of the judgment of the nations.  Too often, people misunderstand the justice of God.  N.T. Wright has written brilliantly about this concept.  He challenges us to see judgement as the justice of God.  When we see examples of injustice we inherently understand the unfairness of the situation.  When large trawlers over fish the seas and a fishing village can no longer provide for their community, these villages and communities begin to suffer.  It is an injustice that their way of life and their fishing rights are ignored. A village that once was thriving can easily be destroyed.  Justice would see the rights of these people honored.  When God returns in judge the world it will be a time when the world will be put back to right (in the words of N.T. Wright).  Revelation calls us to remember that God will come to restore what is broken and to hold accountable those that take advantage of the weak for their own self interest. 

Winning is the final theme.  The winning is that of the victory of Jesus Christ over the forces of Satan, the evil one.  In the crucifixion and resurrection a great victory was won.  The images that picture the scenes in heaven are symbolic of the victory won in Jesus Christ.  Revelation celebrates the victory of Jesus over the enemies of God.  Sin, death, and evil will finally be destroyed.  In one sense, this victory is already attained in the victory of Jesus on the cross.  In another sense, we await the final consummation of this victory.  The work that Christians engage on this earth is in anticipation of the day when God's kingdom will dawn in its fulness in the world, and justice, peace and mercy will overcome evil.  The final picture in the book is again intended to be symbolic. Two pictures are given.  Each is intended to be a separate symbol.  The first is in Revelation chapter 21.  It is of a new heaven and a new earth and that of the new Jerusalem coming from heaven.  The evil doers are consigned to a burning lake of sulfur.  This is again symbolic of the final destruction of evil and sin.  In Revelation chapter 22 there is another picture given of the heavenly city.  While it is walled, but has open gates.  Outside the open gates are evil doers.  The image is that of a place where self interest, deceit, cruelty and inhumanity is banished and cannot enter into the city of God.  

Christians should never be tempted to interpret this symbolic book in order to figure out when the world will end or when the end of the age will happen.  Jesus already said that it is not for us to know the times and seasons.  Anyone who claims they know that world events will predict the coming of Jesus is simply wring and not faithfully reading this book.  It is in the mystery of God as to when the end of time will happen.  We are called instead to put our hope in the finished work of Jesus and in the mission of the church.  In the letter to the churches in the beginning of the book, John sees an open door.  That open door is the opportunity that the church has to proclaim the message of Jesus' revelation.  That Jesus has overcome sin and death and reigns in glory as the victor!  

References for further study:

The Word Biblical Commentaries Vol 52A,B and C.  David E Aune.  Zondervan
Apocalypse: The Book of Revelation within Orthodox Christian Tradition; Vladimir Seminary Press
Revelation for Everyone.  N.T. Wright.  John Knox Press
What Presbyterians Believe About the Future; Robert Bohler Jr. The Presbyterian Outlook.
Presbyterian Outlook
Eugene Boring.  Revelation: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching.  John Knox Press.

An Easter Hope

It was a few years ago that I stumbled upon the work of Benjamin Myers and Kim Fabricius purely by chance.  I was immediately hooked.  Although I never met Kim, I felt so much of his humanity, passion and kindness in the words he so carefully selected for his posts.  His insights, irreverence, and perspective helped me through many of my own theological ruminations.  I believe that Kim was really one of the great theologians I have read in his own humble way.  His work is a gift to the church.  I was shocked when I read the news on Faith and Theology that Kim was dead.  A little more than a few months later, I would be burying my own son who died at only seventeen years of age. It was a hell of a year to say the least.  Yet, to this day, Kim's work has brought me great comfort.  It is only the hope of the resurrection that lifts my heart from despair.  One day, I hope to be able to put my arms around my son again, but I equally await to be able to meet Kim.  I will be a stranger to him, but I owe him so much.  I repost a sermon by Kim on Easter, in order to both honor and celebrate his work, as well as give us a little bit of hope.  If you are new to the Faith and Theology blog, I would encourage you to follow the link at the bottom of the page for some great reading and to purchase the books written by Kim.

