View today's sermon on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPlfQG1dFFc.

Revelation 21:1-6 – New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

“See, the home of God is among mortals. God will dwell with them; they will be God’s people, and God herself will be with them and be their God; 4 she will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.”

5 And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also they said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 Then they said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.

Acts 11:1-18 – New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

11 Now the apostles and the brothers and sisters who were in Judea heard that the gentiles had also accepted the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, 3 saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?” 4 Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, 5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners, and it came close to me. 6 As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. 7 I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’ 8 But I replied, ‘By no means, Lord, for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9 But a second time the voice answered from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.’ 10 This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. 11 At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. 12 The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. 13 He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; 14 he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.’ 15 And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. 16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?” 18 When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, “Then God has given even to the gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”

John 13:34-35 – New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

May 18, 2025 – Fifth Sunday of Easter – Mental Health Sunday

Revelation 21:1-6, Acts 11:1-18, John 13:34-35 and Kai Cheng Thom’s poem, trauma is not sacred

Rev. TJ Mack – Union Congregational Church of Hancock

Our scriptures this morning continue the theme of resurrection promise. Ours is a God of mystery, a God of surprises, a God of radical and abundant love. 

These scriptures remind us to dream big, to take time to wonder about our surroundings, to take time to praise the beauty that we see and hear and feel, by any and all means available to us. Our scriptures instruct us on the all-encompassing Love that is God, pushing us to expand our boundaries, encouraging us to cherish and protect those in our homes, in our schools, in our places of worship, in our local, state, and national governments; to protect all things that God has made and declared good. 

This morning I need to tell you about my friend Robert. He is a self-employed home remodeler. When I met him 20 years ago, if I would have needed to describe him with one word, that word would have been angry. His conversation was peppered with f-bombs. He was impatient. He was violent. 

He was asked to create a sign for a local motel, not out of wood but from copper. He had dabbled with copper in art class in high school so he thought he could satisfy the request. He designed and made an absolutely beautiful sign for the business. During this time something unexpected happened to Robert. He could not stop creating small pieces of art from the scrap copper from the sign. Copper became a compulsion. When the scrap pieces were gone, copper became an expensive habit. He bought roll after roll of copper. He was obsessed. He couldn’t sleep. He would get up in the pre-dawn hours and go out to his work shed and create the images that were dancing around in his head. He made bouquets of flowers, birds, sunflowers, and night sky constellations. Soon he was making dragonfly after dragonfly. He did not know why. His wife was concerned for his well-being. He wasn’t sleeping enough, or eating enough. He didn’t care about his remodeling business. She began to openly question his sanity. He continued to make dozens and dozens of dragonflies and couldn’t explain to himself or anyone else why. Then one day someone told Robert about their child that had recently died in military combat. They flew helicopters. The mascot of their 101st airborne unit was the dragonfly. Could Robert possibly make 101 dragonflies for the upcoming memorial service?  And then it all made sense.  

All this time Robert was being transformed. He wasn’t so angry anymore. His entire demeanor softened. When he spoke there wasn’t the need to use the f-bomb between every other word. Now everything was sacred. Language. Birds. Family. Strangers. He had found himself. He was in love with art, in love with life, in love with the world. He was grateful to be making art that helped people heal; art that brought people joy. It wasn’t about money, often he would give things away. That was always in his nature. As a home remodeler he frequently undercharged or did not charge those that could not afford repairs. He was the same way with his copper creations, simply wanting them free in the world. 

Robertwasn’t a church goer, but he was in tune with the Spirit and let himself be guided. He had the ability to trust in something greater than himself. And it changed his life. Art was healing him from the inside out. It changed his relationships with his family and friends. 

As people of faith, we too live in the tension between two worlds. The world that God intends and the world that is. Kai Cheng Thom’s poem, trauma is not sacred straddles both worlds. 

Kai Cheng Thom is a trans woman and is no stranger to pain, abuse, violence. She writes about very real trauma but I promise you she will not leave you there. She will bring you along with her to find hope and healing, gratitude and love. 

trauma is not sacred

violence is not special / pain is not holy / suffering does not make angels / abuse

defines no one / you are more than the things that hurt you / you are more than 

the people you have hurt / do not make an altar to your woundedness / do not 

make a fetish out of mine / a body belongs to no one / a memory is not made to 

be eaten / does it titillate you to hear about assault / if i told you my story would 

you swallow it whole / if i confessed my sins would you feed me to the beasts to 

purge your own / i will show you mine if you show me yours / we have all seen 

the darkness now give us the dawn / tell me about the joy you keep in the hollow

spaces between your bones / tell me again how you laughed when you realized

that you were not wholly unloveable / i’ll tell you again how i cried when

my best friend told me that i was not a bad person / remember how we used to 

count the lines on our palms when we were little / how we used to try to read

the future for its gifts / how we used to make lists of the things we would dream

of when finally we were free / i will make you a list of the things i am grateful 

for / i will sing you a  litany of reasons to be alive / i want to know the songs you 

wake up for in the morning / i want to marvel at the unbelievable graciousness

of your being / i know that I am capable of pouring  love like lavender oil into

your cupped palms / there is forgiveness like honey pooled in the chambers of 

our hearts / you are the thing i am most grateful for / all bodies know how to heal 

themselves given enough time / all demons carry a map of heaven in their scars / 

beneath the skin of every history of trauma

there is a love poem waiting deep below

~ Kai Cheng Thom

The paradox. Sometimes those that experience the deepest pain are opened to the most expansive joy. 

It is not coincidence that I shared this part of Robert’s journey with you on Mental Health Sunday. 

The distinction between sanity and insanity is sometimes blurred. The seeds that God sows do not necessarily comport with the expectations of society. 

I wish to acknowledge that for those of us without degrees in the mental health profession, our lack of knowledge and understanding can cause us to be separated from our family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers who are living with serious mental illness or substance abuse. Through education, we can help dispel ignorance and misinformation about substance abuse and serious mental illnesses such as major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and obsessive compulsive disorder. 

We know statistically that one in four people are diagnosed with a mental health illness. We are here now. We are everywhere. May we all be brave enough and bold enough to live in union with those living with mental health issues. If you have now or at any point received a mental health diagnosis, you are welcome to be open about it here. We promise to listen to understand and to offer our unconditional love. And to encourage medical and psychiatric care in hopes of a richer, fuller life. If you live with or know someone living with mental illness or addiction we encourage you to seek support in addition to that which you will receive here.

Our scriptures this morning help guide us toward loving action. Our poets, our artists, our musicians all help us to imagine ways to create the future, and the present, that God intends for us. They remind us to pay attention to our dreams. They remind us that all of us, and all of Creation, are sacred. 

In the Book of Revelation we are told that God herself dwells with us; is with us, supporting us in our sorrow and celebrating our joys.  

Peter in the Acts of the Apostles, recounts how he was divinely inspired to begin teaching how the Spirit told him not to make a distinction between ‘them and us,’ that God’s saving grace is for all. 

John’s gospel says it this way.  I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 

Amen

Rev. TJ Mack – May 18, 2025