A bed could not be found in any psych ward for Gus Deeds, son of Virginia state senator Creigh Deeds.

Three days later Gus stabbed his father and took his own life with a gun.

Do we need any more reminders that we as a nation have not devoted enough funding and attention to mental health care?  That guns are too easily accessible to the mentally ill?

http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-va-state-senator-stabbed-by-son-released-from-hospital-20131122%2c0%2c810519.story#axzz2loYOqGDP

We're not far from Dec. 14, the one-year anniversary of the Sandy Hook massacre. 

December 5 will mark eight months since Pastor Rick Warren's son took his own life.

Bearing Fruit

"In God's garden of grace, even a broken tree bears fruit," says Rick Warren in an interview tonight on CNN.

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/09/17/rick-warren-speaks-out-on-sons-suicide/comment-page-1/

He and his wife Kay walk where parents fear to tread, down a path of grief after the death of their son Matthew as a result of mental illness.

I was moved by their words in this interview.

I too have lived with the fear of losing a child and perhaps come close to it.

There are many televangelists and charismatic pastors of mega churches, some of whom like Jim Bakker and Ted Haggard are known for their hypocrisy.

Rick Warren, however, is a genuine man of God.

"Beware of false prophets," said Jesus.  "You will know them by their fruits.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit" (Matthew 7:15-20).

I give thanks and praise to God for the life and witness of Rick and Kay Warren as they move with grace through this tragedy and use it to help others.

https://matthewwarrenfund.com/

God Loves Uganda

This year's Mountainfilm festival in Telluride, Colorado, was a difficult, stretching experience as usual.  

Films ranged from deaths in climbing Mt. Everest to spectacular video of extreme sports to documentaries on issues such as climate change, hunger, and pollution.  One film was about Tim Hetherington, the photojournalist who produced Oscar-nominated Restrepo (about American soldiers at an outpost in Afghanistan) and was killed in Libya in April 2011, shortly after being in Los Angeles for the Oscar awards.  

The most moving film was God Loves Uganda, which won the award for audience favorite.  It also earned the Grand Jury Prize at the Atlanta and Dallas film festivals and appeared at 17 other festivals including its debut in January 2013 at Sundance.   http://www.godlovesuganda.com/ 

The 90-minute documentary is about how anti-gay evangelicals have created a dangerous situation for LGBT people in Uganda.  There's a bill in Parliament there that (if passed) would put first-time "offenders" in jail and execute those convicted of being "serial offenders."  

Afterward I talked with director Roger Williams and with Anglican pastor Kapya Kaoma, who also identifies as an evangelical but can't travel to Uganda because of his support for gays there.  He was born in Zambia; he and his family appear in the film and now live in the Boston area.

Reverend Kaoma is now affiliated with Episcopal Divinity School, where he is an ethicist and a researcher on the intersection of religion and sexuality.  He founded Political Research Associates (http://www.politicalresearch.org/tag/kapya-kaoma/.  This website provides news reports by email and accepts donations.  There are also opportunities for internships at PRA.  

Left: Kapya Kaoma. Right: Roger Williams

Evangelical Christian activists against homosexuality are interviewed at length in the film:  Lou Engle of the International House of Prayer in Kansas City (IHOP-KC), Martin Ssempa (Ugandan pastor), Scott Lively and Janna Watson (white evangelicals working in Uganda), and others.  

Ssempa had spoken at Rick Warren's Saddleback Church, but Warren has since distanced himself from him.  http://www.godlovesuganda.com/usa-christian-right-exporting-gay-hate-to-uganda/

The film also highlights the wealthy Miracle Temple Christian Center Church in Kampala, which spreads hatred of homosexuals through donations from abroad.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_Centre_Cathedral  

Bush-era funding of abstinence-only foreign aid is another major factor in homophobia in Uganda in the last twenty years.  Once a leader in condom distribution and reduction of HIV exposure in Africa, Uganda now has a rising HIV rate. 

