Monday 19 October 2015

St Luke, Health and Human Rights


Sirach 38 1-4,6-10, 12-4.  2 Timothy  4. 5-13. Luke 4 14-21  

The book of Ecclesiasticus, now known as Sirach, is unusual, in that it has a prologue. From which I quote
‘Many great teachings have been given to us through the law and the prophets and the others that followed them, and for these we should praise Israel for instruction and wisdom. Now, those who read the scriptures must not only themselves understand them, but must also as lover of learning be able through the spoken and written word to help the outsiders.
You are invited therefore to read the book with goodwill and attention.’

So we have a reading telling us to  Honour the physician. Medicine is one of God’s gifts.  Which in this instance I take to include all the branches and disciplines that modern health care includes. A number of whose practitioners have been leading our worship today or are looking at me right now!

St Luke – ‘evangelist and physician of the soul’, would have been aware of the breadth of care. Treatment in the pre Christian Aesculapian temples included a wide range of things including poetry, music and drama. The origins of my secular profession.
We know Luke to be a friend of St Paul, usually regarded as the author of the Acts of the Apostles. In his letter to Timothy, Paul specifically mentions that ‘only Luke is with me’.  He sounds quite plaintive!
I would like to see you again. It’s actually quite a poignant letter, coming from someone who has been so strong and active. ‘I have finished the race’ has the ring of preparation for the end. He wants a chance to say a proper farewell, to hand on the responsibility of leading the young church.

So, from his distant location, he gives advice to Timothy, who has been holding the fort in Ephesus, which was not an easy place to be, given the religious distractions and dubious morals of the people. He probably did need encouragement to keep well and as we might put it in present day terms, hang in there.

Physical health is one thing. But like the Prayer Book description of St Luke, the WHO definition goes wider. It includes social, emotional, psychological, as well as spiritual, aspects of health – in order to consider the whole person.
This holistic approach is acknowledged in the new sustainable development goals, an almost all 17 of them relate to health, including

Goal 3   Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
Goal 2   End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote  sustainable agriculture

 The goals relating to gender equality, human rights and, linking to our recent celebration of creationtide, care of the environment, also have a bearing on health.

In our welfare state, we tend to take the health care system for granted. However much we complain about it, we are fortunate in what we have. Believe me! I am going to take you elsewhere.

Twelve years ago I went to Belarus to join an international group of therapists piloting an education programme there. Like, I suspect, most people here, my knowledge of the country extended to some understanding of the after effects of the Chernobyl accident, the re-election of the president and tennis players.
So I did some homework by putting Belarus, mental health and rehabilitation into a search engine. I got some surprising results.

My subsequent visit to the psychiatric hospital in Minsk revealed a situation similar to my experience of other post soviet countries. A mix of regimes familiar from the beginning of my career, and committed staff trying really hard to improve care in a context of limited resources. The concept of individually focussed treatment plans was a complete novelty. Honour those physicians, they have a difficult job.

And the surprise? Remember this was over a decade ago. Several hits advertising ‘sexy Russian women’. What has that got to do with mental health? Obviously sexuality is important, but I met people working to reintegrate women who had been lured abroad by false offers of employment. Returning home to face shame and rejection is no route to joy or positive self esteem.

There are others who cannot feel that society values them.
Today is designated as national Anti slavery day.
I was horrified to learn the monetary value of a present day slave when I read Christopher Hall’s update on Zanzibar Cathedral in our Cornerstone magazine. Slaves exist throughout the world. Child soldiers, tea pickers, sex workers. All grim and we need to register the fact.

Not nice, and perhaps you don’t like to hear me talking about it from the pulpit, but it is a reality. And in the site of the original slave market beside the cathedral, they are promoting awareness of today’s victims.
Here, it might be the gangs of Roma women we see on the streets, fruit pickers, bonded labourers in building sites and, apparently workers in nail bars. 

International Justice Mission, which we supported in the Bishop’s Lent appeal, is working to combat such misery and give children, and adults a happier and fairer place in life. A chance for a healthy existence. There has been a lot of consciousness raising activity by various organisations south of the border during the past few weeks, but not so much here.

I found reference on the SEC website in a post festival comment, mentioning St John’s, written by our own Bishop. (Rt Rev’d Dr John Armes, former Rector of St John’s) Who had been participating in IJM events here during the Just festival.
We need to do more! It’s a year round issue.
This is central to our living out our lives as Christians. It is inherent in the message today’s gospel is giving us.

Good news for the poor. Which is highlighted in the verses from Luke’s gospel. No parables here, but rather, a recording, for the first time, of the words of the adult  Jesus as he commences his ministry. He began to preach in Galilee, but here he is in Nazareth – his home town. 
In the synagogue where people know him, standing up reading the words of the prophet Isaiah and making a momentous pronouncement - ‘I have come. I am here. This is why.’. I’m not just reading the scroll to you, this relates specifically to me.

Jesus is indicating the focus of his future ministry. Tackling the issue of spiritual poverty, spiritual health. The challenge we saw for the rich young man in last week’s gospel. You can’t just go out and buy health in any form.
 But we have the opportunity to share in the healing of this Eucharist, where we are sustained by bread and wine, and in the hope of eternal life. Ultimate health.

I have come. This is why.
The poor are everywhere.
Belarus and Zanzibar have more things in common than you might imagine.
Disparity of wealth, expanding tourist industries and dominant belief systems - Islam and secularism, though the latter can hardly be described as a faith. Within these contexts, the small Christian populations carry on. Not without challenges. For example, bricks thrown at the cathedral windows (I daresay we can identify with foreign objects more easily right now after the benches on the church roof) and the issues of living as a minority, and less wealthy group.

They need that message – I am here. The hope of the gospel. The promise of the jubilee year - when slaves are set free. Recorded by St Luke so that ‘the diseases of our souls may be healed through Jesus Christ’.

A final note - I was encouraged, asking Google for an update on mental health. Lots of apparently positive hits, including, to my delight, a subsequent occupational therapy project.
And the Russian women? They are included in a European programme for the rehabilitation of victims of trafficking. There IS hope.

A last health warning. Slavery is not compatible with full health, so I will keep raising the issue.
We can all do that.

Clephane Hume