Love

Thank you again so much for having me.

And if you weren't here last week, I spoke about the topic of hope.

And particularly, as Steve said, hope through my own story.

I'm not going to talk about myself so much today,

so you can have a break from that.

But my thesis of Christianity is that hope is actually found

very often through suffering,

which is an incredible reframe on this topic of mental illness.

That the gospel is not stoicism.

Our message is not, there's no pain here.

The message of the gospel is absolutely there is pain.

We have a whole category of lament in the Bible.

And in the midst of that pain,

you can find true hope that does not put you to shame.

And with that, one of my umbrella arguments, I suppose, to you last week

was that I don't believe in pitting psychology against theology.

But rather, if we try to do psychology without theology,

we're going to miss a vital part of what it is to be made in the image of God.

And so last week was broadly aimed at asking the question,

what if it's me who's suffering?

And as Steve said, this week's frame as we zoom out is,

what if it's somebody who I love?

What if it's somebody in this church?

What if it's somebody in my life?

How do church communities respond to this increasingly common issue?

And at the risk of just a little bit of shameless self-promotion about me for a moment,

this talk is in many ways the marriage of two books that I have written.

One on the topic of mental health called Down Not Out,

and the other one which is actually coming out in about six weeks

called Here to Love,

recapturing the centrality of Jesus' greatest command.

And I'll talk a little bit about that in a moment.

Now when I told people about Down Not Out in 2017,

finding a mainstream publisher,

the very common question you get is,

how did you get a book deal?

I've heard it's really hard, and it is.

I'd submitted many book proposals over the years,

and I knew what a rejection letter looked like.

But I knew that when I approached the good book company in the UK,

it wasn't an automatic yes, but it also wasn't a no.

And so I dove a little bit deeper and tried to just make my foot go through that door.

And of course, the God answer is that it was God's will that I got a book deal.

But the human answer is,

I refer to a lady by the name of Alison Mitchell.

Alison is one of the senior editors with the Good Book Company.

And the reason that she was intrigued by my proposition is that she, like me,

had endured a long-term mental health condition.

In fact, I would say hers was far worse than mine.

She had a medical resistance to any sort of medical intervention,

which meant that it was just such a long journey,

and it's still ongoing for her.

When my book got published in 2017,

Alison wrote a blog post that went with it called

When Depression Makes Church So Hard.

Now, Alison is a beautiful, beautiful woman of God.

She loves the Lord with all of her heart.

But she has this mental health condition,

and it gets very messy in terms of what church looks like for her.

Alison lives in London, and she takes the tube to church,

and she told me that sometimes she'll get in the tube,

she'll rise up the stairs to where her church is,

and she'll look at the church, and she'll shake her head,

turn around, go straight back down in the tube back home.

Some weeks, not every week.

And yet she loves Jesus.

And she tells this story about an Easter Sunday service

that I think is very, very profound.

What you hear in Alison is a wrestle.

She loves God, as I said.

She loves her community.

And yet, there's this other thing going on in her mind sometimes.

And this is what she says in the blog article.

She probably thought I was very rude.

She sat next to me on Easter Sunday morning,

smiled and asked how I was.

But I just nodded my head and looked away.

She didn't try again.

What she didn't know was how hard I'd battled to get to church.

Now, I was just barely managing to stay in my seat and not burst into tears.

Every muscle was straining, desperate to flee.

And yet part of me wanted to be there.

I was glad to be in my own church for Easter and to join with my church family in singing the Lord's praises.

This is what depression can do to a Christian.

Having struggled with severe depressive illness for over 12 years, which is now about 20 years,

I can tell you that I never, and she emphasizes the word again, never want to go to church on a Sunday morning.

It is an exhausting battle every single time, and I don't always make it.

Getting through the door is an achievement, but the battle isn't yet over.

Where can I sit?

Is there anyone safe to sit with?

Do I have an exit strategy so that I can leave, if needed, without climbing over people or causing a distraction?

Will I be able to sing, or would the words tumble out as sobs instead?

Am I able to lift my head high enough to see the words on the screen,

or will my depressed hunch mean my head stays resolutely down?

And what if the pastor says something like,

go and talk to the person next to you while the children are going out?

