MercyWork

Update

This looks like a good weekend in McFalls! I'm really interesting in how worship and sacred space interact with addiction issues. Some of us will go up friday and saturday evening. E-mail Joshuaray@mac.com for more info.

Blankets for Kids is kicking it. We'll have 100 or more for the friday giveaway. Tamara, Heather and others from MOMS group have a heart for children in our community. (The poorest square mile in Maine) is OUR parish. We'll be filming parts of it to create some video. We'd like to create visual context our community. I read recently that the marginalized need more ministers and less ministries. Many of us live less then a 5-10 minute drive (in some cases walk). Who is more marginalized (stigmatized) in Maine the people with addiction and mental health? In spite of our rhetoric of acceptance and inclusion our county jails tell a different story. Heres the score. OUR COUNTY JAILS ARE THE LARGEST AD-HOC MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE FACILITIES IN THE STATE. Our recovery group ECHO KALOS will find ways to advocate for change. More later...in fact, much more later.

ECHO KALOS meeting this wednesday night. I'm pleased that we will have the coffee shop beginning 3.21.07 for our meetings. The worship team is coming together and our leadership training will begin soon. Look for a weekend workshop/planning session in late April.

Invisible Children World Tour will be at Bates College 3.19.07 for a screening. I spoke with Alex Collins from the tour last week. He seemed excited that we are planning a gathering. We will hook up with them when the tour arrives. As most of you know, Phil Strout (our senior pastor) spoke powerfully about the sex slave trade and the number of children conscripted into brutal armies world wide. In creating a response we are planning a sacred prayer/candlelight vigil evening. I'll be meeting with Jenna and Josh from the Boise Vineyard this week to begin to give language to this. A team at Vineyard Lewiston will put it together. If you have any idea's let me know at mobrienvcf@adelphia.net

Children of Addiction

The Hope Network released some staggering information about the effects of addiction on children. In our community (The Vineyard) God is pressing us with the cry of children across the world and in our community. I'll be writing about this over the next few weeks and would encourage your participation.

A relationship between parental addiction and child abuse has been documented in a large proportion of child abuse and neglect cases.

• Three of four (71.6%) child welfare professionals cite substance abuse as the top cause for the dramatic rise in child maltreatment since 1986.
• Most welfare professionals (79.6%) report that substance abuse causes or contributes to at least half of all cases of child maltreatment; 39.7% say it is a factor in over 75% of the cases.
• In a sample of parents who significantly maltreat their children, alcohol abuse is specifically associated with physical maltreatment, while cocaine exhibits a specific relationship to sexual maltreatment.
• Children exposed prenatally to illicit drugs are 2 to 3 times more likely to be abused or neglected.

Children of drug addicted parents are at higher risk for placement outside the home.

• Three of four child welfare professionals (75.7%) say that children of addicted parents are more likely to enter foster care, and 73% say that children of alcoholics stay longer in foster care than do other children.

• In one study, 79% of adolescent runaways and homeless youth reported alcohol use in the home, 53% reported problem drinking in the home, and 54% reported drug use in the home


• Each year, approximately 1 1,900 infants are abandoned at birth or are kept at hospitals, 78% of whom are drug-exposed, the average daily cost for each of these babies is $460.

NACOA (national association for children of alcoholics) web site. www.nacoa.org 

• The economic costs associated with Fetal Alcohol
Syndrome were estimated at $1.9 billion for ! 992.24

• A sample of children hospitalized for psychiatric disorders demonstrated that more than 50% were children of addicted parents.

Children of addicted parents have a high rate of behavior problems.

• One study comparing children of alcoholics (aged 6-1 7 years) with children of psychiatrically healthy medical patients found that children of alcoholics had elevated rates of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder) measured against the control group of children_.

• Research on behavioral problems demonstrated by children of alcoholics has revealed some of the following traits: lack of empathy for other persons; decreased social adequacy and interpersonal adaptability; low self-esteem; and lack of control over the environment

Children of addicted parents exhibit symptoms of depression and anxiety more than do children from non-addicted families.

• Children of addicted parents exhibit depression and depressive symptoms more frequently than do children from non-addicted families.

• Children of addicted parents are more likely to have anxiety disorders or to show anxiety symptoms.

• Children of addicted parents are at high risk for elevated rates of psychiatric and psychosocial dysfunction, as well as for alcoholism.