A sermon by Kim Fabricius

ER – Easter Resurrection, of course! But ER also refers to something else – the “Emergency Room” – which is what Americans call your “Casualty Ward”. It also refers to the award-winning American hospital drama ER which concluded in April last year.

For me one of the most memorable episodes is the one in which Carter flies from Chicago to the civil war-torn Congo to fetch the body of his Croatian friend and colleague Kovaç. Kovaç has been out in the African bush doing voluntary medical work, but he has now been reported killed in the fighting. In fact, Kovaç is still alive. Flashback: it shows a group of men captured by irregulars, kneeling in a clearing, their arms thrown back over their heads, their wrists tied together. One by one they are being dragged by soldiers into a hut and summarily executed. A close-up shows Kovaç talking to the terrified man next to him about how he lost his belief in God. It had happened during the recent bloody ethnic conflict in the Balkans: Kovaç’s devout Catholic faith died as a result of the genocidal atrocities he had witnessed. And then motioning his head towards the hut and the atrocity they are now witnessing, Kovaç says, “It is hard to believe in the reality of God amidst such suffering and death.”

“It is hard to believe in the reality of God amidst such suffering and death.” It is indeed. Kovaç speaks for all of us. For ask yourself: What, in fact, act as triggers for, or a confirmation of, popular belief in the reality of God?

Nature for one: a stunning sunset, a star-lit sky, a snow-covered mountain, or just a glorious summer day. Or, more philosophically, the sheer existence of the world, the fact that there is “something” rather than “nothing”; more specifically, the exquisite “design” of the universe, its order, beauty, and variety.

Then there is worship and prayer – here too people say they know the reality of God. There is the Bible and (for some!) the sermon, and also the sacrament. There are stirring hymns. And there is prayer, spoken or silent, “the peace of God that passes all understanding”.

Then there is music, art, and literature. In a symphony by Beethoven or an opera by Mozart, in a sculpture by Michelangelo or a painting by Rembrandt, in a sonnet or play by Shakespeare or a novel by Tolstoy – there too people say they sense the reality of God.

And, of course, in human relationships – in romantic and conjugal love, in the birth of a baby, in the bond between parents and children, in close friendships – here also people see God at work.

But “amidst suffering and death”? How often have you heard someone say they found faith amidst suffering and death? No, amidst suffering and death people don’t find faith, rather, like Kovaç, they lose it. The question “How can one believe in God after Auschwitz?” haunts the post-Holocaust religious imagination and continues to beggar contemporary belief. And the answer is: “Only if one can believe in God in Auschwitz.”

Which takes us to a graveyard in Jerusalem on the first Easter Sunday morning. Jesus of Nazareth, who attested to the reality of God in his ministry, is dead, murdered by judicial execution, taken out and, not shot, but crucified, a much worse fate. His mangled body now lies in a tomb in the early stages of putrefaction. On the large stone that covers the tomb might well be written the graffiti “God is dead”. God certainly does not seem to be present. The disciples have scattered in fear, the women have gathered to mourn, but they do not feel that God is there with them. They feel only the gaping hole of God’s absence.

We moderns – we think that the question raised by the crucifixion of Jesus, and answered by the resurrection of Jesus, is: Is there life after death? But that was not the burning question on the minds of the first friends of Jesus. The Sadducees did not believe in life after death, but most of first century Judaism did. So too did almost all the pagan world. Socrates could drink the hemlock with a smile, knowing that his soul was escaping the tomb of the body and returning to the source of all goodness, truth, and beauty. But Jesus died on the cross in agony and doubt. The God he claimed to represent did not save him. Had Jesus been deluded, or borne false witness? Had God, by his silence, dissociated himself from Jesus and consented to his death? Indeed, did the execution of Jesus signify God’s judgement and curse on Jesus? These questions about the reality of the God of Jesus – questions not about life after death but questions, indeed, of life and death – these were the questions of the first friends of Jesus. For, with Dr. Kovaç, they would have agreed that it is hard to believe in the reality of God in the midst of such suffering and death.