At that point, a shaft of dread strikes my heart.

Even the end of the service is hard.

How quickly can I leave without looking rude?

Will the noise of so many people talking at once trigger a panic attack?

Can I even lift my head high enough to smile at someone as I scuttle out?

And if not, will they think again how rude and abrupt I am?

I once described my own experience like this.

My church was like a colorful ocean liner,

sailing full steam ahead,

but I had fallen overboard,

and was drowning in a monochrome sea as they sailed away without me.

Thankfully, not every depressive finds church as hard as this.

It's not even true for me every Sunday.

Sometimes I manage a brief chat at the end,

or to pray with someone before I go.

When the depression is less severe,

I can lift my head and sing with enthusiasm.

I guess that's part of what makes it hard for my church family.

They don't know which Allison is going to turn up.

There's a lot there, but I don't know about you,

but when I read Allison's article,

and I'm someone who has always found church a refuge.

I'm an extrovert.

And so even if I've had a rough week,

church is actually good for my soul.

But for her, it's a very different story,

which makes it a deeply confusing situation

for a community of believers.

How do we respond?

It's confusing for Allison.

It's going to be confusing for those who are not Allison.

Which is why before we ask,

what do we do about this issue in our church?

And I will hopefully give you some thoughts on that towards the end.

I want to zoom above the what and look at the how.

Because before we respond to Allison,

or to Chris, or anybody else,

each room has a different manifestation

of certain mental dysfunction,

we need an umbrella principle.

And I believe that that umbrella principle is love.

Love is the principle,

not just of mental health care,

but of all of life.

In Matthew chapter 22,

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

Jesus famously says when he's asked

what the greatest commandment is,

to love the Lord your God with all your heart

and with all your soul and with all your mind.

This is the first and greatest commandment.

And the second is like it.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

Those are famous words.

When I ask Christians what the greatest commandment is,

very interestingly,

often they forget the as yourself bit at the end.

That's a different sermon,

but just I'll give you that little seed to think about.

But in my own journey,

and as I wrote this second book that's about to come out,

it was the next words that stopped me in my tracks.

Verse 40 of Matthew chapter 22.

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.

All the law and all the prophets.

What I think Jesus is saying here

is that love is not the greatest commandment

because it's better than all of the others.

He's saying that love is the greatest commandment

because it is all of the others.

That is to say,

if you are doing your faith without love,

you're kind of missing the point.

And if you're like the Pharisee,

you know everything,

but you're doing it without love.

Love is crucial.

In fact,

it's indispensable.

But here's the challenge.

Loving a friend who has just gotten engaged

is very different to loving a friend

who has just lost a mother or a father.

What does love look like?

It might be the umbrella principle,

but how do we apply it?

And I want to say that we have to apply it

first by looking at God's love for us.

One of the things I said last week

is that in order to move forward,

and even to stay in the present

and to believe that God is still with us,

we have to look at his past faithfulness.

Grounding ourselves in everything God has already done

is a powerful mental and spiritual discipline.

And I said last week in Romans 5 verse 8

Romans 5:8

that God demonstrates his own love for us in this.

While we were still sinners,

Christ died for us.

And I am going to get to Psalm 103 and Romans 12 in a minute,

the readings that we had.

But before I do,

I just want to hone in on one other passage

that I just find some of the most beautiful words of Scripture.

What does it mean that Christ has died for us?

What does the response to that look like?

And Hebrews 4 says something very, very powerful to us.

Therefore, since we have a great high priest

who has ascended into heaven,

Jesus the Son of God,

let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.

For we do not have a high priest

who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses.

What does it mean that God demonstrated his own love for us?

It means that when God sees our suffering,

he doesn't just say,

oh, I've read about that in a textbook.

I've heard that's hard.

He says, I know.

I know pain.

I died on a cross.

And a father says,

I know I turned my face away from my son.

He is able to empathize with our weaknesses.

I find those some of the most beautiful words of Scripture.

That when we cry out,

even sometimes without words,

he says, I know.

And so we may receive mercy

and find grace

to help us in our time of need.

And just as we receive mercy and grace from God,

the more we can reflect that same

mercy and grace to others,

we reflect God's love in our church communities.

