Showing posts with label healing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label healing. Show all posts

Sunday, September 9, 2012

On Mental Illness and Sin, Healing and Salvation

In the old Anglican Prayer Book, Christians are asked to renounce three things: the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanity of this wicked world and all the sinful lusts of the flesh, so that they would not follow or be led by them.

First, we stand against the Evil One who is the Father of lies, the deceiver, the ruler of this world who seeks to bring all creation under his own sway.
Second, we resist the attractions or distractions of the world in order to remain focussed upon the person and purposes of Almighty God.
Third, we battle against the internal personal drives which must be mastered in order to come to maturity as a believer and follower of Jesus.

This is a lifelong task, to learn to overcome the inertia of endemic evil systems, to endure through the chaos of broken communities until we reach the Heavenly Kingdom and to struggle through sin and disease toward salvation and health.

Christians have always battled sin. We have always been afflicted with disease. We have not been immune to diseases of the brain. Delirium and even hallucination can sometimes be attributed to physical causes such as infection. Mental illness cannot always be traced back to brain malfunction. Today, families are being manipulated by socio-economic forces; communities are built or destroyed by political design or geological accident; men, women and children have become objects of consumerism having only the illusion of democracy. It has always been so.

We see confusion and conflict in politics, industry and education, even in social work and medicine. We see tsunamis, hurricanes, volcanoes, acts of terror and warnings of plague and famine. We have instant access to vast amounts of information. Mental illness has become more prevalent, its steady rate of increase observed to be roughly 0.04, but sin is universal.

Jesus came to preach, teach and heal. He speaks of the acceptable year of the Lord. Today is always the right day to be saved. Anyone who admits that Jesus did in fact rise from the dead after being crucified, and who confesses Him as Lord will be saved from the ultimate penalty of sin. Yet even salvation cannot prevent illness.

Almighty God, who art afflicted in the afflictions of thy people. Regard with thy tender compassion all those in anxiety and distress; bear their sorrows and their cares; supply all their needs and help both them and us to put our whole trust and confidence in thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

If you are saved but still in torment, don't give up. Keep looking to the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. He will heal all our diseases. That is His promise, not mine.

for more info on the prevalence of mental illness in Canada click on the following link http://drrogercovin.blogspot.ca/2011/03/underestimating-mental-illness-in.html

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Rejoicing with a Friend

An excerpt from 'Finding light through the dark' - by Lance Holdforth,
 Special to the Barrie Examiner

Finding the perfect piece of wood became the light at the end of Christopher MacInnis’ very dark tunnel. Severe depression has plagued MacInnis since he was diagnosed in 1996, and isolating himself in his basement is often the only way he can cope with the dark thoughts of hopelessness that surface when his illness takes over. “My mood was exceptionally dark. It’s like being in a cave where there’s no lights,” he said. “It’s pitch dark and you can’t see your way to getting out anywhere even with all the medications.” On one of his good days in April, MacInnis was able to leave his home and went to an auction in Cookstown where he found an 11-foot plank of spruce for $5. After realizing the wood’s potential, 49-year-old MacInnis wanted to make a new cutting board for his kitchen which would become his long-awaited achievement of progress.
  read more at http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3557558

We really need more groups like the one Chris and his friends have. There are many others who are in dire need. Lord, Help us all to be willing to listen to one another's stories.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

On Resisting Spiritual Schizophrenia

Those who deny the existence of God,
or who desire to change ancient boundaries,
risk the future of society,
as though throwing it up into the air
and they watch, with baited breath, as it comes crashing down to earth.
They think that a parachute may appear and,
if not,
that the landing will be spectacular.
The observing theist is left to pray
that God has adequately planned for this
juvenile delinquency.


O Lord, forgive us for lightly casting aside our heritage, for denying the value of old-time religion, for imagining that new ideas are always better and for refusing to seek out the ancient paths to wisdom. Forgive us for the hurt we have done to ourselves, and to others, because of our failure to follow your guidance. Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on us!


The Canadian Mental Health Association reports that one in five persons suffer from mild forms of mental distress. One in ten will suffer a major crisis at some point in their life. One in a hundred will suffer actual schizophrenia. This is an epidemic that is rarely spoken about in our churches. It reveals a crisis in spiritual as well as mental health. Indeed, has deficient theological practice contributed to the poor mental health of Canadians? Have our leaders been seduced by empty philosophies hidden behind high-sounding theologies which promise salvation according to man's wisdom? Is it possible that flawed theological beliefs may have contributed to the lacklustre experience which many have suffered at the hands of the 'mental health system'?