Can you see, then, the really radical content of the Easter message that the crucified Jesus is risen and reigns? That his coronation has taken place not on a throne but on a cross, and that his regalia were a crown of thorns, not jewels? That his reign begins not in a royal palace but in a wretched graveyard? That even now he wears the scars of his torment, and that he will wear them for all eternity? It is hard to believe in the reality of God amidst such suffering and death? On the contrary, Good Friday and Easter proclaim that one can only – ultimately – believe in the reality of God amidst such suffering and death, that such suffering and death are the acid test of authentic faith.

You might say that Easter relocates the reality of God and redefines the holy, taking us off the sacred path of spiritual highs and into the wilderness of desolation. Easter tells us that God is precisely in those places where you would never expect to find him. Easter confirms that Jesus was not deceitful or deluded, confirms that God was with Jesus in his ministry, confirms that his practices of forgiveness in the face of vengeance, truthfulness in the face of lies, and non-violence in the face of intimidation are the practices of God himself; but, further still, Easter asserts that the places such practices lead – the witness box of Caiaphas, the judgement hall of Pilate, the torturer’s cell and the executioner’s block, and, finally, the graveyard – that these seemingly most unholy of places are, in fact, the holiest of grounds.

Not apart from suffering and death and only in those pleasant places of nature, worship, art, and family and friends, but in suffering and death God, God experiencing it, absorbing it, transforming it into a new kind of life – that is the message of today’s ER. And it turns out to be the message of the telly ER too. For even as Kovaç, the last man left, awaits his execution, he suddenly begins to pray. Not the atheist’s prayer of desperation, a prayer for deliverance with nothing left to lose. No, it is a prayer of communion with the God Kovaç suddenly senses is real in the midst of such suffering and death. His former faith was truly dead and buried, but a new faith has risen from its grave. As the poet W. H. Auden would put it, he doesn’t believe still, he believes again. My friends, it’s a new day: like Kovaç, may we all experience “a joy whose historical form is integrity in darkness” (Nicholas Lash) – and believe again.

Reposted from "Faith and Theology" blog by Benjamin Myers

Reprinted by permission of Myers and Fabricius 

in memory of Kim Fabricius

May the promise of the resurrection console our broken hearts, and may we anticipate the day that our tears will be wiped away and we will be reunited with our loved ones.  For me, I can't wait to meet Kim at the resurrection. 

Original article appears at the Faith and Theology Blog. 

Other articles by Benjamin Myers and Kim Fabricius can be found at the "Faith and Theology: blog at the link above. 

Faith and Theology blog

to purchase books by Benjamin Myers and Kim Fabricius see the links below

Pilgrim Walks the Plank

Why did Jesus Have to Die?

This Good Friday, we meditate on the mystery of the cross and Jesus death to conquer sin and evil.  From the gospel of Luke 23:33-34 we look at Jesus first words from the cross, "Father forgive them."  

Click on this Link for Sermon

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance director offers prayer for the "whole broken and heartbroken of the world"

A Prayer...

God of our weary years and our silent tears,

We are shattered by the deaths of 49 Muslim neighbors in New Zealand,

     cut down in the midst of Friday prayers.

We are horrified, angry, despairing

We struggle with a knowledge that our prayers alone are not enough

     our silence in the face of intolerance and fear is complicity

     a fear that we do not know a way forward that will help

     an emptiness: we have been here before, too many times,

and we know we will walk this bloodied path again.

What can we do, with such fear and anger and longing,

     that can bind us together,

rather than further tear apart the fabric of our common life?

We are failing one another, and we are failing You, O Maker of the Universe:

 our Mercy, our Justice, our Peace.

