Fr. Dale Matson
05-24-2011
Lord watch over those who have survived. Comfort the grieving. Orient the lost and confused. Placate the angry and give peace to the frightened. Provide meaning and purpose for the suffering that it may be redemptive and not destructive. May they reach out to others that share a common bond and remember those things that allow them to continue and transcend their current station. Give new roots to the uprooted. Restore the workplace and the economy for the sake of their dignity and independence. Extend Your mercy and Send consolations to the broken and broken hearted.
Protect those who search and administer help, from injury, despair and exhaustion. Give wisdom and courage to those who administer relief. Let them not be overwhelmed. Let them receive mercy as they extend mercy.
Knit together those of us who watch or hear from a distance, with those who weep. Help us to lend our prayers and share our goods. Let us not be overcome, walk by or look away. Show us how to help. May we see You in them and shed tears for those no longer able to do so. Lord our sorrow for them runs so deep, we struggle to breathe.
Give eternal peace and rest to those who perished. May they remain with You forever and may they remain with us, hidden and protected in the innermost sanctuary of our hearts. May we be united in heavenly communion with them here and reunited with them when we depart to be with You in Your Heavenly Kingdom. Amen
Showing posts with label Intercession. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Intercession. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Dangerous to Self/Dangerous to Others
Fr. Dale Matson
01-16-11
“Let his mind be changed from that of a man and let a beast's mind be given to him, and let seven periods of time pass over him.” (Dan. 4:16, NASB).
Jared Loughner murdered six people and injured fourteen others in Tucson Arizona this past week. This is another testament to our failed mental health system and is yet one more call for mental health reform. When the tipping point for treatment is dangerous to self or others, then it is no longer a mental health issue. It is then a legal issue and the police become involved. When Psychotropic drugs were introduced they were touted as the panacea that would save the day. The drugs are not a cure and the individuals who need them frequently stop taking them. There are untold thousands of folks living with their families and on the streets. Their families have pleaded for help and hear the same mantra. They must be dangerous to self or others.
I can remember the parents of a schizophrenic son pleading with us to help their son who had just stripped all the paneling and drywall off their interior cabin walls as some kind of defense against the aliens who were sending him messages. When we advised his parents to notify the police they said, he is not a criminal in need of incarceration, he needs hospitalization and treatment. This is an all too common and tragic scenario for the families of the mentally ill.
I was involved at the county level and was working in our inpatient unit the day it was permanently closed. It was a sad day for the families of the mentally ill. The rationale was that it would be cheaper to treat them in Community Based Residential Facilities (CBRF’s). So the mentally ill were passed from the state facilities (deinstitutionalization), to the county facilities to the CBRF’s. The CBRF’s were not equipped to deal with non-compliant residents and after wearing out their welcome in a number of CBRF’s, they were given a bus ticket. We used to call it “Greyhound Therapy”. Many of the folks that once had medical care; counseling and county services eventually had no access to any of these things. With the advent of the new system of crisis intervention and CBRF’s, a new group of folks was gradually introduced into the streets along with those already there.
I worked for years with individuals, both adults and adolescents with mental illness. I believe there is also a new generation of mentally ill individuals who would have been marginally productive and capable of living independently except they compounded their difficulties with drugs. The drugs took them over the reality precipice and created individuals with chronic difficulties. I pray that we will reform our mental health system. Using the streets to house the mentally ill is worse than the intentional use of the expressways as ponding basins for excess rainfall.
There needs to be a reexamination of what constitutes adequate care for the mentally ill and how to fund it once again. As a blogging associate from Texas who also has a mental health background stated, “To what degree should we as a community let them slide into degraded lives on the streets? Underneath that question is a discussion about choice and personal freedom vs. the ravages of mental illness.”
“For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.” (Matt. 25: 35-36, NASB).
01-16-11
“Let his mind be changed from that of a man and let a beast's mind be given to him, and let seven periods of time pass over him.” (Dan. 4:16, NASB).
Jared Loughner murdered six people and injured fourteen others in Tucson Arizona this past week. This is another testament to our failed mental health system and is yet one more call for mental health reform. When the tipping point for treatment is dangerous to self or others, then it is no longer a mental health issue. It is then a legal issue and the police become involved. When Psychotropic drugs were introduced they were touted as the panacea that would save the day. The drugs are not a cure and the individuals who need them frequently stop taking them. There are untold thousands of folks living with their families and on the streets. Their families have pleaded for help and hear the same mantra. They must be dangerous to self or others.
I can remember the parents of a schizophrenic son pleading with us to help their son who had just stripped all the paneling and drywall off their interior cabin walls as some kind of defense against the aliens who were sending him messages. When we advised his parents to notify the police they said, he is not a criminal in need of incarceration, he needs hospitalization and treatment. This is an all too common and tragic scenario for the families of the mentally ill.
I was involved at the county level and was working in our inpatient unit the day it was permanently closed. It was a sad day for the families of the mentally ill. The rationale was that it would be cheaper to treat them in Community Based Residential Facilities (CBRF’s). So the mentally ill were passed from the state facilities (deinstitutionalization), to the county facilities to the CBRF’s. The CBRF’s were not equipped to deal with non-compliant residents and after wearing out their welcome in a number of CBRF’s, they were given a bus ticket. We used to call it “Greyhound Therapy”. Many of the folks that once had medical care; counseling and county services eventually had no access to any of these things. With the advent of the new system of crisis intervention and CBRF’s, a new group of folks was gradually introduced into the streets along with those already there.