Louis Weil wrote in 1983,
‘Our inherited attitude toward the liturgical act reflects a kind of schizoid state. We hear but do not really hear. The liturgy is an encapsulated experience, entered into in isolation from real human experiences. It does not connect with the real world because it has been shaped by a piety which is often consciously an escape from the pressures of the real world. Liturgical time is seen as ‘holy time’ working according to its own laws, and feeding our hunger and thirst for God. But it does not connect for the great majority of our people with the real choices of daily life.’

So-called 'liberal Christianity' has revealed itself to be nothing but a modern heresy, its chief cause and symptom being an artificial separation, divorce even, between theological study and practice. For many years, "seminary and divinity school students (have) complained that practical courses lack intellectual rigor and that scholarly courses seem irrelevant to their vocational and professional goals. The classical fourfold curriculum (church history, biblical, systematic and practical theology) creates an enormous gap between the academic and practical aspects of a ministerial curriculum. Just as important, this standard curriculum eliminates theology from the core of both practical and academic studies. Theology as a theoretical discipline appears disconnected from the skills needed to be a successful parish pastor. Theology as an inquiry emerging from faith and piety appears to lack the marks of an impartial and critical discipline." - from Making Theology Central in Theological Education by Dr. Ronald F. Thiemann, 1987, Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, Mass.

The delayed adolescence of young adults has been widely observed.
Are today's students as prepared as those of previous generations when they enter Bible colleges or seminaries?

In Christian Education and Evangelism, Donald G. Stewart comments that,
“Emotional pressures are adapted to the use of those who wish to impose what to think without regard to how to think…Teaching the young those aspects of religious doctrine which are beyond their intellectual capacity and relevant experience to understand and to assimilate often lays the groundwork for emotional collapse and serious mental disorder of which guilt complexes and disabling fear are the symptoms.”

Jesus saw no artificial distinction between spiritual and physical illness. The New Testament reveals a comprehensive approach in His ministry including healing, teaching and preaching. This suggests a need to consider recombining the medical and spiritual methods of healing that are used in our communities today. We need to recognize all aspects of our health. Clergy have told me that even today, unless they are planning to become a chaplain, they may only receive three or four days devoted to mental health in the whole of their formal education. The care and cure of souls has been neglected and largely replaced by client-centered therapies, removed from the oversight of the church.

Illness or disease is usually attributed to viral or bacterial causes, bad genes, environmental pollution, addiction, substance abuse or simple inability to deal with stress. Yet there is a very real redemptive connection between spirituality and medicine. 'When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.'

Paul counsels us,'Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.'

He also clearly warns that 'the reality, however, is found in Christ. Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their nonspiritual mind. They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.'

...'For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ we are brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. In him we were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Our whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when we were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which we were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.'

I write, with trepidation, as one who has experienced the turmoil of coming to Christ in the midst of a mental health crisis. I've known both the ecstasy and despair of faith in the midst of severe illness. I ask the forbearance of the reader. I know some have taken their own lives in their attitude of hopelessness, assuming that nobody cared enough to listen to their struggles and come alongside! I speak boldly yet with humility knowing that many others have similar concerns. Let us open our ears and our hearts to one another.

I grew up with what I always thought was a healthy respect for authority, trying to do my best to obey parents and teachers. When I was at University from 1974 to 1979, society had become exceedingly fractious and rebellious. In January of my senior year I had a dramatic manic episode which required medical care and which left me unable to continue my classes. In March of that year, 1978, three days after deciding to receive Jesus as my Lord and Savior, I was hospitalized for six more weeks.

I remember singing God's praises in the hospital hallways, but visits from family and clergy didn't stop my feeling abandoned by my Christian friends. I did benefit, later on, from some Holy Spirit-inspired teaching, and received a measure of healing through the ministry of the Order of St. Luke the Physician, but found little practical discipleship training in the Church.

I still identify with the testimony of Horatius Bonar, the Scottish minister who lived in the nineteenth century who wrote in one of his hymns,
'I heard the voice of Jesus say, "Come unto Me and rest;
Lay down, thou weary one, lay down, thy head upon My breast."
I came to Jesus as I was, weary and worn and sad;
I found in Him a resting-place, And He has made me glad.'

It's easy to receive gladness but more difficult to accept love.

The Ancient Paths Seminar (see http://www.familyfoundations.com/index.php/free/53-ap-chapter-1 ) does a good job of explaining the relationship between spirit and soul and body, and can provide room for the Holy Spirit to minister to the seminar participant.

