i. Some of those people are outside the church looking in sometimes judgmentally.
ii. Others are the people who come week after week and should know better. Many people don’t talk about it openly because they are embarrassed that they DON’T have it all together. (And maybe they are under the false impression that the rest of us do.)
b. After 58 years on the earth and 30+ years in the pulpit I can guarantee you one thing. You never know what is happening behind closed doors and there isn’t a person in the church or out of the church that has it all together.
i. Bodies are broken and hurting
ii. Minds are confused and mistaken
iii. Relationships are strained if not outright destructive
iv. Hopes are crushed and dreams don’t come true some of the time.
v. Add on top of that families dealing with abuse and dark secrets
vi. I guarantee you that if you think everyone else has it all together you could not be more wrong.
c. In case you don’t know, just a little peak behind my curtain…
i. I remember being depressed from the age of 13. I vividly remember anxiety keeping me from things my friends enjoyed. I remember avoiding some of those things by working as many hours as the MeToo grocery store would give me. I have always had a dream that I could become invisible… I think it grew from a desire to disappear.
ii. Family and work pressures kept increasing and by the time I was diagnosed I had come very close to harming myself more than once. And
iii. Almost 30 years ago I started the road to wholeness with medication and therapy. It has been a long road. I am still significantly broken and my life is definitely impacted by my struggles with a mental illness. But I refuse to let it define me.
iv. I have, therefore, dedicated myself to advocacy, teaching, encouraging a mental health ministry in the church, stigma breaking, and truth telling. I don’t say any of this to brag or generate sympathy. I say it because it is the truth. And I want you to know that I understand that we all have varying degrees of a mental wellness and one of the worst things we can do is to act like a mental health is a taboo subject, something embarrassing, some kind of weakness or a sin. A mental illness is just that an illness.
d. Let’s just admit that language, as usual, is a problem. Perhaps even more so with a mental illness. Do we call it a mental illness, mental unwellness, a brain illness, a chemical imbalance, bonkers, cuckoo?
i. You see what I mean there are some terms that can be hurtful or stigmatizing. I refer to myself as crazy, but I know I shouldn’t. We can find other terms that hurt less.
ii. We also tend to name people by their illness. I am depressed… no actually I have depression. He is schizophrenic… no He has schizophrenia. It takes practice. But Check out this chart to get some ideas, You will find more detail posted in the FUMC FRIENDS group.
2. In addition to stigma breaking and some educational things like language, I want to specifically address spirituality or religion and a mental health in this series. I have searched and searched for my own self and I can’t find the kind of thing I am going to tell you in these 4 weeks.
a. Lets lay the theological foundation on our belief that we are all created in the image of God as unique and wonderful children of God.
i. Being created in God’s image, among other things, means that we are complex and multifaceted people. God created the physical part of us from the dust of the earth. God created the spiritual part of us by breathing the spirit into our lungs, God created us to be in relationship, God created us to be emotional, God created us to be loving, God created us as future aware and God aware beings. In other words there are many, many facets of our being… and every one of them is created by God.
ii. God doesn’t ask for much in return. Just that we offer all of that back to God in love. Hear the commandment from Deuteronomy 6:4-9
1. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” There are three parts here.
2. Love God with your heart is to love God with our most interior organ. Hebrews called it the heart, we call it the mind Love God with your mind.
4. In addition we are to love God with our Soul. That is easy enough to understand. In Hebrew thought the soul or the spark of God in us and it had to do with our emotions and feelings because in that way we are unique from the animals, so we love God with our minds and emotions.
5. Finally, it says love God with our might. The Hebrew word is best translated “entirely”. Here I think it is either a modifier saying we love God with our entire heart and entire mind. Or it is a catch all phrase, meaning with our heart and mind and the entire rest of ourselves.
iii. The reason I went through that so carefully is because it helps us to understand God’s love for us. God loves every part of our human being with the divine heart, and mind and every other holy part of God’s divine being. There is nothing that can keep us from God’s love.
b. The theological principle, then, is that God created us as whole beings. And no matter what, God loves us as whole beings with God’s whole divine being. And God asks that we love god and others the same way in return.
i. We are to love God with our whole being. But we already established that we are mostly not whole… we are broken people.
1. Our body is broken
2. Our bodies are sick.
3. Our emotions become confused,
4. Our hopes and dreams begin to fade
5. We are broken in every way but God still loves back in every way.
ii. God is concerned about every part of us… God loves every part of us, including our mental wellbeing or lack of a mental wellbeing.
1. God does not love us less because we have depression.
2. God does not love you any less because you live with schizophrenia.
3. God does not love you any less if you have to take medicine to level out some of your anger.
4. God does not love you any less if you spend time in a mental health facility.
5. God does not love you any less for any reason. Certainly not because you got the short end of the mental health gene in your family.
iii. God does not send
1. a mental illness any more than God sends cancer.
2. God does not send depression any more than God sends sudden infant death syndrome.
4. You are loved…
a. you are loved even if you are broken.
b. You are loved eve if you are ill
c. You ae loved even if you can’t love back
d. You are loved even if your mind or the voices in your head are trying to tell you otherwise.
e. You are loved…. Period. End of story
3. The statistics are staggering
a. 1 in 5 adults experience a mental illness at some time. If that is you, you are loved.
b. Almost 1 out of 5 youth 6-17 years old experience a mental illness. If that is you, you are loved.
c. 1 out of 25 people experience a serious mental illness, If that is you, you are loved.
d. 1 in 5 people experience anxiety in a given year… probably more this year, If that is you, you are loved.
e. 1 in 10 some experience depression. If that is you, you are loved.
f. Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death in every age group under 35 years old. If you have considered harming yourself, you are loved. (please get help)
g. People are using alcohol to self medicate for anxiety and depression during the pandemic. Alcohol sales ae up 14-25%. If that is you, you are loved.
h. There are many more people experiencing mental unwellness than most of us would imagine… but the bottom line is God still loves every one of these people, and God loves you.
4. If you are experiencing symptoms of any mental illness please seek help. You can even start by talking to me. I will try to guide you to the help you need. The number one thing is there is no shame, no weakness and certainly no sin in having a mental illness,
a. The number one thing is. Do you know how much you are loved? It is easy to forget especially those of us who live with depression. I have a reminder for you. Please stop by the church and pick up a “I am loved” button. This will be our theme through this series, and I think it would make a great theme for our whole mental health ministry. Pick up a button, and maybe even pick one up for a friend who is struggling with symptoms of a mental illness. Just give it to them as a way of showing them love
5.
SPEAKING TO ALL OF YOU BECAUSE whether you have ever experienced mental illness of not, if you know 5 people you probably know someone who is struggling right now. You have a friend who might be experiencing a mental health issue.
a. I am developing what I call the ABC’s of Mental Health Companioning. I created them to help us companion friends experiencing a mental illness. We will take one each week. This week just the first A. ASK.
b. You can talk about kids, cancer, careers, and cars; why do you think it is inappropriate or intrusive to ask about mental health. A simple “How are you doing these days?” or “you don’t act quite like yourself” or flat out “are you thinking about harming yourself” is certainly appropriate between friends.
c. Not only is it appropriate… it is essential.
i. Break the silence.
ii. They may think no one cares. Show you care by asking.
iii. They may think that they can wear a mask and no one will notice. Notice and ask… it will be a relief to them.
iv. Just ask and you will be letting someone know that they are loved.
d. You can tell them that we are talking about ministry to folks like them at church. Can I tell you what I have learned?
e.
What a great way for one child of God to let another child of God know they are loved. No matter what.
AMEN
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