I worked for years with individuals, both adults and adolescents with mental illness. I believe there is also a new generation of mentally ill individuals who would have been marginally productive and capable of living independently except they compounded their difficulties with drugs. The drugs took them over the reality precipice and created individuals with chronic difficulties. I pray that we will reform our mental health system. Using the streets to house the mentally ill is worse than the intentional use of the expressways as ponding basins for excess rainfall.
There needs to be a reexamination of what constitutes adequate care for the mentally ill and how to fund it once again. As a blogging associate from Texas who also has a mental health background stated, “To what degree should we as a community let them slide into degraded lives on the streets? Underneath that question is a discussion about choice and personal freedom vs. the ravages of mental illness.”
“For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.” (Matt. 25: 35-36, NASB).
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Identificational Repentance and the Massacre of Glencoe
Identificational Repentance and the Massacre of Glencoe
11-23-10
Fr. Dale Matson
"Identificational Repentance" is a term referring to a type of prayer which identifies with and confesses before God the corporate sins of one's nation, people, church, or family (John Dawson, Healing America's Wounds, p. 15, Ventura: Regal, 1994).
I was the preacher this past Sunday for both a celebration of Christ the King and The Kirkin of the Tartans, an annual celebration. My mother’s family name is Campbell and anyone familiar with the history of Scotland is aware of the Glencoe Massacre. I included this in the homily and offered an apology to the MacDonald Clan. In my research of this I had not seen any evidence of contrition on the part of my historical brethren the Campbell’s. This singular act may have been the worst act of treachery in the history of Scotland and remains a stain on the Campbell family and all of Scotland. As I read the account of the massacre during the service, I was filled with remorse and sorrow for the heinous act and breach of trust. I was overcome with tears while I asked for forgiveness from the MacDonald’s and God.
The next day one of our parishioners sent me an email about the service and the concept of Identificational Repentance. While this idea has been around for some time, I had never heard of the term before this. There are some Scriptural passages that illustrate the concept. “Now while I was speaking and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God.” (Dan. 9:20) and ”let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father's house have sinned.” (Neh. 1:6).
Why should there be Identificational repentance? “You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.” (Exodus 20:5).
In the Book of Occasional Services for the eighth station of the Way of the Cross, we say the following, “Teach your Church, O Lord, to mourn the sins of which it is guilty, and to repent and forsake them; that, by your pardoning grace, the results of our iniquities may not be visited upon our children and our children's children; through Jesus Christ our Lord; Amen.” (1994, p.66).
In the mystical body of our Lord Jesus Christ, we offer prayers of intercession in our prayers of the people for our deceased brethren. “And we also bless thy holy Name for all thy servants departed this life in thy faith and fear [especially__________], beseeching thee to grant them continual growth in thy love and service.” (BCP HE I P. 330).
It seems reasonable that since we are called to be intercessors in the here and now for events past, present and future that we should ask for God’s forgiveness for those things past where we are not personally responsible but responsible as a member of a church, clan, gang, nation or people. God laid this on my heart. If God has laid something like this on your heart, I believe it is something to consider.
"If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). Amen
11-23-10
Fr. Dale Matson
"Identificational Repentance" is a term referring to a type of prayer which identifies with and confesses before God the corporate sins of one's nation, people, church, or family (John Dawson, Healing America's Wounds, p. 15, Ventura: Regal, 1994).
I was the preacher this past Sunday for both a celebration of Christ the King and The Kirkin of the Tartans, an annual celebration. My mother’s family name is Campbell and anyone familiar with the history of Scotland is aware of the Glencoe Massacre. I included this in the homily and offered an apology to the MacDonald Clan. In my research of this I had not seen any evidence of contrition on the part of my historical brethren the Campbell’s. This singular act may have been the worst act of treachery in the history of Scotland and remains a stain on the Campbell family and all of Scotland. As I read the account of the massacre during the service, I was filled with remorse and sorrow for the heinous act and breach of trust. I was overcome with tears while I asked for forgiveness from the MacDonald’s and God.
The next day one of our parishioners sent me an email about the service and the concept of Identificational Repentance. While this idea has been around for some time, I had never heard of the term before this. There are some Scriptural passages that illustrate the concept. “Now while I was speaking and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God.” (Dan. 9:20) and ”let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father's house have sinned.” (Neh. 1:6).
Why should there be Identificational repentance? “You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.” (Exodus 20:5).
In the Book of Occasional Services for the eighth station of the Way of the Cross, we say the following, “Teach your Church, O Lord, to mourn the sins of which it is guilty, and to repent and forsake them; that, by your pardoning grace, the results of our iniquities may not be visited upon our children and our children's children; through Jesus Christ our Lord; Amen.” (1994, p.66).
In the mystical body of our Lord Jesus Christ, we offer prayers of intercession in our prayers of the people for our deceased brethren. “And we also bless thy holy Name for all thy servants departed this life in thy faith and fear [especially__________], beseeching thee to grant them continual growth in thy love and service.” (BCP HE I P. 330).
It seems reasonable that since we are called to be intercessors in the here and now for events past, present and future that we should ask for God’s forgiveness for those things past where we are not personally responsible but responsible as a member of a church, clan, gang, nation or people. God laid this on my heart. If God has laid something like this on your heart, I believe it is something to consider.
"If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). Amen
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