06/14/2018

'Mercy and Addiction' article in Living Lutheran

The May 2018 issue Living Lutheran features an article titled, 'Mercy and Addiction' about the impact of the opioid addiction epidemic in our country and what the church is doing to help.

Both Bishop Suzanne Darcy Dillahunt and Pr. Michelle Terry of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Middletown, were interviewed for the article. Their parts of the article are featured below:

Faith in action

Last year a man overdosed in the parking lot of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Middletown, Ohio, where Michelle Terry is pastor. After being revived by authorities in the afternoon, the man nonchalantly showed up at the church’s community outreach dinner that evening.

“They didn’t tell me at seminary what to do with this,” Terry said.

While the congregation handled the crisis well, she said they weren’t quite sure how to help him when he showed up at the dinner.

“I contacted the assistant to the bishop and said, ‘I don’t know what to do,’ ” Terry said. “The first instinct is to lock the church doors, but I knew that wasn’t right. The assistant to the bishop came the next Sunday and prayed with us.”

Bethlehem is working to address the drug issue that has impacted its community. The rural area has been the subject of many national news stories and documentaries.

Community of recovery

Suzanne Dillahunt, bishop of the Southern Ohio Synod, said her congregations, including Bethlehem Lutheran in Middletown, are well aware of the crisis and are working with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati to make Jesus’ presence known.

“Southern Ohio is right smack dab in the middle of this,” she said. “Our synod is a microcosm of society. We have farmers, farmland, cities and everything in between. Our people are hungry to help—we just don’t know how, so we invite people to know Jesus.”

The synod and archdiocese developed a task force to discuss the area’s drug issue and provide resources. Dillahunt said issues being discussed include who to contact if someone comes into your church and collapses, how to equip laypeople to deal with those who may walk in during a worship service, how to work with the police and, above all, not being judgmental.

Dillahunt hopes other synods take this issue seriously. “I really want more congregations engaged in ministry in the community, as this will affect all of us,” she said. “I want us to be proactive rather than reactive with this crisis. We can’t just pop in and pop out—this is ongoing, and we need to help people get the help [they] need. We’re there for them, we don’t judge, we offer the church and we offer Jesus Christ.”

To read the entire article either go to your hard copy of the May 2018 issue of Living Lutheran or visit their website at https://www.livinglutheran.org/2018/05/mercy-and-addiction/.

The Southern Ohio Synod began working with the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in 2017 regarding the opioid crisis, after the successful discussions and worship events in commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Our Opioid Task Force hopes to have some training available in early 2019 for both Catholic and Lutheran congregations.