We pray for our neighbors in Christchurch

            and for our whole broken and heartbroken world

 in this hard season of violence, death and extremism

            each one lost is a child made in Your image.

            each survivor is beloved to You

            each afflicted community is part of your commonwealth.

We lift our prayers for each life lost, each family bereaved,

 The worshiping communities whose fabric has been violently torn asunder

by bullets and hatred and fear.

We pray for ourselves, that this wounding, this outrage,

will not fade from our minds before our hearts are broken open

by Your passion for mercy, justice, and love.

Make us ceaseless in our resistance to xenophobia, intolerance, and fear.

May the knowledge of your divine image, given to every living being,

warm hearts that have grown cold,

and invigorate our desire to embrace our differences

and celebrate our belonging in the whole human family.

Make the waters of our tears nourish the river that flows through the city of God,

and the tree of life that is for the healing of the nations.

In the name of the God who is One, we pray.  Amen.

PDA: Prayer in the aftermath of Mosque bombing

This work is re-printed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDeratives 4.0 International License.

A Call to Action

Following a General Assembly overture, group meets to begin building networks for PC(USA)

 by Rich Copley | Presbyterian News Service

A committee charged with forming networks within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to work with mental health issues held its first meetings at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville, Kentucky on Feb. 12-13. (Photo by Rich Copley)

LOUISVILLE — When Doug Beach’s son suffered a mental breakdown on an overseas trip, he didn’t know what to do.

“We could have used a lot more help,” Beach said, recalling the event.

His church was supportive, but staff and clergy weren’t familiar with the resources available to help people with mental health issues and their loved ones. Last week, Beach was part of a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) initiative working to change that.

Doug Beach speaks to a committee charged with forming networks within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to work with mental health issues. (Photo by Rich Copley)

On Feb. 12-13, more than 20 people with varying experiences with mental health and the church met at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville to begin work on an effort that began last summer when two Presbyterian churches in Texas brought an overture to the 223rd General Assembly in St. Louis to implement and potentially update “Comfort My People: A Policy Statement on Serious Mental Illness,” which had been approved at the 218th General Assembly in 2008.

“It was someone from the pews who came to me and said, ‘I need help,’” Rev. Josh Robinson of Hope Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas said. “’I’ve got this document called the “Comfort My People” policy statement, and it has gone nowhere. It has good, robust items of action for us to embrace and to do, but I see no evidence that it’s been deployed within our denomination or our church congregation.’

The Rev. Josh Robinson speaks to a committee charged with forming networks within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to work with mental health issues. (Photo by Rich Copley)

“Having read it, having studied it, I said, ‘This is a great document. We can do these things. We don’t need congressional approval. There are things here we can do.’ So we started doing it, and two years later, after we had gotten started on our mental health ministry, I got somewhat frustrated and said, ‘I don’t know that it’s going to make a big difference in the grand scheme of things in the life of the denomination.’ And I said, ‘Well, let’s write an overture. Let’s get the denomination to get re-excited about this.’”

Hope was joined by Covenant Presbyterian Churchin San Antonio in bringing the overture to the General Assembly, where 20 presbyteries concurred. It was passed and included $250,000 for grants.

The group that met for the first time last week began work on four major goals, according to notes by group member Jason Whitehead:

• Launch of a church-wide network that is intentionally and purposefully diverse
• Establish a grant system ($250,000) to provide grants to help implement actions in the ‘Comfort My People’ document
• Conduct a survey of presbyteries, seminaries, and churches
• Review/update the ‘Comfort My People’ document.

“It’s one of the most important things PC(USA) can do because it speaks to all of us, whether we’re in the pews or the pulpit,” Beach said. “It speaks to our families, our communities, and I think we’re called to reach out and comfort people and help support them, and we need to do more of that.

“This is a big call to action.”

For Sara Lisherness, director the Compassion, Peace & Justice ministries of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, the effort was starting exactly as it should: with congregations.

