World Mental Health Day

Yesterday was World mental Health Day - A day which hopefully raises the profile, and awareness, of mental health issues and encourages full, frank, open and honest discussion about this often problematic topic.

I was going to say that I struggle with my Christian faith at times, especially when it comes to mental health, but as soon as the words appeared on the screen I realised that in fact my struggle isn't with my faith or with God but with those who call themselves Christian. My reasons for this are easy to understand and simple to speak out (I hope). So I will try and explain them using some stuff from the Bible (it is what Christians do!)

James 2:14 - 17 (NLT):
"What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone?
Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?
So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless."

This is the big problem with the issue of Christians and the poor, the homeless and the mentally ill (often, it seems, one and the same) for a number of Christians (and even more with other or no faith label). They walk past the focus of their pity and mumble, "God bless you," and hurry on by! But there is some help to be found in the Bible - Read on:

Micah 6: 6 - 8 (Revised Vic Version):
"What can we bring to the LORD?
What kind of offerings should we give him?
Should we bow before God with offerings of direct debits?
Should we offer him our debit card numbers and our Argos catalogue of gifts?
Should we sacrifice our children to pay for our sins?
No way people, the LORD has told you what is good,
and this is what he requires of you:
to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."

What God wants is us up close and personal. We are made in His image and this displays itself in creativity, in coming alongside (parakletos - just like the Holy Spirit does with us, bringing God into our daily reality), in finding out our names and listening to our stories. I struggle with people who merely give those who beg a coin and rush by for in doing so the neither resolve the problem nor help the person!

When we see a beggar we need to stop and find out their story, engage them and come alongside. This done we provide an answer to their need - a sandwich and a drink if they need food is the fulfilling of the most basic need. Giving them the money to buy it themselves is perhaps to just fund that which supports their problem and thus is a curse rather than a blessing!

If the problem is homelessness - then there are people who deal with that (I found out the numbers of the local hostels and places of help and would give those who claimed to be homeless or with specific needs a card with the relevant numbers (and a 'phone card to ring them). So often we fail to do what is right because we are too busy or just don't know the answers - but if we keep seeing the problem can we use this as an excuse? Obviously not because the Bible has that covered too:

Matthew 7:12 (NLT)
"Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you."

This is up there with the 'Judge not . .' passage (beginning of the chapter). If we lived our lives on the basis of treating others as we would like to be treated then we would see a very different world and as Christians, isn't this where we should be now? I see Christians expel people because of their actions and yet in the same breath tell me that those actions were initiated by the person's mental illness! As my dear old (long departed) Mum used to say, "There but for the grace of God go I!"

She understood that the line between those who have and those who don't is fine and fragile (especially in today's financially challenging times) and to afford people the dignity that we would like to be shown is surely the conferring of a basic human right let alone a Christian duty!

So three gold-plated rules from the Big Black Book of Life (BBBoL) - Three little things that would benefit our society, help support the mentally-ill and touch the weak, marginalised and oppressed (and that's before we bless those who have!).

Easy to explain - simple to do - so why aren't we doing them?

You may turn over your papers!