Hill of Crosses, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. Photo by Ben Beiske.
"Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet's reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward."
"THE HILL OF CROSSES” - GOP Senate Health Bill
Various commentaries share that practicing hospitality requires Jesus’ followers to heal and teach no matter what. It means that they are to move outside their comfort zones and exercise hospitality toward all, even people very different from us. Doing so is evidence of God’s prophetic activity and love in our lives. As Rev. Kari Jo Verhulst, pastor of University Lutheran Church and Lutheran chaplain to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, puts it, “The capacity to heal and restore is also a capacity to disrupt and provoke.” It “reorders relationships, …..thus defying the kinship and social orders” through which people understand themselves. It requires “seeing” the other who may be very different from you or me -- for as Jesus demonstrated -- even "chosenness" rests in the sick, the mentally ill, the poor. Jesus moves them from the status of being the ones most judged, to the seat of being the judge over you and over me. For when we care well and care fully for the least among us, then we minister to Jesus himself. But when we fail as a people to exercise compassion and generosity toward all -- then we become ruled by greedy frustrations and dysfunctional visions. To paraphrase Pastor Verhulst, we risk letting ourselves be ruled by a dictatorship bent on imposing it’s vision of what the world ought to be, not what God wants for the world.
Each morning that I go to work and exit the elevator toward my office, I walk by the writing on the wall that is the Mission Statement for the Catholic healthcare organization where I work. It reads, “We carry on the healing mission of Jesus Christ by promoting personal and community health, relieving pain and suffering, and treating each person in a loving and caring way.” This hospitality, at all levels of the organization in all the diverse communities the organization serves throughout the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, is referred to as ---- “Our Ministry”. For me, as a provider in this ministry, there is a profound sense that “I am home. I am doing the work and ministry I should have been doing all my life."
As desperately as I sought and fought for that kind of ministry and sense of home in the faith tradition in which I was raised -- and through which six generations of my ancestors lived out their lives -- I had to walk away from that faith tradition. It was simply too hung up for far too long over way too many issues – some of them so astonishingly petty it would make most people nauseous. Sunday mornings in many of its congregations felt more like a social club than ministries passionately bettering the Common Good. Today, I find the GOP Congress, a similar institution. Far too hung up for far too long over far too many issues that are so astonishingly and nauseously petty.
My story is that God liberated me out of that faith tradition’s nonsense in May 2011 at the age of 54. I have called the liberation “My God Encounter” which can be read about elsewhere on this blog. From the point of God’s hospitality during that encounter to now, relationships were indeed reordered in my life and painfully so. Hell, my whole life was reordered! God moved to provoke and disrupt my life dislodging me from people and entities that were slowly killing my body, heart, mind and soul. Today my ministry is in the form of a licensed psychotherapist and behavioral health practitioner with 40 plus years in the helping “professions/ministries". As is the case with nearly all my colleagues, I am very good at what I do. The ACA is a great investment for Americans getting healthier through the work we do, especially for the poor and working poor. Independent assessment with my patients provides feedback that I am a “highly effective” practitioner. Nearly 80% of the people who begin psychotherapy with me get healthier and chose to continue working with me as they pursue their spiritual and/or mental health recovery according the US Department of Health’s Ten Guiding Principles for Mental Health Recovery. Of course, I’m not everyone’s cup of tea (nor should I be) as 20% of patients seek services with some other counselor or therapist and as much as I can, I help those individuals find the therapist that fits best with their need/desires, such as when a patient finds/discovers they need to work with a female therapist rather than a male. Every week, I am humbled by patients’ comments of how much it means for them to receive ministry from me as we work together to heal their psyche, find a vision and mission for the future, and knit their souls and lives back together. Whether an adult is in their late teens or eighty years-old, the sentiments they share are often of a similar theme, “Here, with your help, I explore every nook and cranny of my soul and trauma and find a way forward with my life and have no fear that you will judge me.” As my patients move their recovery forward, their physical health often improves and stabilizes, particularly as their stress and distress decrease and they learn to live more functional hopeful lives in harmony with the gifts and passions God has placed in them -- accepting that they are persons of worth before God. Research findings abound that as people’s mental health improves so does their physical health. As physical health improves, this eases demand on medical services as patients get better managing their overall health.
As a licensed mental health provider paneled with 15 or more healthcare insurers, it is unlikely that the GOP Senate health bill will negatively impact my livelihood, however the patients I worry about are those patients who will no longer be covered as Medicaid Expansion is eliminated courtesy of the U.S. Senator seemingly without a conscience, namely Mitch McConnell. Yes, the same Mitch McConnell who in total secrecy with only lobbyists and a very small group of similarly-minded GOP senators took the Ryancare/Trumpcare AHCA House Bill and made it even more mean. As the Kaiser Family Foundation reports about McConnell’s healthcare bill, millions upon millions of low-income Americans will lose their coverage, seniors will see their healthcare costs skyrocket, Essential Health Benefits will be eliminated, Planned Parenthood funding will be eliminated, employers will be able to opt out of having to provide insurance to their employees, Medicaid block grants to the states will be substantially less resulting in states having to reduce benefits and make the poor pay more. The list goes on and on why McConnellcare/Ryancare/Trumpcare is the worst possible healthcare bill GOP senators could pass. Last, but not least, about McConnellcare is the absolutely obscene transfer of wealth to the rich that the McConnellcare bill would make happen.
Shredding the social safety net and transferring wealth to the rich through various forms of tax breaks is what the GOP has always pursued -- and what it appears that it will always be about. The GOP since Reagan has always been about serving up the “cup of cold water” to the rich and powerful – the working poor be damned, the elderly be damned, the sick and disabled be damned, the mentally-ill be damned. GOP senators, if you pass McConnellcare, start picking out the crosses you are about to stake on “The Hill of Crosses”. For if you vote yes and pass McConnell’s healthcare bill this coming week, that is exactly what you will be doing, you will be killing your fellow Americans.
GOP senators, you have been warned -- "chosenness" rests in the sick, the mentally ill, the poor. Jesus moved and continues to move them from the status of being the ones most judged and despised to the seat of being the ones who will judge over you and over me. If you fail to exercise compassion and generosity toward all by voting for McConnell’s obscene healthcare bill -- then you will be judged as ruled by greedy frustration and dysfunctional vision. You will be allowing GOP to choose for the rich and powerful rather than for what God’s Just and Peaceable Reign intends for all persons.
Take courage, GOP Senators, and through voting down the McConnell bill become a prophet with capacity to provoke and disrupt – and therefore the capacity to heal and restore any and all who stand in need. Be as Jesus would have you be – share the cup of cold water that is for all, not just some. Passionately begin transitioning our healthcare system toward single-payer universal healthcare. You will cut costs in half!! Do so and do so now!
Faith leaders -- lay and professional alike -- press our elected leaders to move forward according to our will, not theirs. Only 16% of Americans support McConnellcare/Ryancare/Trumpcare. The time is now for single-payer universal healthcare.
Mount, Senators, mount to the sky with healing in your wings – healing for all.
Brad Shumate
Eugene, Oregon