And while there are many,

many passages I can use to point to God's love,

I want to go back to that Psalm 103,

that first reading.

Because King David,

as he opens,

begins by praising God.

And look what he does again.

What we saw last week.

He starts by looking at the past.

Praise the Lord,

my soul,

or my inmost being.

Praise his holy name.

Praise the Lord,

my soul,

and forget not all his benefits.

The reason we praise God,

the reason we love God,

the reason we love our neighbor,

is we remember the benefits

we have received from God.

That is our primary motivation.

And what I love in Psalm 103,

and if you don't have it open,

I'd really encourage you to have it,

because I'm going to move through it very quickly.

And I just want you to,

I guess,

test what I'm saying.

What we see in Psalm 103

is a God who is spectacularly powerful

and spectacularly loving.

And that's also what we see

in that moment of Christ on the cross.

Ultimate love on Good Friday.

Ultimate power on Easter Sunday.

And I love that,

because so often in the world,

we either have one or the other.

We have very powerful people

who seem to be lacking in love,

or we have very loving people

who seem to have no sort of platform

to show that love.

It's not always the case,

but rarely is it both in one person.

And in God,

we see the perfection of both,

love and power.

Psalm 103, verse 3.

Psalms 103:3

He forgives sins.

He heals diseases.

He redeems life from the pit

in order to crown us

with love and compassion,

to satisfy desires,

to work justice,

and righteous for the oppressed.

In verse 19,

His kingdom rules over all.

A God who the angels

and even the stars themselves

would consider worthy

of their allegiance.

This is,

to use an overused word

in the English language,

an awesome God.

A God who demands our awe,

our fear,

our reverence,

our whole heart.

But here's the thing

that gets me about Psalm 103.

If we see that God is love,

and the greatest of the commands

is love,

Psalm 103 shows us

that it's not just God's quality,

it's not just who He is,

it's also a comment

about the quantity

of that love.

And I just want to pause there

for a moment

in our church communities.

Love is not just the quality,

but it's also about the quantity,

and I'll come to that in a moment.

Verse 8,

King David in his poeticism

tells us that

not only David,

sorry,

not only that God

is compassionate and gracious,

but it's also that

He's slow to anger.

He's abounding in love.

Verse 11,

not only does the Lord

love those who fear Him,

that's a qualitative statement,

He loves them as high

as the heavens are above the earth.

Quantity.

Verse 12,

not only has He removed

our transgressions from us,

He has removed them

as far as the east

is from the west.

Verse 17,

His love does not just last,

it lasts from everlasting

to everlasting.

Verse 22,

not only does the Lord work,

He works everywhere

in His dominion.

This is a God

of unending power

and abundant love.

And these are the benefits

that King David

is talking about

in verse 2,

that we are called

not to forget.

So what's all of this

got to do with mental health?

We'll come there in a moment.

But for now,

Romans 12,

we see in the New Testament

that God's love

is confirmed

in Jesus Christ.

Verse 1,

I urge you,

brothers and sisters,

again, look,

He goes to the past

in view of God's mercy,

in view of the God

of the Old Testament

and in view of the God

of the New Testament.

What do we do?

We offer our bodies

as a living sacrifice,

holy and pleasing to God.

This is your true

and proper worship.

And so here,

we begin to pivot

from the vertical.

What has God done for us

into the horizontal?

How do we respond

to one another?

Paul begins

to give us the answer

that we offer our bodies

as a living sacrifice.

Why?

In view of God's mercy.

As King David would put it,

to forget not

the Lord's benefits.

And so it's not only

the quality of God's love

that drives us to compassion.

It's not just that

He loves us

so that we love others.

It's the extent,

it's the extra mile

that we will never fully

be able to replicate,

of course.

But the more we can think

about love in quality

and quantity,

the more we reflect

the love of God

in our churches.

And why am I talking

about quantity so much?

I think quantity

is a key issue

we need to think about

because it's probably

the thing

in the mental health landscape

I think is missing the most.

Not just in our churches

but in our society.

What am I talking about?

I think very often

the way we talk

about mental illness

is we describe it

as an acute illness

when actually

it's a chronic illness

for the most part.

