The Chasm
In the second year at the School for Deacons each student takes a class in Field Education at a facility such as a homeless shelter, a meal program, or a social service agency. I chose to spend 8 hours a week for a year at a local mental health inpatient facility called Crestwood. There are very few of these kinds facilities –after the dismantling of the large mental health institutions the intention was to create small, community based treatment centers for the mentally ill, but it has not happened the way it was envisioned. Now it is almost necessary that a mentally ill person without health insurance do something illegal to qualify for assessment and some kind of help. Many do not get help until they end up in prison, unfortunately.
When I started at Crestwood I didn’t know much of anything about these issues. Most of my pastoral experience had been in hospice care and though I knew some people who had mental health issues this area of life was outside my daily experience and concern. I was concerned to be sure, but I honestly had been put off the topic of mental healthcare by some overly enthusiastic preaching so I had mixed feelings about my placement at Crestwood. Initially I felt really awkward there like at the start of a new job. I didn’t know how to get into the bathroom as it was locked. I didn’t know which staff members would be friendly in helping me to start a group for the consumers, as they called the patients. I was pretty much left on my own to figure out how to get to know the consumers and start up a group of some kind. And I didn’t know how the consumers would behave or what they would expect from me, if anything. So the first day I sat in their TV room and tried to get some conversations going. It was really hard to find anyone who would talk with me but I managed to get into a game of pool and eventually learned some of their names. I didn’t think of there being a divide between the consumers and myself in the moment but the divide between us was wide and deep. They didn’t know or care why I was hanging around and though I wanted to learn more about their lives and offer spiritual care, I didn’t know how to start so I tried to be there and be present and open to whatever happened. Eventually the consumers got used to seeing me and I started a spiritual care group and found my way along. I knew most of all that the wind of Holy Spirit was pushing me forward into this particular divide.
Leaving Crestwood for a moment and let’s talk about our gospel reading. It’s hard to imagine a more dramatic and difficult warning to the rich of the earth. The author, Luke, who was a physician, was the likely author of both this Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. He had a special affinity for the poor, the marginalized and for women. Luke holds with Jewish tradition that the poor are considered especially holy. This is the feeling we get about Lazarus who lies uncomplaining at the door of the rich man’s house, eating the scraps from his table, and letting dogs lick his sores for comfort. Because he is holy he is taken away by the angels when he dies to live with his Father, Abraham, in the joy of heaven. Now the rich man has had a lot of the good life in his times: nice clothes and home, good food and presumably good friends and family. Luke does not describe him as a selfish person and he makes no mention of his attitude or contributions to the poor. So we can’t assume he was indifferent to the poor, he might have even been very generous. When the rich man dies he goes to Hades and is in torment. He looks across the divide and sees Abraham and Lazarus in heaven and asks for just a sip of water to cool his tongue, but the divide is too great for Lazarus to cross over to provide even that moment of comfort. The tables have turned – the divide that the rich man allowed to exist in life on earth between himself and Lazarus was now separating them in the afterworld. The rich man may have been generous or not, we don’t know, but we do know that he didn’t open himself to cross over that divide between rich and poor, even a poor man living right on his doorstep. So the rich man, realizing too late the error of his ways, begs Abraham, in his despair, to send Lazarus from the dead to warn his brothers of the lesson he had learned. Again Abraham refused by saying, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone rises from the dead.” This is most likely a reference to Jesus and perhaps it’s Luke's response to questions early Christians had as to why Jesus did not reappear after his resurrection and warn everyone of the realities of life after death. Particularly because some of the Christians were starting to lose their focus from the early days when everyone had personal experience of Jesus. There is an attempt to provide this warning in our reading from The Letter to Timothy as well. We hear: “As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to be good, to be rich in good works and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.” Take hold of the life that really is life. What is that? It is Life in the Kingdom of God – where nothings divides us from God and our sisters and brothers on earth. The Kingdom of God lives in our souls by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit moves