May 7, 2023 - Mental Health Sunday
Romans 1:1-17
Deborah Laforet
What Is the Good News?
Let us pray. May the words from my lips and the meditations of my heart be guided by your Spirit and be words of wisdom for this day. Amen.
Catherine read for us the beginning of Paul’s letter to the faith community of Rome. The first fifteen verses are mostly introduction. If you’ve read Paul, you know that he uses many words to get his ideas across. If we imagine Paul today with a smart phone, texting the folks of Rome, we might read instead, “Hey. It’s Paul. Remember me, the prophet and apostle? My love to all of you. So sorry I haven’t been to see you, but life happens. I pray for you everyday. I can’t wait to see you and share the good news!” Seven short sentences and even that would be too long for some.
Today, I want to focus on the last two verses, verses sixteen and seventeen:
“For I am not ashamed of the Good News: it is itself the very power of God, effecting the deliverance of everyone who believes the Good News, to the Jew first but also for the Greek. For in that Gospel, God’s justice is revealed - a justice which arises from faith and has faith as its result. As it is written, ‘By being faithful, those who are upright will find life.’”
We hear, again and again, that mental illnesses are on the rise and everyone has a theory as to why. We’ve just heard from two courageous people who shared some words of their own experience, courageous because there is still a stigma attached to mental illness. People are afraid to talk about mental health, even though it affects us all in varying degrees, and we all probably know someone who faces extreme mental health challenges, but people are still hesitant to talk about it. There is still shame attached, like it’s somehow the fault of the person experiencing the illness.
I think some of us might be born with challenges with our mental health, but I also think many are traumatized by life, either home life, school, work, or just society in general. People are abused or neglected as children, they are bullied because they’re different, marginalized and discriminated against because of their race, their lack of money, how their gender presents. It’s sad that we live in such a culture where so many have to develop coping strategies, have to come up with ways to survive, to have to sometimes battle the health care systems and social services to be heard, to be accepted, and to find support.
The pandemic has made it more difficult for some. In some ways, just slowing down caused people to get off the merry go-round, or pause the rat-race, and actually experience their exhaustion, their pain, the neglect of their own physical and mental health, and maybe that of their loved ones. I myself joined a support group for survivors of childhood sexual abuse, and since I began that journey, I have grown in awareness of my own trauma and how it has affected me over the years. This was an intentional process for me, so I don’t regret it, but it’s stressful and exhausting, while also feeling like I’m becoming more aware and more alive.
Paul says in his letter that he wants to bring the good news of Jesus to the people in Rome. He says he’s not ashamed of the good news. Why would he be ashamed of it? Paul also says that God affects the deliverance of those who experience good news. He says it’s the good news that reveals justice, a justice which is the result of faith.
This week I heard someone talk about the three tasks of a church: service, evangelism, and discipleship. He said these are the tasks of the church because these were the tasks of Jesus. I don’t question service and discipleship, but I question evangelism, mostly because I think I may have a very different definition of evangelism. Many churches understand evangelism as sharing the good news, the good news being that Jesus Christ died for our sins, and that people only have to accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, and they will be saved. I don’t think Jesus felt that this was his task. Jesus definitely had good news to share but it wasn’t about getting people to believe in him and be saved, and that they would be free from their sins when his blood was shed on a cross.
What was this good news he shared? Jesus talked about God’s kingdom a number of times. He talked of its coming, of its being near, and of it being here. His parables were stories of compassion and justice. He rebelled against some of the nonsensical religious rules that got in the way of compassion and justice, and pushed against the occupation of the Roman Empire. He healed people of their various illnesses, including those seen as demon-infested who may have been mentally ill, and he hung out with those people that society wouldn’t. The good news of Jesus was that God cares about each one of us, but especially those who need that care, those who are ill, who are suffering, who experience injustice, anytime when we need more than what this earthly kingdom is providing.
So again, why would Paul find the good news shameful, and why would he be ashamed to share it? We live in a world, and I think Paul lived in the same world, where strength is valued over weakness, where health is seen as a reward and illness is seen as punishment for wrong-doing, where bravery and courage are the gifts of a warrior and vulnerability and being seen as needy is for children, women, seniors, refugees, those who are disabled, those who are always last and least.
Paul will not be ashamed to say that the good news is for the last and the least. Jesus said the last shall be first. He came and has come to flip the world right side up so that it’s the vulnerable who are seen as strong, the ill who are never ignored, those living in fear and pain who are held and supported.
This is the good news. Jesus did die for us. He died trying to teach us a different way to live. He died trying to push God’s kingdom into a world where a very powerful and unjust kingdom already existed. He taught about God’s love and justice and how our faith can reveal God’s love and justice on this earth. This is why Jesus said the kingdom of God is coming and is here. It’s us who will bring about this kingdom. We are here now doing the work, and it’s up to us to pass on the good news to others so that this work can continue.
Maybe one of the reasons mental illness is on the rise is because people have lost this good news, people have lost the knowledge that they are loved and that they are embraced by this universe as unique and wonderful creations. They have lost the understanding that we can each make a difference in this world, that we can use our gifts - we all have them - to create a better, more compassionate, more just, and more loving world. Maybe it’s time to share the good news again, not with the aim of making Christians or of having more people come to church, but with the aim of healing, healing others and healing ourselves.
So, go out and share the good news. Christ is alive, Christ lives in us, and with Christ we can bring God’s kingdom on earth, where all are valued, where all can be vulnerable and strong at the same time, where the last shall be first, and where we don’t have to be ashamed to share the good news. May it be so. Amen.