In North America, our crisis involves a failure of our leaders to demonstrate the practice of godly Love. Christians are often ready to give theological arguments or lectures to persons in distress when prayerful listening, guidance and encouragement would be more useful.

For someone who is experiencing a major crisis, the ability to communicate with others can be seriously compromised. There is often awareness on the part of the sufferer that he faces a spiritual problem even if he’s never heard a sermon or darkened the path of a Christian in his entire life. Even today, the well-meaning Christian health worker or chaplain sometimes does not understand that confused religious garbling can be both a sign of illness and at the same time a sign of the struggle toward health. According to Anton Theophilus Boisen, who lived from 1876 to 1965, 'certain types of mental illness could be understood as attempts to solve problems of the soul, and that some patients can find a cure in the power of religion'. Boisen's ideas served as the foundation of modern clinical pastoral education.

The patient's struggle is between good and evil, between light and darkness, fire and smoke, clarity and confusion. The immediate practical problem is not solved by throwing the bandaged person back into society without dealing with root issues. Spiritual counsel and support is essential for a timely healing process. In the person at risk, there is a combined action from diverse internal and external sources, which works toward either disintegration or wholeness.

Christians have generally tried to reach out to those suffering from psychiatric illness, addictions and homelessness through inner-city missions and other agencies. How can we develop and nurture networks between our churches so that individuals can remain connected with the Christian community even while suffering crises?

Some bishops and clergy have failed to provide the biblical teaching and support necessary to combat the schizophrenic tendencies of our post-modern society with its speculative ideologies, but our God is sovereignly able to heal even a double-minded, schizophrenic people. The Lord our God is mighty to save and the gates of hell shall not prevail against His Church! He knows what He's doing! The Lord is shaking His Church, moving His people in Spirit, truth and power. May our bishops and clergy share openly with each other and with their people those concerns which God has placed on the hearts of His people.

Servant leadership and the practice of Love as modelled by Jesus is at the heart the gospel! St. Paul cautioned against replacing grace with law. We must not exchange love for 'theological correctness'.

Some of our bishops have refused to allow ordained ministers from other countries to speak or teach here in North America. Yet, is it not a parody of the Christian faith when the descendants of those who received the faith from our missionary ancestors are refused the joy of returning to share with us the lessons they have learned of the Lord. If we say we 'believe in the Communion of Saints' we must be willing to receive ministry from Anglicans and other Christians from outside our local church, parish or diocese. Not only so when we invite them to come to us for instruction, but likewise when they are compelled by the love of Christ to visit us for exhortation or rebuke, without prior invitation, no less! This is just as true locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.

While we must respect Archbishops, Bishops and Clergy and Professors of Theology, we do not place them above the authority of Scripture. Their proper authority is limited solely to that which the godly layperson recognizes and allows to be agreeable to biblical counsel. Some Christians have intentionally stayed away from theological revisionism and have chosen lay ministry as being more effective, pursuing self-directed study, welcoming independent counsel and only occasionally partaking of institutional academic teachings.

Does the ritualism which has become commonplace in our churches offer any genuine guidance and sustenance for the Christian life? Are we truly prepared for God to speak and move among us in our weekly and daily worship and service? As lay people, we should not be afraid to do whatever it is the Lord is calling us to say and do especially in those situations where man, whether secular or religious, tries to prevent us. All of us, all who believe God, are called to arise in faith to stand up with the gospel. We’re called to set an example for our fellow believers who need to be challenged to take risks in faith. If those in need around us are starving, it’s unacceptable to sit on the rich food supply. We think we must wait for the food inspector to give a certificate of approval before we can unseal the crate and give out its contents. This is what we often feel compelled to do because we have an unhealthy and unbiblical deference to so-called authority. We must all together recover a spirit of joyful obedience to God. We must speak, pray, shout, sing, demonstrate and declare the gospel truth in all its fullness. Scripture clearly calls all Christians to love and serve their fellows and through them their community. If we are being forced into independence, perhaps the Lord is helping us grow up! How else do mature believers and new Christians grow in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit?

