Following Death of Cherished Member, Suicide Prevention Awareness Sunday Service and Workshop Help Begin Healing at Cleveland UCC Church

West Park United Church of Christ in Cleveland held a particularly poignant worship service and workshop Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. The church’s Suicide Prevention Awareness Sunday was led by the Rev. Dr. Elyse Berry, CHHSM’s associate for advocacy and leadership development, who delivered the sermon and led the workshop.

Foremost in attendees’ minds was active church member Scott O’Con, 52, beloved husband of the Rev. Jason Thompson, senior pastor. O’Con died by suicide on July 28, 2024, which shocked the entire community. 

“I made the decision to discuss his death openly and honestly,” said Thompson. “I also knew that I am not the only person struggling with his death. At our church, we try to confront the realities of the world head-on, and look to the teachings of Christ to guide us. It was important that we offer the educational portion as well, so that we might help prevent others from making this choice.”

In her sermon, Berry talked about the ways suicide and thoughts of suicide had touched her own life and the lives of her loved ones. She asked the congregation to think of ways to reframe thoughts and actions as part of God’s love.

“My intention is to bring light to our unique gifts in the church, our faith in a God of extravagant welcome and love, a community with the potential for this unusual kindness (and not nice politeness, but a community that shows up for one another), a hope in a God of Mystery who constantly reminds us that life is about all of it, whether we like it or not, that life is … the good, the bad, the sorrow, and the joy,” she said. “That the resurrection reveals how everything has its own cycles of life, death, and rebirth over and over and in ways beyond what we thought we knew.

“What if we began suicide prevention with the beginning?”

With that question, she turned to the opening passage of John, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God … “

According to Victoria Loorz, “a more accurate translation of Logos, (Word), is actually Sermo, which means not word, but conversation, Berry explained. “How does this passage land differently, if translated like this:

“In the beginning, was the Conversation, and the Conversation was with God, and the Conversation was God … All things came into being through this, and apart from this nothing came into being … and the Conversation became flesh and dwelt among us.”

“What does that mean for us, if this is true?” Berry asked. “What does it mean for us to be made in the image of a conversation? What could it look like for us to live more authentically and honestly and vulnerably from such a communal, open, sharing place? How would our relationship to God be different? To ourselves? To each other? To the earth?”

Following the service, attendees gathered for a workshop on suicide prevention. West Park UCC holds an adult education “3rd Sunday Program” throughout the year that normally draws 10-15 participants. The Sept. 15 gathering included more than 40 participants.

The workshop opened with ritual, to “honor how people were arriving to the workshop,” said Berry. During the hour-long presentation, Berry discussed common beliefs, myths, and offered responses and boundaries for talking with people contemplating suicide. Berry invited questions and comments throughout the workshop. She closed by listing additional resources for church members, including the UCC Mental Health Network’s Wise congregation opportunity. WISE congregations and organizations have joined the mission to being Welcoming, Inclusive, Supportive, and Engaged in the mental health of the community and the wider world.

Thompson attributed the workshop’s high attendance to the congregation’s grief. “This has been a profound loss for our congregation,” he said.

But he thought the workshop was particularly useful for church members. “I think folks felt empowered that there is something they can ‘do,’” he said. “We learned about the importance of attentiveness and active listening. We learned resources for those who grieve the loss and for our friends who are struggling with suicidal ideation.”