August 2, 2023 Weekly Update
Happy Wednesday church,
The phrase “be curious, not judgmental” has been echoing in my mind for the last few days. I read a Flathead Valley community post on social media that made me quite judgmental and angry. In response to the perception that there is an increased level of unhoused individuals in the valley, particularly in Kalispell, someone made the public comment that “many of the homeless are so mentally ill, that it is dangerous to even approach them.” This comment equated homelessness with mental health and violence. Whether accidental or intentional, comments like these – which echo comments from other public officials in our county – are dehumanizing. It puts our conversations and assumptions of unhoused people on a path that allows our community to “other” them so that we can forget them, ignore them, and treat them as less than full human beings they are created in the love and care of God.
Equating mental illness with violence gives implicit permission for some to use violence against our unhoused neighbors. In America, our mantra is often “violence deserves violence.” This is exactly what happened when Scott Bryan – a housed person in our valley – was killed by a 19-year-old at the end of June. Our communal rhetoric helped fuel a violent tragedy.
The truth is that only 3-5% of violent incidents can be attributed to people with serious mental health issues. We often assume that people with mental health issues are violent, but that is an incorrect portrayal based on media and unfounded tropes in our culture. In fact, folks with mental health issues are much more likely to be victims of violence, not perpetrators.
When we jump to judgments about our neighbors and skip over curiosity and compassionate relationships, we miss the chance to build beloved, Christ-centered community. Franciscan Sister Nancy Schreck articulates Jesus’ commitment to nonviolence by writing, “True community creates an aversion to the roots of violence which define another person as “other,” that is, as outside the circle of (God’s) care. True community roots out violence by dismantling the motive behind so much violence, that the other is not valued…” For Nancy, Jesus’ vision and commitment to the inclusive love of God is critical of any kind of exclusion as a form of violence. Whether violent rhetoric is local or national, we are called to resist it all in the name of Jesus.
Grace & Peace, Pastor Jared
3-5% stat: https://www.samhsa.gov/mental-health/myths-and-facts
Nancy Schreck quote comes from “The Faithful Nonviolence of Jesus,” in From Violence to Wholeness, p. 54-55