us toward justice for the poor and marginalized through discernment of the Spirit. And when we feel where the Spirit is working we may support that movement of the Spirit to continue to create God’s Kingdom here on earth. So what about my struggle with the divide at Crestwood? Maybe you are wondering if I ever made it over. Yes and no. I met a woman there named Suzanne. Sometimes she came to my Spiritual Care group and sometimes she took communion with us – even though she was Jewish. Everyone was welcome at the table. She told me that she really was a “Judeo-Christian” and I said, so I am I. Unfortunately her illness was progressive and she became more and more tormented. She would moan and scream and make unbearable sounds of suffering sometimes, walking continuously up and down the halls. In her few clear moments she told me about her life before Crestwood. She had two children, and a husband and a life in Berkeley where she lived with her family. And in this moment I saw clearly, too, that she was very much like me. There wasn’t much difference between us – same age and demographics, children, ex-husband, desire for a “normal” if somewhat bohemian life; spiritual and seeking. The significant difference was that she had the horrible bad luck to be stricken with worsening mental illness at the change of life – and I didn’t. I wished I could give her even a week of my life to feel what it was like to walk free again and experience the normal life of work, church, grocery store, eating out, being at home with family and having “normal” problems. She had none of that any more, only the torture that lived in her mind. She let me cross over and experience her life and be in relationship with her for a few brief moments. Eventually she was completely lost to her illness and I am pretty sure she lives with Abraham now. This is a pretty extreme story I have chosen to tell. Jesus’ story about Lazarus and the rich man illustrates the point that separation from any of our fellow creatures divides us from the life that is really life. Because Suzanne’s behavior was out of the so usual I had a hard time getting myself over the divide at all because the tragedy of her life was hard to see. I knew that it could have easily been me living at Crestwood and her coming in to visit and provide care. That was a really difficult reality for me to imagine. The good news is that unlike the rich man who died not realizing that the divide even existed we have the opportunity to reach across the divide today thru working for justice for the poor, the sick and the marginalized. We do it, not to avoid Hades, but because this is how Jesus our Savior lived – reaching out to those who needed his help and love. And by being present to their suffering. By the grace of the Holy Spirit we may do the same and gain a glimpse of God’s mercy across the divide. Amen.
In the second year at the School for Deacons each student takes a class in Field Education at a facility such as a homeless shelter, a meal program, or a social service agency. I chose to spend 8 hours a week for a year at a local mental health inpatient facility called Crestwood. There are very few of these kinds facilities –after the dismantling of the large mental health institutions the intention was to create small, community based treatment centers for the mentally ill, but it has not happened the way it was envisioned. Now it is almost necessary that a mentally ill person without health insurance do something illegal to qualify for assessment and some kind of help. Many do not get help until they end up in prison, unfortunately.
When I started at Crestwood I didn’t know much of anything about these issues. Most of my pastoral experience had been in hospice care and though I knew some people who had mental health issues this area of life was outside my daily experience and concern. I was concerned to be sure, but I honestly had been put off the topic of mental healthcare by some overly enthusiastic preaching so I had mixed feelings about my placement at Crestwood. Initially I felt really awkward there like at the start of a new job. I didn’t know how to get into the bathroom as it was locked. I didn’t know which staff members would be friendly in helping me to start a group for the consumers, as they called the patients. I was pretty much left on my own to figure out how to get to know the consumers and start up a group of some kind. And I didn’t know how the consumers would behave or what they would expect from me, if anything. So the first day I sat in their TV room and tried to get some conversations going. It was really hard to find anyone who would talk with me but I managed to get into a game of pool and eventually learned some of their names. I didn’t think of there being a divide between the consumers and myself in the moment but the divide between us was wide and deep. They didn’t know or care why I was hanging around and though I wanted to learn more about their lives and offer spiritual care, I didn’t know how to start so I tried to be there and be present and open to whatever happened. Eventually the consumers got used to seeing me and I started a spiritual care group and found my way along. I knew most of all that the wind of Holy Spirit was pushing me forward into this particular divide.
