A Time for Healing – For Everyone

Luke 14 tells a story where Jesus went for Sabbath lunch to a prominent Pharisee’s home and was being scrutinized by the Jewish elites. The text says he came upon a man who was suffering from dropsy. Suffering. Jesus addressed the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” According to Luke, the only reply came from the crickets; the nation’s elite didn’t attempt to answer. Jesus turned and healed the man, ushering him on his way. I wish I could have seen this, the look on Jesus’ face when he turned back to the Pharisees, asking them if they would help their own sons or their oxen out of a ditch on the Sabbath. Stumped, they remained silent. The rest of Luke 14 is mostly Jesus speaking, telling stories, drawing analogies, giving warnings and finally, “Let him who has ears, hear.”

As an RN, and now a health care administrator, I have seen and heard stories of those who suffer from something, anything. Some get better with care and treatment and some don’t. We do everything we can to alleviate suffering, to promote healing of the body, the mind and spirit.

My new role at Kettering Health Network has put me in touch with a population that truly suffers and their needs for treatment and compassion can be overwhelming. I am referring to our behavioral and mental health services for children and adults. At Kettering Behavioral Medical Center, we see beautiful people suffering from depression, phobias, neurosis and other afflictions that are shunned by society and even dismissed by good, loving church-going people. Mental health is a stigma because it is so frightening; we don’t fully understand it and we struggle with the lines that lie between what is healthy and what is not.

What I love about the chapter of Luke 14 is the attitude of Jesus. He challenges the elite, the status quo. He exposed social grudges during his own time, but his words are timeless and have the same important message today.

With his stories, his analogies and mostly his attitude, he makes it perfectly clear that all people matter. Every single person is precious and their suffering is not trivial. Jesus also revealed that this radical belief system delivers a visible and meaningful impact on the community. It implies that the members of a community would lift the burdens of their vulnerable citizens every single day, no matter what the affliction.

Do you know someone struggling with depression, anxiety or other socially unacceptable forms of suffering? Are you suffering? There is no shame in needing, asking for and receiving healing. You matter; we all matter to our Great Healer. It is my desire to participate in the lifting up, out of the pit, those who suffer. Please keep our medical teams and chaplains in your prayers as they daily reach out to offer healing and peace to those who truly suffer.

Deanette Sisson serves as vice president of Sycamore Medical Center and Kettering Behavioral Medicine Center at Kettering Health Network. NOTE: This editorial appeared in the July 2010 issue of the Visitor magazine.

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