You probably have heard

this statement that

in an effort

to destigmatize

mental illness

we say to people

it's okay to get help

and it is.

But the way we frame that

is we say

well just like you'd go

to a doctor

for a broken leg

you should be okay

to go to a doctor

if you're struggling

with depression

or anxiety.

It's a beautiful sentiment

but it's also flawed

and I gently want

to push back on it

because what we're doing

is we're comparing

what is for the most part

an acute illness,

a broken leg

that has a six

to eight week recovery

and you put it

in a plaster

and generally

it goes well

we are comparing that

to a vastly

different story

and if we subliminally

expect our loved ones

just to get better

with one tablet

and a few

psychologist sessions

then we've probably

got mismatched

expectations

and if we have

mismatched expectations

then we're probably

not going to love

very well.

In 2012

Harvard University

developed a new

technology called

magnetic resonance

scanning.

This is what it

looked like.

This is a real brain

and it was designed

to show the different

neural pathways

that would go on

and just as an aside

I have to stand up

for God for a moment

and say

I can't be an atheist

when I look at that

but that's not my point.

My point is this

that's more complicated

than a leg bone

and you don't have

to be a scientist

to understand that.

It's complex.

This is the biology

behind Alison's comments

about church on Sunday.

When something

goes awry here

it's a very

very difficult journey

to work out

what's going on.

We may not

actually fully know

why

with some people

this side of eternity.

Alison doesn't know

why she's medically

resistant.

She just knows

that she is

because she's tried.

My point is

that the journey

of mental illness

is seldom short

and if you're not

a science person

let me show you

one more diagram

that was shown to me.

This probably speaks

more my language.

This is a diagram

I was shown

as I was beginning

to leave hospital

as the outpatient program

and it was designed

to show us

what to expect

as we left.

This was shown

actually as the goal

of good mental health

recovery.

And as you can see

very clearly

it's still a journey

of ups and downs.

And as a church

this is what

you should expect

from people

in your church.

And this is why

it's important

to consider

the quantity

of love

and the chronic

nature of the illness.

Because it's very

tempting

to look at

just one of those

peaks and troughs

and take that

sample size

and formulate

some sort of truth.

It's easy for us

to do it

within ourselves.

It's very easy

to use

as what psychologists

would say

that we would

catastrophize

certain situations.

We would look

at one of those valleys

and think

oh my goodness

I'm back at square one.

But what we want

to see within ourselves

and within our communities

is that upwards trajectory

over a longer

period of time.

which is why

I'm talking so much

about quantity.

It's a long game.

Slow and steady

in my experience

really does win

the race

in good mental health care.

Now granted

there will be

some acute situations.

Sometimes

when somebody

is in desperate need

it's a triple zero

phone call

to a hospital.

But outside

of those very

immediate

pressing situations

where there is

danger at hand

the broad picture

of good mental health care

is a long game.

Romans 12

confirms this

for us

because it asks us

how are we

to love one another

in view

of God's mercy?

In verse 12

we see it.

We are to be

joyful in hope

patient

in affliction

faithful

in prayer.

This is how

we are to use

our gifts

in the church.

that Paul

has been speaking

about earlier

in the chapter.

And

I can't think

of a better

model of care

for mental illness.

To be joyful

in hope

to recognise

there is hope

to be patient

and to be

prayerful.

And in particular

I want to hone in

on that word

patience again.

If you know

your Bibles

1 Corinthians 13

love is

patient.

I distinctly

remember in

hospital feeling

like I wasn't

worth being

loved.

Not only was

I unloved

but I was

unlovable.

And this is

one of the

common

thoughts

or the

common

litmus

tests for

someone wrestling

with depression

this feeling

of unlovability.

what you crave

most of all

when the chips

are down

is unconditional

love.

That someone

still values

you

when you

find it

near impossible

to value

yourself.

And the

gospel is a

balm to that

crisis because

it reminds us

that God's

love for us

is patient.

He stands

with us.

And the

flip side of

that is

the hurt of

condition.

love.

For someone

to come to

you and

for you to

think again

that they are

just six weeks

away from

recovery and

then when they

don't recover

you put them

in the too

hard basket.

