Last evening about forty of us gathered at the church to listen to two presenters from Durham Mental Health. Both did an excellent job and offered practical and hopeful information about mental health services in our region. Our Pastoral Care group must be commended for organizing the event.
The one speaker named David told us about a federal report on mental health which was published last year. He quoted a sobering observation in the report which likened public response to mental illness to leprosy. Then he told us that the quotation was from the 1960's.
If it were written today AIDS might be mentioned as well. It reminded us that irrational fear is a powerful force in human interactions and mental illness can bring out that fear in a hurry.
As I listened I thought of all the people dealing with mental ill-health I have met through my years in ministry. Often they approach me in secret, afraid of what others may discover and the implications for acceptance at work and within the church. I have spent time at the hospital bedsides of intelligent, caring Christians who are in terrible psychic pain. We have prayed together but I know that God has often seemed in another galaxy for them.
Jesus healed lepers and he healed those who would probably be diagnosed with some form of mental illness today. It is Christ's compassion that we need in our hearts and minds so that we can respond with genuine compassion and practical support.
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