Healing Minds, Healing Hope
Welcome to Issue #56 of Biblia Luna, the weekly newsletter about the intersection of mental illness and faith, written by a pastor who lives with depression. I put the holy back in melancholy!
Hopefully Tomorrow: The Mind of Christ
There are times when I feel like I’m broken. That there’s something catastrophically wrong with my brain, or my mind, or whatever. That I am built wrong. Sometimes I feel like there’s something inside me that hates me, and sometimes I feel like the thing that hates me is…me. Perhaps that’s life living with depression. Perhaps that’s something we all deal with. I don’t know. But sometimes I wonder if there’s anything more, if there’s any real healing, if there’s anything beyond this broken feeling. I don’t feel this way all the time. But sometimes.
Do you know what that’s like? Do you know what it’s like to wonder if there’s anything more? To wonder if you could ever be more than the “half-person” or the “non-person” or the “broken person” you are? I bet there are a lot of roads that lead to this feeling, or one like it – my own personal road probably isn’t the only one.
But every now and then, in those darker times, there’s a glimmer of hope that there is hope. There is more. There is light and life. Sometimes I find those glimmers through my faith. The faith that God is there, that God cares for the world. That God is a God of love. I have that faith, and I believe with all my being that God loves you, that God loves others, that God loves the world, but in my darker times, I have a very hard time believing that God loves me. Because of that broken mind, I guess. Because I feel like such a “half-person” or “non-person.” My faith doesn’t always help. But then there are times when it does.
Times when I hear a message like this, in Paul’s letter to the Philippians:
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 2:5, New Revised Standard Version)
Now, I could go on and on about what that verse means in context. I could tell you about the “Christ hymn” that Paul was quoting. I could tell you about why the Philippians needed this particular message. I could explain how Paul was calling the Philippians to follow Jesus in selfless giving. Blah, blah, blah.
But then I read the verse again: Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus. Paul actually believes that his readers can have the mind of Christ. And maybe that means that I too can have the mind of Christ within me. Maybe that means that my mind is not beyond hope. My mind is not beyond healing. My mind is not beyond redemption. Maybe that means that one day, I will think as Christ thought. And that thought is so hopeful, because it means that maybe one day I will think clearly, trust fully, see face-to-face, not in a mirror dimly. Maybe one day, I will see the world as God sees it, see myself as God sees me. Maybe one day, I will be healed. It brings me hope in those darker days. I hope it might bring you some hope as well.
Upcoming Event
If you’re in the Lehigh Valley area, you might consider attending Harvest Full of Hope, an annual mental health conference. This year’s event will be on October 17 at Steelstacks in Bethlehem. I attended last year, and found it to be a very inspiring and helpful event. There were some great workshops and loads of vendors. I plan to be there again this year. And it’s free — hope you can make it.
Mental Health in the News
I found this interesting, at NPR:
These habits can cut the risk of depression in half, a new study finds
Helpful Resources from Very Well Mind
I’m not good at anything: Combating Low Self-Esteem
Biblia Blessing
“If you are broken, you do not have to stay broken.”
— Selena Gomez