Let us put our whole trust in Jesus!
Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered! (Psalm 68:1)
Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. (Jer 6:16)

Let us work toward structural renewal. Let us repent of our sin and pray for the cleansing, reconciling, restoring grace of the Holy Spirit to be supremely evident in us. Let us share the message of the cross. Let us make known the power of the atoning blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God. Lord, we ask for revival in our churches and may it begin with us and all who read your Living Word. Let none of us allow ourselves to be separated from God or from those among whom we live. Let us not be double-minded. 'As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, we are, after all, to clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. We're to bear with each other and forgive one another if anyone has a grievance against someone. And over all these virtues let us put on love, which binds us all together in perfect unity.' Forgive us Lord, as we forgive those who have trespassed against us. May God help us walk humbly but boldly through the open doors before us, following gladly those of our leaders who are not afraid to follow the Lion of Judah, the Lord Jesus, the One and only Savior! Dissent, as per Latimer, Ridley, Wesley and many others, is an established Anglican tradition.

The French version of The Canadian national anthem includes the lines,
‘Car ton bras sait porter l'épée, Il sait porter la croix! Ton histoire cette un épopée des plus brillant exploits.’
translated as: 'For your arm knows how to carry the sword, (and)...the cross. Your history is an epic story (filled with) great exploits.'
May God restore His glory and freedom to His people and help us to stand on guard for our country. May we all take our full part in the Work of God: the salvation of sinners and the healing of the nations. Let’s take up our cross, using the sword of the Spirit to make our lives full of exploits for Jesus. Whatever your national origin, let’s stand together for His righteousness and truth.

In JESUS’ Name,
Richard Alastair ..., BSc.
baptized in Loughborough, England
confirmed in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia
presently serving Him, (October 2012), in Toronto, Canada

Sunday, August 17, 2008

My Story: God is the Healer

Lord have mercy on us!
Help us to wake to the Power of Prayer


Memories from childhood can have a life-long impact. When I was born, my parents were living in Loughborough, a small city in the English Midlands. The cold winters meant being given hot water bottles by our feet just to get to sleep. Back then most people didn’t have central heating. Our toes would be chilled to the point of pain in the mornings. My Dad used to get up and fetch the coal from the cellar to start the fire in the dining room. Many mornings he had to take a blowtorch to the outside loo to melt the layer of ice that had formed in the bowl. My mother told me the stories of Jesus. Even then, I heard the call to seek Him. I had a brother and sister, but I was the oldest, the one to set the example. There were toys and jigsaw puzzles to play with. We had radio, but no TV, not even a fridge. I was allowed to play records on an old manually cranked phonograph. We would walk to visit my Nana who lived near a large park which had a marvelous 47- bell- carillon which could be heard from quite a distance.



We visited my great grandparents almost every Sunday for afternoon tea. I used to play with a wooden alphabet set. Each block had an animal picture to go with its letter, A for antelope, and so on. I distinctly recall the moment I realized that letters could be put together to made words. Amazing! Before I started school I was reading simple nursery rhymes. Every November 5th, the skies were bright with fireworks shot into the air in many backyards to remember the infamous plot to blow up the House of Lords in London back in 1605. In early 1961, I remember being in a dimly lit church where I sensed the presence of 'God'. Jus over two years later, one morning my parents told us about the news over the radio that President Kennedy had been shot.

When I was seven and a half, my parents decided to bring us to Canada. In grade five, in Quebec, I memorized the 23rd Psalm for a poetry recital. When I stood up to speak, my teacher told me, ‘Sit down! That’s not poetry, that’s Scripture!’ In grade six, I got hold of a Gideons Centennial Edition of the New Testament. The book of Revelation and the Gospels caught my attention. I also read the Hardy Boys, Jules Verne, Von Daniken, Velikovsky, science, modern sci-fi, historical romance, … One day while recovering from chicken pox I was given a book all about ghosts, mind reading, astral travel and other strange ideas. One night I experienced a very real personal attack. I felt physically grabbed by someone or something not of this world.

Throughout high school I was very shy and always managed to avoid speaking in class. At university, I took honours Physics and Engineering. Friends kept giving me copies of the Bible, some containing strange books with titles like Bel and the Dragon, and the Wisdom of Sirach. I was challenged to seriously consider the story and claims of Jesus, and began to attend Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship, where, for the first time, I clearly heard the message of the cross: the good news that Jesus had died for me. I discovered that I needed to make a personal response to his sacrifice. I helped to distribute copies of the New Testament in the Student Union building.

In the middle of my senior year, just after Christmas, I experienced a turmoil that required hospitalization. I asked God in prayer to reveal Himself to me if he really was there. Shortly afterward, I experienced His loving presence in a powerful way. I was pretty excited, 'high on Jesus', and began talking to my friends at length, in the middle of the night! I asked my landlady if I could examine an old ceremonial sword, which hung in her living room. I took it up to my room and, later that night, baptized it in the bathtub. For me this was a powerful symbol of spiritual warfare. Fortunately a friend came by. If he hadn’t been there, I might have done something even sillier.

