Action on Dementia Sunderland

Isaiah 61:1-4

¹The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
    because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
    to bind up the broken-hearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
    and release to the prisoners;
² to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour,
    and the day of vengeance of our God;
    to comfort all who mourn;
³ to provide for those who mourn in Zion—
    to give them a garland instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
    the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
    the planting of the Lord, to display his glory.
⁴ They shall build up the ancient ruins,
    they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
    the devastations of many generations.

Matthew 5:1-12 

¹When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. ² Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

³ ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

⁴ ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

⁵ ‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

⁶ ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

⁷ ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

⁸ ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

⁹ ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

¹⁰ ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹ ‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

The theme for this year’s World Alzheimer’s Month is ‘Dementia: Can we reduce the risk?’ And a growing body of evidence suggests that we can, indeed, reduce the risk of dementia, by fostering a ‘brain-healthy lifestyle’ built on the six pillars of regular exercise, a healthy diet, mental stimulation, quality sleep, stress management, and an active social life. ‘Lifestyles’ are best fostered in community. We all have a part to play. This afternoon I would like contribute to that debate from a faith perspective, being grounded in a particular faith community, seeking to serve our wider society.

Our first reading was from the prophet Isaiah. Throughout the Bible, we find accounts of people crying out to God to come and rescue them from circumstances that have become unbearable; and time and time again, we see God come to rescue his people. Isaiah’s imagination was caught up by God’s compassion for the oppressed and broken-hearted. I use the word ‘compassion’ advisedly, because compassion is always expressed in action. These words are not just fine poetry, but find expression in being sent, to bring about a change. And the change is nothing short of a transformation.

It is a vision of a community where people experience healing. Now, healing is not the same as cure. Cure has to do with physical conditions. Healing has to do with relationship. Certain conditions can isolate individuals from the community, to the detriment of both. Healing happens when such individuals are restored to community. We wait for a cure, but in transformed attitudes towards those with dementia or indeed at risk of dementia, healing can be part of our experience even as we wait.

It is a vision that recognises such honoured-and-so-healed people as ‘oaks of righteousness’. Oaks are among the most amazing ecosystems on earth, but only when they are mature. What does aging reveal, that youthful vigour is only a preparation for? What does passing through loss teach us about right relationships, that our society has yet to value?

And it is a vision of a process of decay - of breaking down - reversed: where what has been devastated becomes the very building-blocks for a good future. It speaks of a dismantling of our pride and achievement; and of a God who is then able to rebuild our lives.

In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus quotes these verses from Isaiah, to declare how he understood himself, as one caught up by the same vision, as the one who had come to usher-in such a community. The Beatitudes are Matthew’s version of the same declaration: an account of Jesus making the same claim in a different way. Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn – not because your condition is a good one, but because God has heard your cries and has responded. Compassion.

And this is why I believe that the Church has a role to play in shaping how we relate to those living with dementia, whether those who have dementia or those who love them. This is why I believe that even as dementia robs us of what we understand to be our personal and relational identity, God’s heart is to heal, to create something beautiful among us. And this is why – while affirming all of that – I believe that the Church as a role to play in reducing the risk of dementia; because while God has heard and responded, dementia itself is still a crushing circumstance.

So let us return to the challenge of fostering a ‘brain-healthy lifestyle’ built on regular exercise, a healthy diet, mental stimulation, quality sleep, stress management, and an active social life.

We need to remember that God has made us with a body, and that, while God will one day make our body new, we will still be embodied. Jesus said that the whole of God’s law was summed up as to love God with heart and mind and soul and strength, and our neighbour as ourselves. We are embodied, and every part of our identity is integrated. It should be no surprise that attending to – or neglecting - our heart or our mind or our soul or our strength has an impact on the other dimensions. At times, parts of the Church have struggled to hold these parts of our created being as being of equal importance; but, of all communities, the Church ought to recognise this.

And we do, albeit far from perfectly. Up and down the land, churches are increasingly creating space for exercise classes, for lunch clubs, for interest groups and opportunities to discover new things, many of these things aimed at an aging population. And then there are our worship services. The provision of old, familiar liturgies that create paths to the past, and new creative liturgies that open up paths into the future, can both play a role in stimulating the mind – and, indeed, the heart and soul and even our physical bodies.

Studies are suggesting that faith is good for us. From a Christian faith perspective, that belonging to a grounded, local, faith community; as well as the far wider Church; and an awareness of God’s presence with us by his Holy Spirit, is good for us. That it can have an impact on the quality of our sleep, and help stress management, and provide us with an active social life.

And where these things are not at present true of the Church, they can and ought to be. Where these things are not at present true of the wider society to which we belong, the Church can speak to that too; can play a part in building something that provides shelter for life to be lived, where the shelters of previous generations have fallen apart and been abandoned.

And in so far as these things are evident in our wider society, the Church can champion them. I am delighted that we can support the work of Action on Dementia Sunderland through these annual services, through prayer, and through raising awareness of your Lunch Club and network of Memory Cafés. Thank you for all you do: we honour you, and the families you support, today. I am also delighted that you are one of the Mayor’s charities this year. And I want to say to the Mayor, thank you: thank you for being an advocate for all those living with dementia in Sunderland. We know that the Council has had to cut services, including the kinds of community services that can help prevent dementia, and we understand that you have had to take difficult decisions you would not chose to take in better circumstances. But we will work together, and in a climate of bad news we will share the good news stories that connect people to hope.

Within our churches, and beyond, the God who has heard our cry and has responded is doing something. So let us join in, and let us spread the word.