“They’re a force and an organization within themselves,” Lisherness said of the group working at the Presbyterian Center. “If no staff showed up to their meetings … they would still work together. That’s kind of where we are in the church. We come together to set a common vision, and we walk alongside leaders in the churches.”

Because mental health resources and policies vary widely among states and regions, Lisherness says it is particularly important that tackling the issue is a grassroots effort led by people with expertise in their communities.

To Lisherness, this is a good time to revisit “Comfort My People,” as perspectives on mental health issues have emerged and evolved in the last decade. Mental health, she points out, is an intersectional issue, crossing paths with concerns such as poverty and homelessness, the military and post-traumatic stress syndrome, and gun violence, including suicide.

Debra Johnson of Roxbury, Mass., at left, suffered grief and trauma in 2010 when her son was murdered. She’s now helping others deal with trauma. (Photo by Rich Copley)

Debra Johnson of Roxbury, Mass. experienced her own trauma when her son was murdered in 2010. She is now part of helping others deal with trauma at the Cory Johnson Program for Post-Traumatic Healing, based at the Roxbury Presbyterian Church Social Impact Center.

At the center of the program is “Can We Talk?,” Thursday night sessions featuring dinner, childcare and an open forum where people recovering from trauma can tell their stories.

“I myself have a story, and I have found that telling it has helped me a whole lot,” Johnson said. “When I started the program, I was still in a dark place, and as time moves on, I could see a little shift. There’s light filtering in.”

Colleen Sharka, a licensed mental health counselor and director of the Johnson program, says the effort extends beyond the sessions, helping people seeking services and trying to cope in other ways. She and Johnson were invited to be part of the group to share their experiences and learn from others.

“We’re sort of doing what they’re talking about here,” Sharka says. “We found a way — it’s one way, not the only way — for people to come to the doors of the church from the community at large.

“I hope we can be a resource to what’s happening here as well as part of the network.”

The Rev. Dan Milford, pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church in San Antonio, said that while it can be difficult, the job of the church is to “run into the chaos.” (Photo by Rich Copley)

The group engaged in brainstorming sessions as well as discussion of issues such as suicide awareness. Dan Milford, pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church in San Antonio, said suicide impacted his congregation when a 15-year-old boy took his own life. Two years later the father died by suicide.

While it’s a painful to deal with, Milford said, “That’s the job of the church of Jesus Christ: To run into the chaos.”

The group received an exhortation from the Rev. Dr. Diane Moffett, president and executive director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, who told participants the work they were doing is right in line with the denomination’s focus on being a Matthew 25 church, based on Christ’s command to care for “the least of these.”

She said that after 32 years as a pastor she knows that mental illness is an issue churches are faced with all the time, “because of all the craziness in the world and systems we have set up. … We make living hard.

“We are a Matthew 25 people, actively engaging in the world,” Moffett said. “You are blessed, you are blessing.”

The Rev. Amy Petré Hill is Minister of Mental Health and Inclusion Ministries at Mountain View United Church in Aurora, Colo. (Photo by Rich Copley)

Participation in the group was not limited to the Presbyterian Church. Rev. Amy Petré Hill, Minister of Mental Health and Inclusion Ministries at Mountain View United Church in Aurora, Colo., was ordained in the United Church of Christ. That denomination has already done work building mental health networks under the WISE church initiative, meaning Welcoming, Inclusive, Supportive and Engaged for Mental Health.

“All denominations should be supporting each other and sharing best practices,” said Hill, who was a disability rights attorney before going into ministry. “There should not be any silos, because we want everyone’s mental health inclusion to thrive.”

She said she was there to share with the group what the United Church of Christ has done and to learn from the PC(USA) ideas.

After a day of meetings, Hill observed, “This denomination does a wonderful job of thinking through, if we’re going to support a policy, we’re going to look at social science, we’re going to look at theology, we’re going to look at all of this to think through why we’re going to take the stand or the action we are taking.”

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