I'm actually

going to say

something a

little bit

punchy here and

you can

disagree with

me if you

want.

But in my

experience I

would almost

prefer someone

not to enter

into my mess

at all

than enter

into it and

then leave

when I get

too hard.

It just

reinforces this

narrative of

unlovability.

And I

would gently

but somewhat

firmly say

what if God

had treated

you like

that?

God's

impatience for

our sin

does not

end in

abandonment.

God's

impatience for

sin ends in

the blood of

his son.

Without

patience we

would be

lost.

The Lord

is slow to

anger,

abounding in

love.

Again,

slow and

steady wins

the race.

And so

as we wrap

up let me

provide what

I hope to

be some

very practical

and helpful

steps as

to what this

might look

like in

practice for

you as a

church community.

Here are

just three

thoughts.

Number one,

you need

love as

well.

Carers need

care.

because if

this call

is true and

if you agree

with it,

the challenge

is you realise

it's going to

cost something

of you as

well.

There is a

self-sacrifice

involved with

this picture.

When I

left hospital

one of the

first things

my wife

had to do

was go and

see a

psychologist

herself and

that was the

right thing

because it

had taken a

toll on

her as

well.

Find

someone

external.

external.

Find

someone

external to

the situation

and preferably

someone external

to the person

you're caring

for if you

can to

care for

you too.

Again,

it can be a

professional or

it can be a

friend but

being needed,

I've learned

as a pastor,

is a little

bit addictive

sometimes.

Being the

carer carries

with it an

identity but

again,

love your

neighbour as

yourself.

It's okay to

receive care as

well.

You're going

to need it if

you're going

to play the

long game.

And I

also just

want to say

something very,

very important

about love.

And I want

you to hear

this very

clearly.

When Jesus

calls us to

love our

neighbour with

all of our

heart and

with all of

our soul and

with all of

our mind and

with all of

our strength,

I think he's

doing two

things.

The first

thing he's

doing and

the thing I'm

advocating for

here is he's

giving us the

goal for life

itself.

To love

well because

God has

loved us.

But I

think he's

doing something

else as

well.

He's

revealing a

gap.

Because the

question becomes

who can

love with

all of their

heart and

with all of

their soul and

with all of

their mind and

with all of

their strength?

Only Christ.

And so the

reason I'm

saying this is

you are not

going to love

perfectly and

God knows

that.

He makes up

for that gap

in Jesus

Christ and yet

we still hold

on to the

goal.

The

absoluteness of

the call to

love is the

aspiration and

the thing we

remember that we

run to Christ

when we get it

wrong which we

will.

Again if I

come back to

that Hebrews

4 passage even

though God can

empathize with

our weaknesses

there is one

key difference.

we have one

who has been

tempted in

every way

just as we

are yet he

did not sin.

And so remember

that as you

love you're

going to need

God's love for

you as well

because you're

not going to

perfect that

love in

somebody else.

And yet we

still hold on to

that aspiration.

There are

actually a number

of services

professional

services for

carers as well.

I only learned

this a few years

ago but Lifeline

is actually

available to

call not just

if you're in a

bad way yourself

but you actually

need a bit of

support as you

care for someone

who's in a bad

way.

So you can call

Lifeline for

that.

There are online

resources like

Beyond Blue,

the Black Dog

Institute and of

course there is

professional help

if you need that

support too.

So my point

number one is

you need love as

well please don't

forget that.

You need it in

order to play the

long game that I'm

advocating for.

Number two,

there is a time to

listen and a time

to speak.

I say this because

I've seen both

ends of the

pendulum.

Some people come

in like a bull in

a china shop and

just goes,

here's what I

think is going

on.

Have you thought

about this?

Have you thought

about this?

Slow down.

Listen.

But also,

some of us tend

to listen and

nod and smile and

not say anything

at all.

And so I

would ask you,

are you more

of a talker,

which in my

experience most

of us probably

are, or are

you a listener?

Consider your own

starting point because

I'm saying there's a

time for both.

We need to listen

quickly in order to

understand deeply,

but also if we

really do love

someone and we

see them going

into destructive

paths, love

actually does look

like saying

something sometimes,

but always with a

gracious tone.