Though the film may come across as anti-evangelical, its director (raised in a Baptist church) made an effort to include Christian supporters of gay rights such as the Reverend Kaoma and Bishop Christopher Senyonjo, a Ugandan activist for LGBT persons.  https://sites.google.com/site/bishopchristophertour/

The film was also screened at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena this spring.  Reverend Kaoma reported that Fuller students were very concerned about the danger to gay persons in Uganda and asked how they could help.  

Watching this documentary is an extreme sport, not recommended for those who have been damaged by right-wing Christian hatred of the LGBT community.  

It was an emotional roller coaster for me, one minute rejoicing to see earnest Christians witnessing to a Ugandan mother in a mud hut but the next minute hearing misguided hatred being preached ("Gays will recruit your children...."  "Homosexuality in Uganda is caused by liberal Western influence.")

Afterward I learned about the "Uganda martyrs," a killing of 22 young men in the 1880s because they refused to have sex with the king, who was homosexual.  http://www.freethoughtnation.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=209:ugandas-homosexual-affair&catid=45:general

I left the Nugget Theater drained, stumbling to a bench outside on Telluride's main street, unable to do anything but look up at the incongruently spectacular mountains.  

After resting a while, I drove home and did my best to get the whole film festival out of my mind.  Eight days later, I can write about it.

Note: Among the evangelical-related organizations that support gay rights is Evangelical and Ecumenical Women's Caucus (EEWC-CFT) at www.eewc.com.

Rick, Kay and Heartbreak

Life is harder for the children of successful parents.  

When you add to that the special pressures on preachers' kids and an underlying genetic vulnerability to a mental illness, the outcome is precarious.  

Prayer may or may not result in healing.  

My heart aches with Rick and Kay Warren in the loss of their son Matthew a week ago.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-rick-warren-leads-sermon-in-loss-using-facebook-twitter-20130412,0,1152255.story

"There but for the grace of God" all parents can go--but the whole tragedy of Matthew taking his own life is drenched in grace.  Apparently the grace of God did not--could not?--prevent this outcome.  

Nevertheless, God's loving care, forgiveness, and redemption are found throughout this story.

Matthew was raised to know God's presence and forgiveness.  Rick has chosen to grieve and reflect publicly, on Twitter and Facebook, to help others facing similar tragedies.

We do not live alone, even in the bleakest moments.  The grief I feel can touch the despair someone else feels.  

For years I have been worrying about my adult children and praying that Jesus would speak the words "Talitha, cumi" to them--that they would hear those words and rise from their beds, as did the daughter of Jairus (Mark 5:41).

This prayer was surely close to Rick and Kay's hearts for years, yet the recovery they prayed for did not happen, as least not on earth.  

I met Rick Warren a few years ago after attending a worship service at Saddleback Church in Orange County.  Afterward, he sat on a cement bench in the patio talking with people.  

At the time, I didn't know he had problems with this son similar to those I have been facing with my daughters, but I did sense his genuineness.  He was accessible, not condescending or remote.

I've concluded that children who grow up with moderately successful parents--in our case, an editor at the Los Angeles Times and a college professor--face more pressure to succeed in academics and in a career.  Many political leaders and celebrities have lost a child to suicide.  

A first-generation college student or a hard-working child of poor immigants faces different kinds of challenges, but the possibility of not doing as well as their parents is not threatening them.

Matthew's death will bring attention to the number of suicides per year among young, white males--and the role of easy access to guns in those deaths.  Good may come from this attention, and perhaps lives will be saved.

There were 34,598 deaths by suicide in 2007 in the U.S.

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/suicide-in-the-us-statistics-and-prevention/index.shtml


Consider these statistics for young men in the year 2001:


Suicide is the third leading cause of death for young people aged 15-24 years old.

73% of all suicide deaths are white males.

80% of all firearm suicide deaths are white males.


http://www.suicide.org/suicide-statistics.html