(Edmund Yu was a troubled medical student who, a few years ago, was killed by police on a TTC bus in Toronto, and all because they thought the little hammer he was carrying might have been a gun!)

My friends contacted the local Anglican priest and my mother and brother, who together got me to see a local doctor, someone I already knew and trusted. He prescribed tranquilizers. But I was so hyper I was admitted to the local hospital for eight days. My Christian friends were all praying for me privately and in their churches. After spending two months at home with my family, I marked in my New Testament, March 9, 1978, as the date I chose to receive the Lord Jesus as my personal Savior. Three days later I was admitted to the Nova Scotia Psychiatric Hospital, where I languished for two months, pacing the hallways with increasing frustration. The rest of that year was a write-off. I had neither motivation nor energy to do anything. I struggled just to get up each morning.

The following year I took two summer courses in Religious Studies at the University of Prince Edward Island. In October I heard Billy Graham preach on the story of the Good Samaritan at the Halifax Metro Centre and I went forward as a public act of faith. I began to work with handicapped adults and later that year began shift work as a residential counselor caring for these folk. I also held a second job, 35 miles away, as a research assistant in St. F. X. University’s Spectroscopy lab.

In December, I received my Bachelor’s degree in Science, the two courses in the Christian faith having fulfilled my course requirements. During the next few years I spent five more months in hospital. I was often hyper, going from singing God’s praise in the halls to making an unruly nuisance of myself. One day I was placed, almost naked, in a locked ‘quiet room’. I felt like a caged lion. Someone had etched onto the wooden door the words, ‘Hello world!’ It seemed everyone was going crazy!

The enemy seeks to cloud our minds and steal our peace. I could have ended up another suicide statistic! When Jesus says, ‘Come to me all who are weary and heavy-laden and I’ll restore you,’ He really means it! He’s ready to give His peace if we really want it and faithfully seek after Him.
I spent a year and a half living in a depressingly decrepit Rehab Centre where I learned to operate an offset printing press. My healing has come slowly and is entirely due to the love of our Lord Jesus, my wife and the rest of my family, my doctors, as well as the support and prayers of many Christian friends, known and unknown. I’ve known the torment of dreams that turn to nightmares that gradually turn to waking reality. There’s an ecstasy in believing that Christ will surely come today and severe depression in enduring another day without seeing his face.

In the worst circumstance, there’s really no need to remain isolated and depressed. An Anglican minister and his wife helped me, through the ministry of the Order of St. Luke, to experience a measure of healing.

Demons are real. Mental illness is real. Connections between these two concepts are difficult to establish. Surely we can admit that most mental illness probably has little or no demonic component. 

Can we not also admit that some conditions cannot be explained unless we accept the existence of ungodly, wicked spiritual forces? Joy Vassal’s book, Demons are Real, gives vivid testimony of the negative spiritual impact of belief in voodoo and wizardry. Ron Armstrong, who was an Anglican missionary to parts of Latin America, talked about the power of prayer to bring healing to communities bewitched by so-called medicine men and witches. Many people have become followers of Jesus after finding that prayer in His name was the only effective way to receive help for their various afflictions. The occult practices of witch doctors usually only succeeded in temporary alleviation followed by worse problems later. Jesus gives freedom from entrapment to the lies that these people offer.

Too often in so-called advanced societies we believe a different lie, that formally trained medical practitioners, with their drugs and surgeries, can heal our diseases and we are released from the need to pray. Reliance on God becomes an option and only for those who already believe in Him. For me that early memory of hearing about Jesus was critical. Just as we were told as children to look for police if we were threatened or lost, so we must look to Our Lord, through the church, His people, for help with spiritual struggles.

O that our churches would respond to all illnesses with both prayer and medicine, referring both parishioners and enquirers to other qualified professionals if church members are not yet properly trained and qualified. Doctors and ministers must learn how to work together. This is a life and death issue. God is able. O that men and women and children would come to know and praise the Lord for His wondrous doings. Amen!

Friday, June 27, 2008

A Peaceful Warning: Amidst the Perils, Love!


LOVE! WHY? It’s God’s command, here and now,
besides who will if you won't?
Take some down time; Look around.