Children of addicted parents experience greater physical and mental health problems and higher health and welfare costs than do children from non-addicted families.

• Inpatient admission rates and average length of stay for children of alcoholics were 24% and 29% greater than for children of non-alcoholic parents. Substance abuse and other mental disorders were the most notable conditions among children of addicted parents.
• It is estimated that parental substance abuse and addiction are the chief cause in at least 70-90% of all child welfare spending. Using the more conservative 70 percent assessment, in 1998 substance abuse and addiction accounted for approximately $10 billion in federal, state and local government spending simply to maintain child welfare systems.

Churches around the country will be singing this song Sunday and addressing modern day slavery. The original website for the film is www.amazinggracemovie.com It looks awesome. If you think of it sing the song sunday and pray for children and women caught up in the sex slave trade worldwide. An estimated 27 million people in the world today are in slavery. They are sold into sexual slavery or forced labor from sub-Saharan Africa to suburban America, from big-city brothels to small-town sweatshops. Every day, men, women, and children looking for work and a better life are tricked, coerced, or forced into slavery.
If this is news to you, don’t be surprised. This is a silent horror. Few are paying  attention. Some are. Jenna and Shawn Stepp (The Strout's daughter and son-in-law) are very involved. Phil's teaching on Christmas day spoke powerfully to this system of tyranny and abuse. In our community thousands of children live under the fist of addiction. A form of slavery here in central Maine that we are called to abolish. Recovery is called to take up the mantle of the abolitionists. Dr. Martin Luther Kings most pressing question was "what are you doing for others?"

Check out ruthhandler.blogspot.com to see a beautiful story of aged grace and a theology of hospitality.

Poetic

Every day I say to myself

Today I will begin.

                         St. Anthony the Abott

Celtic Prayer

From the Celtic Book of Prayer:

Call: Who is it that you seek?
Response: We seek the Lord our God.
Call: Do you seek Him with all your heart?
Response: Amen. Lord, have mercy.
Call: Do you seek Him with all your soul?
Response: Amen. Lord, have mercy.
Call: Do you seek Him with all your mind?
Response: Amen. Lord, have mercy.
Call: Do you seek Him with all your strength?
Response: Amen. Christ, have mercy

Declaration of faith

A great site for morning, noon and evening prayer is:

www.northumbriacommunity.org

To whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life,
and we have believed and have come to know
that You are the Holy One of God.

Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ,
King of endless glory.

re-naming/re-making

Miroslav Volf in his book exclusion and embrace makes the following statement. "The mission of Jesus consisted not simply in re-naming the behavior that was labeled sinful but also in re-making the people who have actually sinned or have suffered misfortune." AA has a tradition of re-naming through leaving out our last name. For example if I stand up in a meeting I would say "Hi, my name is....and I'm an alcoholic. The idea here was to offset the inequity of social life (this was written in the 30's when stigma would put a suffering person in a hospital) There mission was to level the playing field so that those considered "Unclean" could stand up and speak with dignity. That's the core of re-naming I think. Second, removing the label of unclean, Jesus made clean thing out of truly unclean things. People indwelled by unclean spirits are often cut off persons from community and are at deep odds with themselves. Volf writes that such people, "where delivered from oppression and reintegrated into community." (Mark 5:15-17) Such people are forgiven and transformed. I see the power of this in Step 3 that says, "Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God..." and the transformation in Step 11 "Sought through prayer and meditation to improve conscious contact with God..."

I'm putting some thoughts together on Step 12 and Justice.

"Having had a spiritual awakening...we carry this message ...and practice these (guiding) principles in all our affairs." Italics mine. It sounds to me as if step 12 has a missional context we could learn more from.

Your thoughts are welcome.

HBO project

HBO's addiction project begins March 15th and finishes up on the 18th. Check out www.addictionaction.org for more info. Here's an overview.

EHCO KALOS has invited Dr. Kelley from St. Marys Hospital to present on Brain Chemistry and Addiction. Join us on 3.14.07 at 6:30 in the sanctuary. Dr. Kelley is the first in our lecture series as we seek to understand the complexity of addiction and its consequences in our community. Dr. Kelley has a great powerpoint presentation on advances in brain imaging science and the way physicians are seeing into the brain of those affected by addiction.

