Dear St Giles’ and St Margaret’s church families,
It will likely not surprise any regulars of these parts that over the past few years I’ve become more interested in the topic of mental health.
It’s a funny topic for clergy to talk about, for a variety of reasons. Firstly, we are not therapists, psychologists or psychiatrists, and have not received the specialist training that professionals in those fields have received, and it’s very easy for us to make glib assertions that can be damaging.
Secondly, whether we are parish priests or chaplains in a particular setting, we share in the “cure of souls”, spiritual care for a group of people. And the knowledge we have of the internal lives of individual parishioners of caries varies hugely from person to person (though consider this your occasional reminder that we are here, we are available, whenever you need to talk!).
Finally, we are also human beings ourselves and as susceptible to struggles in this area as anyone else, and yet, whether clergy or laity, our own personalities and life experiences are specific and unique to each of us.
With all these caveats, can Christianity have anything to say about mental health? And if it doesn’t, what use is it to human beings asking the ultimate questions of meaning and purpose?
About a year ago, I bought a collection of essays called The Bible and Mental Health. Inevitably, I’ve not started reading it yet, but I’m reassured by both its existence and its presence in my library.
And while I don’t know exactly what the contributors say (many of whom are well known), I know some of the things they won’t say. They won’t say that struggles with your mental health are evidence that you are a weak or failing Christian. They won’t say that being a Christian will make you happy, or that faith takes all your troubles away. They won’t even say that the more you pray, the less you will be affected by anxiety or low moods (while there may be growing evidence that it can help, prayer isn’t in itself a self-help tool. Sometimes it can be quite unsettling!)
Frank Lake (1914-82) was a psychiatrist and a Christian minister, whose theology informed his psychological understanding and vice versa. I can’t comment much on his psychiatric ideas, but I find his theological approach fascinating. In line with orthodox Christianity which insists that Jesus is fully human (as well as fully God), Lake understood Jesus as the only fully realised human being. Fully integrated, and fully healed.
Many of us who struggle with mental health will believe the lie that we are worth less than we truly are. Others, whether aware of it or not, seem to view themselves as more important than others. Jesus knew, deep in the core of his being, that he was loved unconditionally, and so were those around him.
Whatever our own struggles and difficulties, and however strong our faith may feel (or not), I’d say that’s a good and healthy model to look up to. And a good friend to have around.
Comments
3 responses to “From the vicar (10 September)”
Bible has lots to lay about mind, often synonymous with heart. And there are several places where mental troubles are invoked as requiring , and able to get, help. Eg 1Thess 5.14: ‘comfort the feebleminded’ (AV), ‘fainthearted’ (RSV), ‘apprehensive’ (New Jerusalem). Gr apparently = ‘pusillanimous, of small comfort’. & Romans 12 .2: ‘be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind’ (AV); ‘let the renewing of your of your mind transform you’ (New Jerusalem). I like v much the apparent case that the Greek = ‘renew/restore’ is unique to the New Testament, ie a Pauline invention….
And, by the way, I refrained from responding to the earlier vicar think-piece to wonder why it seemed not have heard of the traditional Christian duty to speak truth to power, and clearly had not heard eg of Bonnhoefer, executed on Hitler’s orders (hung on strangulating wire, no less), for his speaking out against the regime’s wicked, immoral, doings.
Valentine Cunningham
Thanks Val, that’s really interesting.
On speaking truth to power… there’s definitely a time and place for it (indeed, I spent all day yesterday at Southwark Cathedral at an event with that title!).
Of course, one of the difficulties is that determining who has the truth, and where the balance of power lies, is not always as straightforward for the Church as it might have been in Nazi Germany…
Surely though, on speaking truth to power some things are clear…there’s a genocide in Gaza and our government hosted an arms fair last week selling not only British made arms but also allowing Israeli firms to sell their lethal goods. The government continues to give tax breaks to fossil fuel companies thus slowing the transition to renewables and are we not, as the church, called to speak out to the powers allowing the destruction of all people and a group of people in particular? I was outside the arms fair with other people of faith protesting. Thalia