Multi channels visit the globe; NOISES BLARE!
Feel the sombre stare of SCREAMING PAGES pulled up through the web.
Burning sun and shooting stars yell and cry and warn...
Of bitter justice soon scrawled on walls and doorways!

At the guarded gate to paradise,
Mythic states jeer in defence of forged creeds.
Shadows of our past echo in prideful conflict
FORCING the children of men into a nightmare.

Green peasant's lands suffer afflicton,
as silvered rivers, damned for electric amenities,
flow wth pesticides, fungicides, wasted antibiotics.
Vigor is sterilized and rotten wealth is made.

A strange preacher leads his flock awry,
and authorities bring the fire and brimstone!
Is Love on holiday?

Kids bully and are bullied to take up arms
and little towns cry for lost minds.
Convicted killers are shut in dusk and doom,
like parched trees,
dying to be posters for deception and vengeance.

Terrible gauntlets fly;
A mighty fortress is cracked open
and the deathday dawns upon a city of liberty;
Cries of faith punch at apathy and sacrifices begin again.

Silent lamp posts hang down,
marking lonely days and nights.
Even the whole planet shudders,
leaving cities and nations swamped as by its tears.
Crystal cups of sorrow haunt the yearly festivals.

LOVE! Why? … It’s essential, required, demanded!
Seek the Face of THE HOLY ONE,
The healer of all wounds.
LOVE! AND MARCH FORTH TO ETERNITY!

LISTEN UP! Are you interested in mental health?

Is it OK to be mentally ill?
Going by the evidence most Canadians appear to believe it is.

The Globe and Mail, in its Breakdown series, http://www.theglobeandmail.com/breakdown did a fine job last week on highlighting the ongoing struggle many individuals and families face in dealing with the crushing realities of mental illness. In October, 1998, Scott Simmie wrote a similar, and award winning, series in the Toronto Star. His title 'Out of Mind' revealed the uncomfortable truth that the Canadian public has had little interest in compelling our leaders to act. In the intervening years, virtually nothing has changed on the front lines where most sufferers and helpers are fighting the battle for health and wellness.
We are still waiting for supportive housing, the crucial element in any plan to address this crisis.
The National Scandal of damaged people being shuffled from one government department to another, trying to find assistance, plays out like a tragic farce. Specifically, people are forced to travel back and forth between agencies providing 'social services' (money) and those providing health care, housing or shelter, food, clothing and sense of community, often while also dealing with more acceptable illnesses such as cancer and AIDS.

The Ministry of Health is not set up to work together with Provincial or Municipal Social Services Ministries. There is little or no coordination between these agencies for people who do not fit neatly into the medical model for physical illness.
Do we accuse a person with diabetes or epilepsy of being responsible for his or her illness?
Would we send blind people to three different branches of the CNIB?
Why is it acceptable tell a mentally incapacitated person to 'just get a job'?



People are a bit like buildings. Sometimes they look sad and forlorn, sometimes comical and fresh. Looking from the outside doesn't say much about the inside. What strengths, surprises, costs and depravities remain hidden? Agents and friends can help to find self-identity; enemies, mis-directed friends and enviromental pests attack both foundation and structure.

Last year Canada finally established a Mental Health Commission to attempt to address the lack of attention given to those Canadians who suffer cracks in their foundations, that 10% of us who are likely to experience severe, debilitating mental and spiritual distress at some point in our lives. The hope is that money will, at long last, be dedicated to research for treatment and cure for those things that afflict our minds and spirits. But throwing money around in the ivory towers of academia will not be enough. Certainly research must be done. Counselling heelps. The heart of the matter will begin to be addressed when we can discuss together and pray about the harsh realities which have been swept under the proverbial rug.

Why are our religious institutions largely silent on this issue? When have you heard a message about the spiritual resources available to bring to bear on this topic? Are there ever connections between mental illness and evil spirits? Do chaplains and medical professionals coordinate their efforts to heal? What would Jesus have Us do?
Thank God for the good work that is being done.
Much, much more is needed.

We, who have suffered schizophrenia, psychosis or depression will not tolerate society's stigma. The taboo is broken. Praise the Name of JESUS!
Lend us your ears!
Invite us to speak at your places of worship, community centers, schools, anywhere interested people will gather. Let us tell how God heals and delivers. Let us work and pray that no more of us, or our loved ones, suffer needlessly due to neglect and ignorance. Let's make good use of the quality programs that already exist and build together the healthy communities that we all need.
Let's free up funding, and other resources, and empower all Canadians to help each other!

Let us be rebuilders of the breach.
Mental illness should never be OK!