Leaving Crestwood for a moment and let’s talk about our gospel reading. It’s hard to imagine a more dramatic and difficult warning to the rich of the earth. The author, Luke, who was a physician, was the likely author of both this Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. He had a special affinity for the poor, the marginalized and for women. Luke holds with Jewish tradition that the poor are considered especially holy. This is the feeling we get about Lazarus who lies uncomplaining at the door of the rich man’s house, eating the scraps from his table, and letting dogs lick his sores for comfort. Because he is holy he is taken away by the angels when he dies to live with his Father, Abraham, in the joy of heaven. Now the rich man has had a lot of the good life in his times: nice clothes and home, good food and presumably good friends and family. Luke does not describe him as a selfish person and he makes no mention of his attitude or contributions to the poor. So we can’t assume he was indifferent to the poor, he might have even been very generous. When the rich man dies he goes to Hades and is in torment. He looks across the divide and sees Abraham and Lazarus in heaven and asks for just a sip of water to cool his tongue, but the divide is too great for Lazarus to cross over to provide even that moment of comfort. The tables have turned – the divide that the rich man allowed to exist in life on earth between himself and Lazarus was now separating them in the afterworld. The rich man may have been generous or not, we don’t know, but we do know that he didn’t open himself to cross over that divide between rich and poor, even a poor man living right on his doorstep. So the rich man, realizing too late the error of his ways, begs Abraham, in his despair, to send Lazarus from the dead to warn his brothers of the lesson he had learned. Again Abraham refused by saying, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone rises from the dead.” This is most likely a reference to Jesus and perhaps it’s Luke's response to questions early Christians had as to why Jesus did not reappear after his resurrection and warn everyone of the realities of life after death. Particularly because some of the Christians were starting to lose their focus from the early days when everyone had personal experience of Jesus. There is an attempt to provide this warning in our reading from The Letter to Timothy as well. We hear: “As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to be good, to be rich in good works and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.” Take hold of the life that really is life. What is that? It is Life in the Kingdom of God – where nothings divides us from God and our sisters and brothers on earth. The Kingdom of God lives in our souls by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit moves us toward justice for the poor and marginalized through discernment of the Spirit. And when we feel where the Spirit is working we may support that movement of the Spirit to continue to create God’s Kingdom here on earth. So what about my struggle with the divide at Crestwood? Maybe you are wondering if I ever made it over. Yes and no. I met a woman there named Suzanne. Sometimes she came to my Spiritual Care group and sometimes she took communion with us – even though she was Jewish. Everyone was welcome at the table. She told me that she really was a “Judeo-Christian” and I said, so I am I. Unfortunately her illness was progressive and she became more and more tormented. She would moan and scream and make unbearable sounds of suffering sometimes, walking continuously up and down the halls. In her few clear moments she told me about her life before Crestwood. She had two children, and a husband and a life in Berkeley where she lived with her family. And in this moment I saw clearly, too, that she was very much like me. There wasn’t much difference between us – same age and demographics, children, ex-husband, desire for a “normal” if somewhat bohemian life; spiritual and seeking. The significant difference was that she had the horrible bad luck to be stricken with worsening mental illness at the change of life – and I didn’t. I wished I could give her even a week of my life to feel what it was like to walk free again and experience the normal life of work, church, grocery store, eating out, being at home with family and having “normal” problems. She had none of that any more, only the torture that lived in her mind. She let me cross over and experience her life and be in relationship with her for a few brief moments. Eventually she was completely lost to her illness and I am pretty sure she lives with Abraham now. This is a pretty extreme story I have chosen to tell. Jesus’ story about Lazarus and the rich man illustrates the point that separation from any of our fellow creatures divides us from the life that is really life. Because Suzanne’s behavior was out of the so usual I had a hard time getting myself over the divide at all because the tragedy of her life was hard to see. I knew that it could have easily been me living at Crestwood and her coming in to visit and provide care. That was a really difficult reality for me to imagine. The good news is that unlike the rich man who died not realizing that the divide even existed we have the opportunity to reach across the divide today thru working for justice for the poor, the sick and the marginalized. We do it, not to avoid Hades, but because this is how Jesus our Savior lived – reaching out to those who needed his help and love. And by being present to their suffering. By the grace of the Holy Spirit we may do the same and gain a glimpse of God’s mercy across the divide. Amen.