If we see someone

heading to self

destruction and

all we do is

nod and smile,

we've got to ask

whether that's

true love.

Sometimes a

gracious word is

what's needed,

but we have to

do it slowly,

grounded in

listening and

understanding.

And my third

and final point,

somewhat related

to the first,

recognize your

limitations.

Know that our

government has

put significant

funding into

mental health

care.

If you don't

know, you

can access

through your

GP, very

often a

mental health

care plan,

which means

that you get

subsidized

sessions and

therapies,

psychologists,

because no

single one of

us can do

everything.

But here's

why churches

are beautiful.

A church can

do what a

psychologist

can't, and

a psychologist

can do what a

church can't.

And so the

more, as I

said last week,

we can handle

this from every

angle, the

better our

recovery options

become.

Because churches

are here to

love and walk

side by side

for the long

term.

That is a

beautiful piece

of the puzzle

that is so

often missing

in our

society.

And it's

why we've

created Life

to the Full

that Steve

talked about.

I've been

doing these

talks for

many years,

but I just

love that we're

able to put it

into practice

now.

We have

professionals who

can help,

professionals who

are coming from

a Christian

worldview.

We have an

amazing team

that God has

raised up,

and this

has been

part of the

evidence that

he has been

in this

journey from

the very

start.

And so if you

do need help,

whether you are

the one

struggling or

you're the one

caring, we

would love to

support you in

that journey.

And so my

final point,

which I hope

and pray has

been helpful,

is this, that

whether you're

living with

mental illness

or whether

you're caring for

someone with

mental illness,

I would encourage

you to see that

your identity is

not in the

illness, that

your identity

is not in

your performance,

but it's

actually the

identity that

you have in

God, no

matter who

you are and

in whatever

circumstance you

find yourself

in.

From 1 John

1 John 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3,

this is my

prayer for each

of us, that

we would know

this more and

more, that we

would see what

great love the

Father has

lavished on us,

that we should

be called

children of

God, and

that is what

we are.

Father God, we

thank you that

we are children.

We're not

identified by our

illnesses, first

and foremost.

We are

identified by

your love for

us, that we

saw in the

Psalms, is not

just a quality

that you

exhibit, but is

infinitely

quantitative as

well.

Lord, in our

own imperfect

ways, and we

pray that we

would run to

your throne of

grace when we

don't get it

right.

But in our

own imperfect

ways, we

would pursue

this more and

more each

day.

I pray for

St. Paul's

that they

would continually

work out what

this looks like

in practice, that

they would be

willing to make

the sacrificial

move to play

the long game

with one

another, knowing

that this does

cost something

of ourselves.

And as this

community works

out how to do

that sustainably,

and how to

love their

neighbour as

themself, help

each person in

this church to

get the support

that they

need as they

walk with

others.

And ultimately,

Lord, we pray

that this would

be a community

that is

flourishing in

what our world

so often lacks,

which is love,

compassion, mercy,

tenderness.

May this be a

safe place for the

hurting.

And again,

Lord, may those

who are caring for

the hurting get

care themselves.

ourselves.

Thank you that

in love, you

give us the

goal, and you

also reveal the

gap that only

Christ can

fulfil, that you

are able to

empathise with our

weaknesses, and

yet you are not

like us, because

even though you

were tempted, you

did not sin.

And so thank you

that because of

that, we are

able to approach

your throne of

grace with

confidence, so

that we can find

mercy and receive

grace to help us

in our time of

need.

So Father

God, hear our

prayers, see our

hearts, and we

pray that you

would give us

wisdom to know

what to do with

our hands and

feet.

Amen.

Thank you,

Chris.

I'm going to

continue to pray

and invite the

music team to

come on up and

be ready to

sing.

Gracious

God, you

created a good

and perfect

world, and how

much it must

grieve you, the

destruction of

what you have

made good has

been so destroyed

by human sin.

As we live in

this world of

suffering, the

grief that we

experience grieves

you.

Your heart is

bound to

ours.

You're a God

of infinite

compassion.

And as we've

heard right at

the beginning of

this service from

Psalm 34, you

are the God who

is close to the

brokenhearted.

