ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
May 20, 2022
We are past the midway point of this month, and I need to apologize for not using at least one of my Etchings to promote Mental Health Month. It is estimated that nearly 50% of all Americans will experience some sort of mental health condition in their lifetime. Those numbers are rather staggering, and so it doesn’t take a statistician to recognize how every single American is impacted by a mental health condition, whether it be themselves, family members or friends… and probably a combination. Psalm 34 speaks of the Lord being near to the broken-hearted. The term “broken-hearted,” in the original Hebrew, is ‘shabar,’ and it can be translated as: crushed, shattered or broken down. To me, it describes how one might feel in a time of grief, loneliness, despair, anxiety, hopelessness or other real symptoms brought about by some mental health condition. The Biblical authors did not have a good understanding of diagnosable conditions, yet they knew when there was unmistakable pain and suffering. It was there they claimed a definitive conviction: The Lord is near! Historically, people have shunned, ignored or even expelled those who were living with and struggling with a mental health condition, yet this is where the church needs to embody the message, “The Lord is near!” How might you communicate that belief to another human being who is known too often teasing, rejection or outright hatred because of what they are and what they live with?
Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy on us all! Continue to awaken us to our fellow human beings who find themselves questioning your presence, O Lord. The question too often has its origins in how they have been treated. Guide us all to a place of greater understanding, compassion and advocacy. Amen.