One in four Americans has a family member who is struggling with addiction.  In 2005, there were 23.2 million Americans who needed treatment for their illicit drug or alcohol abuse problems, yet only about 10% received the treatment they needed. HBO, in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), the National Institute on Drug Addiction (NIDA), and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), has produced an unprecedented multi-media campaign aimed at helping Americans understand addiction as a treatable brain disease, as well as spotlighting new medical advancements.

For the first time, HBO will use all of its digital platforms, including the HBO main service, multiplex channels, HBO On Demand, podcasts, web streams, and DVD sales. The major components of the ADDICTION Project are :

• A groundbreaking 14-part documentary film series;
• A companion book published by Rodale Press (available March 6);
• A large and comprehensive website on addiction, treatment and recovery at hbo.com  (launching March 5);
• Four independent addiction-themed films;
• A $2 million national media campaign to promote the show and its themes; and
• A grassroots outreach and community mobilization project organizing town meetings and house  parties in cities and towns nationwide.

The ADDICTION project targets anyone concerned about addiction: addicted individuals themselves, or their family and friends -- all of whom are searching for a better understanding of what addiction is and how to find effective treatment.

ADDICTION brings together leading thinkers and organizations that are at the threshold of new treatments.  Current advances in brain imaging science make it possible to see inside the brain of an addicted person, pinpoint the parts of the brain affected by addiction, and see how the addict’s brain differs, ushering in a great many advances in medical treatment.  In fact, treatments for addiction are now as effective as treatments for other chronic relapsing diseases such as diabetes, hypertension or asthma.

A candid depiction of the emotional, psychological, social and political toll that addiction takes on the country, the ADDICTION project demonstrates conclusively that the disease is treatable and shows that there are millions of Americans in long-term recovery.  Topics covered include:  the nature of addiction, addiction in the workplace, and the protracted insurance battles waged by families, as well as the difficulty of finding and getting adequate treatment.

This morning in our prayer time Pippie read from Psalm 82:3-4

"Defend the poor and fatherless:

do justice to the afflicted and needy.

Deliver the poor and needy:

rid them out of the hand of the wicked.

The affliction that we call addiction is causing a landscape of pain. ARISE O GOD out of the purgatorial silence of addiction with a new voice of healing and power. amen.

Blankets and kids

Our MOMS team will be collecting blankets for families in our neighborhood. If you have any good, used (clean) blankets we'll have drop off points in the bulletin at church Sunday. The team will be distributing them at The Food Pantry 3/2/2007.

We're in conversation with St. Mary's about a collaboration to provide a meal on Monday nights. With the new Kitchen Theater set up and running we hope to have an evening that looks something like this.

1. Offer a cooking class on whatever meal will be served that night.

2. Provide meal to the general public.

3. Offer those attending, a recipe and the ingredients of the meal to take home and cook themselves.

4.  Teenage meal once a month.

We're also considering having a band play a couple of times a month. Continue to pray. This summer we have some cool idea's about beauty and justice. (I love those two words together!) Servant justice in the context of poverty and addiction creates an opportunity for those who feel ULTIMATELY FATED to see the grace of God.

We'll launch our "Adopt a Block" in Mid April. The city of Lewiston is excited about this project. I'll update as we go along.

ECHO KALOS will continue to meet on Wednesday evenings. I'm talking with someone interested in leading worship and we'll move the gig over to the new coffee/lounge area in the new church at the end of March. Look for our recovery work to be a powerful advocacy group in our community. There's alot of language during this season of warriors gathering and of a wonderful word given in this community 13 years ago. "Habitation of Shepperd's." It suggests sanctuary and mobilization.

Correction...Scot is a professor of Religious Studies at North Park University. I listened to the podcast from Pepperdine got an ADD rush for a minute.

Letters by McKnight

Scot Mcknights Letters post at his blog www.jesuscreed.org is worth reading. Scot is a professor of religious studies at Pepperdine and a well read author. His new book A Community Called Atonement will be released soon. One theologian called it "gutsy, reformed and creative." Scot does a great job discussing emerging church.

In his book "Embracing Grace" he outlines the gospel this way.

The gospel is:

1. The work of God, who is Father, Son, and Spirit,
2. In the context of the community of faith (Israel then the Church)
3. To restore cracked Eikons (we are made in God’s image [Eikons] but we ruined it by sin)
4. Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and
5. The gift of the Holy Spirit
6. To union with God and self and
7. To union with one with one another
8. To be missional agents for the good of the world.

Becoming "agents of embracing grace" is a great challenge in living in a neighborhood context.