“Something Different” Prevention Week

Hopelessness or Depression

I realize that right up front that I am walking on some very tricky ground here.  I know that this week is known as National Suicide Prevention Week – and believe me, I want to do all that I can to help bring awareness and change to this tragic form of death in our society.

However, because of my association with some great people who introduced me to AFSP (The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention) in Parkersburg, WV, I have a very difficult time using the word “suicide” at all.

Taking one’s own life is a very desperate act, usually coming at the end of a battle with depression or hopelessness.  I have sometimes said that taking one’s own life in the midst of depression or hopelessness is a final prayer to God to end the suffering.

Sometimes the deaths are very intentional…sometimes very accidental.  No matter what the circumstance, when we place the label “suicide” upon these tragic losses of battles with very real diseases and spiritual conditions, we are placing a stigma on both the person who lost their battle and to those who are left behind.

We do not do this with victims of cancer, heart disease, diabetes or any other illness and yet with depression and hopelessness, we do.

I would like to see us change the name of this week, just so we can call it what it truly is.  Let’s call it “Preventing Death by Depression and Hopelessness Week” or something else that is more catching.  I don’t care.  I am just sick of the “S” word and all the baggage and tags it carries with it.

Just some thoughts… would love to read yours as well.

photo credit: Helga Weber via photo pin cc

Rainy Days

Yesterday was a perfect rainy day to get some special projects done around the house…

Rain

photo credit: VinothChandar via photo pin cc

And I took that chance to get several projects done – hanging some shelves in the girl’s bathroom, fixing some mini-blinds, putting up some stuff on the walls for Pam and even doing a little vacuum cleaner maintenance.  (I still have a pesky stairwell light to change, but that will have to wait till another day.)

When it was all done, I was just a little bit tired and Pam and I were talking about the accomplishments.  I started to say that it was “the little things that made it feel more like home” but I stopped myself and said, “You know, this place already feels like home to me.  It’s where I find you and the girls and where I find peace.”

I know “home” for us as Christians is much more than a house…even a house of worship…home for us is where Jesus is leading us.  Sometimes that leading is to service, sometimes it is to prayer, and sometimes it is just to mundane things of living.  I am never quite home, but always, always close.

Mt. Hope v. Princeton???

Tonight I am taking part in the weekly Southern West Virginia tradition of “Friday Night Lights.”  It is a home game for the Princeton Senior High School Tigers and they will be playing Oak Hill High School.  Now, why would I title a post about Mt. Hope, when the opponent is Oak Hill.  Well, the truth of the matter is that my Alma Mater, Mt. Hope High School, is no more.  😦

MHHS
Class of 1983!!

Yesterday, I was thinking about this upcoming game and I happened to be driving by the old hometown, so I drove through for the thirty second tour.  I saw my old home – doesn’t appear that anyone is living there these days and saw many of the routes I would have walked around this little town in Fayette County.  I even took time to drive up to the old school which amazingly looked a lot like this picture, except that now the school is home to people who are working on the new Summit Bechtel Reserve – a project of the Boy Scouts of America.

All this reminiscing got me thinking about growing up in that small town and what it truly meant to me.  While there, I was the middle son of three boys.  My younger brother, Kevin, works for the Wirt County School system as a Technology Integration Specialist, after working many years there as the Wirt County Band Director.  It has always amazed me that Kevin went on to lead the Wirt Tiger Band for so many years after being a part of the small band at MHHS.  (Band was something that all three of the Sears boys had in common in high school and now I live in a town that has one of the premier High School Bands in WV!)  Jack, my older brother, works for the Boy Scouts of America in Jacksonville, Fl. (Go figure, another link to this tiny high school that is no more…)

And then there is me – the middle child and the one who went on to yet another area of service – pastoral ministry.  Some may say that I chose this particular path because my birth order.  I know that it is more than that – I have certainly been called to serve in this way but I know my experience as a middle child often weighs heavy on the way that I lead as pastor.  (Middle kids tend to be peacemakers or brokers of deals between parties. Because I know this about myself, I have a tendency to “correct” it by leading more directly through conflict situations along with the help of my great coach.)  Although, I must admit…it is always hard to break those old habits!

It is always fun for me to discover “systems” things about my colleagues and partners in ministry and wonder how things from their past work into their present and our future. Daily, I am learning new things about the great people I work with at First Princeton UMC and I can hardly wait to learn about our new Episcopal leader and all the gifts that she will bring to our Conference – who knows, maybe she has a closed high school in her past or brothers and sisters that have impacted her!

Kevin, Scott, and Jack
Kevin, Scott and Jack in 1983!

My brothers have a wonderful and positive influence on me in my ministry.  And even though the three of us no longer have a High School that we can call home, tonight, as I cheer for the Tigers of PSHS, I will be watching for glimpses on those old Mt. Hope Mustangs in the opposing team.

Mirror, Mirror

Since one the homes I spend so much time in is my congregational home, I thought it might be good to share a little bit of what I do there.  Remember…this is just a little bit of what I do.  I don’t see myself foremost as a preacher in my congregational home.  It is one thing I do ,but it also happens to be a very public thing that I do and one of those things that for which many people have opinions.

So, here is my sermon from this past Sunday.  I really do hope you don’t enjoy it as much as you find it making you a bit uncomfortable.  I was uncomfortable as well.

Comments are welcome!

A Twenty Minute Detour

As a new blogger, I am reading other blogs to try and find that little bit of inspiration that will help me write.

Today, as I read a blog post by Jonathan Malm, I ended up taking a little detour to a magazine that was more than worth the twenty minutes minutes I spent looking at it.  I thoroughly enjoyed the content – especially the articles on leadership, website site design (“More is More”) and the music review.  I even have some new music to listen to now.

Whatever your role is in the church – from pastor to pew sitter to anything in between – I can’t help but recommend this resource as fresh, inviting and positive!  Take the detour with me…I doubt that you will be disappointed.