This week is ‘Mental Health Awareness Week’, and whilst having such ‘named’ weeks does not of itself solve any problems, it does at least help people to talk about things which may otherwise be deemed unsuitable for discussions and raises awareness of these vital issues. Since 1 in 4 people in the UK will statistically suffer from a mental health illness over the course of a year, it is surprising that we find it so difficult to address these topics and for many Christians there is also the (often unspoken) feeling that it is not ‘spiritual’ to suffer from mental health problems in a way that people who are physically ill may not feel.

The Archbishop of Canterbury’s daughter (Katharine Welby-Roberts) has written about her problems with depression and anxiety in a moving blog post here. In it, she says ‘the point of mental health awareness week is to make us aware of mental health, the fact that we all have it (emotional needs to be addressed), we all need to care for it and there are many ways in which it can go wrong.’ She goes on to describe the debilitating battle with depression and anxiety which she faces every day: ‘The cycle of negative thoughts in my head is pretty non-stop, and this leads into my exhaustion. I fight the thoughts (as often as I have the energy) whenever they appear, but this takes up the majority of my mental capacity.’

It can be difficult for those who have never experienced the torment and torture of these negative thoughts to imagine what this is like, but to those who face these battles, it is helpful to have them articulated in such a way that others can begin to see the effects of these invisible illnesses. She goes on to say ‘I am exhausted by the fight. I feel like I am drowning in my own mind. I feel lost and broken, weak and hopeless. This is what mental health means to me. This is the life that I live, and the fight that I fight,’ yet ends ‘despite it all, I have learnt compassion, empathy, joy and hope through journeying through the darkest places my mind can offer. I am happy with my life. I would prefer it depression and anxiety free, but for now – this is where I am at.’

Such honesty is refreshing and helpful to all: to those who suffer in the same way, it is helpful to know that they are not alone in their struggles and to those who do not suffer in this way, it is helpful to be given insight into someone else’s way of thinking. As we are all urged to fit ‘every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ’ (2 Cor 10:5, The Message), let’s take this opportunity to find out more about mental health and to explore the impact of faith on our mental health. The ‘Mind and Soul’ website is a useful resource for those interested in these issues.

Apart from the usual meetings (including the prayer meeting on Thursday at 7.30 p.m. and the Mums & Toddlers on Friday at 9.30 a.m.), we have a special ‘Churches Together’ meeting on Saturday 16th May at 7 p.m. Come to this Pentecost meeting to find out more about what the Holy Spirit is doing in all our local churches. It’s a great opportunity to meet with Christians from other churches and to have fellowship (and food!) with them. If you can help by providing home baking for the refreshments after the meeting, that would be great.

‘Churches Together‘ meetings are very informal, with time for worship and prayer, getting to know each other and hearing something from God’s word. They’re suitable for all ages and are not tied to any one denomination, for we recognise that God is working through all churches, reflecting the diversity of life. Unity doesn’t mean uniformity and it’s a great privilege to join with other churches on a regular basis.

As Pentecost is celebrated on 24th May, we will be looking at the symbols used in the Bible to describe the Holy Spirit and how He is alive and working in our local churches! I came across an interesting quotation today. ‘We have the Spirit of God, who knows the innermost thoughts of God and can communicate these realities to us. This means we don’t need more of the Spirit; the Spirit needs more of us.’ (Keith Krell) I find that a challenging thought.

Mark spoke tonight from Matt 14:22-33, relating the incident of when Jesus walked on water after the feeding of the five thousand. Here, He proved Himself to be the Lord of the elements, for He spoke peace into the situation of the raging storm and enabled Peter to walk in the storm.

The disciples were stressed and afraid because of the storm, but seeing what they thought was a ghost approaching them must have been even more terrifying! In the panic, it is easy to let the storm become more important than it actually is; Peter stepped out in faith onto the water, but when he saw the waves and stopped looking at Jesus, doubt crept in. We need to know that when Jesus tells us to come, we can trust Him.

Jesus called Peter to be a storm walker. He could undoubtedly have calmed the storm first, but instead He called him to step out into the storms of life. Sometimes He calls us out of our safety zones and asks us to trust that the waves will not drown us and the fire will not burn us (see Is 43:1-3). He has called us and He does indeed work miracles in hard times, but we are required to trust. Daniel found Jesus in the lions’ den; Paul and Silas found joy even in a prison cell. Sometimes we ask God to calm the hard situations of life but He is saying ‘come’, and if we respond to that, miracles happen. When we respond in faith to God’s call, our faith soars as we experience more of God’s miraculous power.

At Cherry Tree Court this morning, Stephen reminded us that things can remind us of Christian truths. Johnny Cash famously sang about a ‘deck of cards’ which reminded him of gospel truths. Today’s ‘reminder’, however, came in the shape of a packet of crisps…

To Stephen, the crisps are a symbol of people (all different sizes and shapes!), but his real message was about the blue packet of salt contained in these crisps. The small amount of salt flavours all the crisps in the packet, reminding us of:

1. God’s power (just as the salt changes the flavour of the crisps, so God’s power changes us dramatically)

2. God’s judgment (Gen 19:26 reminds us of Lot’s wife who was turned into a pillar of salt because she disobeyed His command and looked back. We need to obey God if we are to avoid His judgment)

3. God’s covenant (Num 18:19 reminds us that God made a covenant of salt with people. God’s permanent presence and provision is with us.)

4. God’s preservation (Matt 5:13 reminds us that we are the salt of the earth and are all important to God. Our actions and decisions make a difference to the world around us, keeping Christ at the forefront of our lives and of society.)

5. God’s guidance (Our conversation should be full of grace, seasoned with salt, Paul says in Col 4:6, and in this way we can give an answer to everyone, God guiding our responses and conversations.)

6. God’s peace (Mk 9:50 reminds us that being salty helps us to live at peace with each other, because Jesus is our peace.)

The only thing that is left for us to do is to taste and see that the Lord is good… or at the very least, to enjoy the crisps!

On Friday night, youth leaders from our church took some of the ‘Spiritual Warriors’ group to a youth event in Rotherham called ‘Pulse.‘

There, they were involved in games and activities:

… and one group even won a competition!

They listened to an inspirational talk about how you are never too young to make a difference for God and were encouraged to see what God is doing in other young people in the area and how their lives are valuable and important to God.

I receive messages from a mental health organisation called ‘Moodscope’, focussing on how to deal with differing moods and remain able to see the ‘bigger picture’ when times of depression or anxiety hit. Today’s message had the title ‘broken crayons still colour’ and looked at how easy it is when depressed or anxious to feel just a shadow of your self and therefore for feelings of uselessness and helplessness to increase. It is easy to become locked in a vicious circle: feeling low about yourself leads you to condemn yourself which leads you to focus on negative thoughts even more and so the cycle continues.

The fact remains, the writer commented, that broken crayons still colour. Even when we feel useless, a shadow of our real selves, we are still able to be used by God to love, encourage and help others. I have been meditating on 2 Cor 4: 6-7 lately: ‘For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ^. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.’

We have the treasure of God’s life within us, the treasure of His Spirit living and working within our earthly bodies. And God’s not finished with us yet! (see ‘Create In Me’ by Rend Collective) We may well be broken, but we can still run into God’s arms and know His joy is available to us. (‘Joy’, Rend Collective) We may well be a broken crayon, but we can still colour. We can still show God’s love, grace, mercy and forgiveness to a broken world. It’s when we are weak that He is strong. (2 Cor 12:9-10)