You are the one

who saves those

who are crushed

in spirit.

You're a God

who's not distant

or absent.

You're not just a

mere force.

You're not detached

or unaffected or

unmoved by our

condition.

You draw near.

You came.

You, the author

of life, the author

of history, took on

our nature and

entered right into

your very creation.

You came to us.

You came to the

brokenhearted, the

crushed, the

lost, the weary, the

sinners, the

sufferers.

Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you for

leaving behind the

perfection and the

wholeness and the

joy of life in

heaven with the

Father and the

Spirit and coming

to us.

You descended not

just into human

form but even

further as you went

to death for us.

the author of life

dying on a cross

so that we might

live.

You were treated

as if you were a

sinner.

You carried to the

cross all the evil

and the carnage and

the sin of human

history.

You, the innocent

one, suffered

condemnation for us.

You chose for the

just wrath of God to

be poured out on

you.

And on the cross, you

cried out the

scream of

dereliction, the

scream of

abandonment, loss,

and isolation from

everything that is

good and lovely.

You descended into

complete darkness of

death all alone

that we might be

brought into the

light of life of

eternal relationship

with you, our God.

Lord Jesus, you

have gone deeper

into the depths of

darkness and

loneliness than

anyone could ever

imagine.

Gracious God, you

journeyed into that

together.

and so we ask

you on behalf of

sufferers and the

carers of

sufferers, we turn

to you that they

might find hope in

you and we commend

to your faithful

love those who are

crying from the

depths of darkness

now.

Holy Spirit, when

scorn and shame

and despair,

besiege when the

clouds, the dark

clouds of depression

and anxiety and

shame descend, and

hope is veiled in

grief, bring

sufferers and

sinners to the

embrace of the

wounded hands of

Jesus.

Restless with grief

and fear and

distress and

hopelessness, Lord

Jesus, you call us

to come.

you are gentle

and lowly and

call all who are

weary and loaded

with burdens to

find rest in you

and be lifted to

the gospel of

hope.

And so Holy

Spirit, we would

ask that you would

free us from

everything that keeps

us from hearing that

call to come.

In the darkness of

unknowing, when all

else seems lost, when

your love seems so

absent, draw us into

the heart of God to

find refuge and

rest and the

certain hope of the

dawn of forgiveness

and redemption and

renewal.

How generous is your

goodness, how great is

your salvation, how

faithful is your

love.

It is this love that

you have called your

church to display to

all people.

As you have loved us,

so you called us to

love one another.

And so in a world of

rage and suffering and

pain, Holy Spirit,

empower us and shape

us and convict us to

be a church that

displays the love of

Christ and especially

to descend to the

place of weeping with

those who are weeping.

Give us patience and

grace and steadfastness

to carry each other's

burdens, that we might

be a community of

refuge for sinners and

sufferers alike, a

community devoted to

one another in love,

joyful in hope,

patient in affliction,

and faithful in prayer.

Gracious and most

merciful Father God,

we pray therefore as

well for those who

work in mental health

care in our city.

We ask that you provide

them with wisdom and

skill and compassion and

patience as they engage

with patience.

All individual lives

made in your image for

your glory.

May they treat each

individual as precious in

your sight, worthy of

respect and dignity.

Give them discernment and

clarity in diagnosing and

treating.

We ask God that you would

sustain them through the

secondary trauma that they

come from seeing others

suffer and the carrying of

those burdens.

Provide them with peace and

space to care for

themselves.

A medical system that

equips and supports them and

resources them.

a community to shoulder the

burdens in order that they

might have the healthy frame

of mind to care for

others.

We would ask that you would

use them to be

transformative agents in the

lives of the distressed and

the suffering to bring about

healing and hope to them and

their carers.

We pray for your intervention

as well, Lord, in the public

health system in this state

that have seen so many crucial

mental health care workers

leave.

We pray for these issues,

whatever they are, to be

resolved through adequate

resourcing.

We pray for your protection

over sufferers not able to

access the care that they had

even months ago when it is

particularly needed.

And so, Lord, we ask that you

would have mercy on us.

Mercy on all who are afflicted

in mind and heart.

Because your heart is bound to

ours.

Amen.

Amen.