The presence of the church heals in the name of Jesus

Lowell Cooper
Former Vice-President of the
SDA General Conference

Introduction :

Mental illness is a significant part of the world's disease burden. According to a

study by the World Health Organization in European countries, one in three adults
will suffer from at least one mental disorder in their life, such as problems derived
from substance use, psychosis, depression, anxiety or eating disorders.

Our identity is found in our mind, in our emotions and in our behavior. A broken
leg is not seen the same as a broken spirit.

In order to understand the importance of emotional health and well-being in the

life and mission of the Church, it is necessary to ask if emotional health and well-
being are important to God. It is necessary to look not only for a general answer –
but also for the specific means by which God demonstrates His concern for
emotional health.

Let's reflect on some biblical passages that will allow us to better understand this
topic:

Genesis 1 : Before God created human beings He created an environment in which

they could develop and prosper. He put human beings in this context and gave
them an identity, a purpose, meaning, relationship and work.

When sin entered and the entire system of identity, purpose, meaning, relationship,
and work was corrupted by man, God quickly came to the rescue. He confronted
his fears, his guilt, his loneliness, his alienation and his anger – issues that often
serve as grounds for depression and mental illness.

Exodus : The story of the exodus is the story in which God's people of the Old
Testament find their identity and purpose. It is an example in which God commits
himself to a mission.

In the exodus God responds to all dimensions of Israel's need. Our commitment to
mission must show the same absolute concern for human needs that God
demonstrated.

The tendency of religions has been to worry more about religion than about men;
Christ cared more about men than about religion – in fact, His concern for
humanity was the greatest manifestation of His religion.
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Deuteronomy 24:19-22: When the Bible talks about poverty it refers to people
who are destitute and not to those people who have lost a few points on their
stocks in the stock market. The poor are those who are at great risk, those who do
not have a cushion of savings for times of trouble. It is the same for the foreigner
and the orphans.

Poverty is not just an economic dimension of life. It also affects emotional health
and well-being. So when we read in the Bible of God's care for the poor, for the
hopeless, we should also think of those whose emotional health and well-being are
at risk, since the basics of living are out of reach.

Isaiah 58:6, 7: In this verse God relates religious acts (for example, fasting) to the
behavior He desires toward the poor.

Jeremiah 22:15-18: The prophet Jeremiah compares the wicked and wicked king
Jehoiakim with his illustrious father Josiah. Knowledge of God must be seen as
more than a set of premises about God's existence, his character, and his
predisposition. The knowledge of God must be translated into practice. The
Christian life is not only faith, but also behavior.

2 Corinthians 1:3, 4: Followers of Jesus Christ are invited to “comfort those who
are in any trouble” just as we are comforted by God.

The example of Jesus :

Jesus identifies with human needs. He describes the Son of Man coming in all His
glory and saying to the nations gathered before Him, “I was hungry…. I was
thirsty…I was a stranger…I was naked…I was sick…in prison…” (Matthew
25:31-46)

Matthew 11:28-30: Here Jesus invites those with heavy burdens to find relief and
rest in Him.

Mark 10:46-52: The healing of blind Bartimaeus is one of Jesus' most instructive
healing miracles because it deals with several dimensions at once:

The multitude and the minority. We live in a time where greatness is

important. Quantity and mass are highly valued. Jesus stops our preoccupation
with quantity by demonstrating a fervent interest in the suffering of each
individual person. Jesus' message is that a single individual is of great importance.

Secondly, this story raises the question of the conflict between the spiritual and the
secular, between theology and sociology . The crowd following Jesus heard the
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same cry that He heard. But they dismissed it as uninteresting or unimportant to
Him since it was not important to them. They had built a wall of distinction
between religion and relief. The current hot topics were of a theological nature:
who is the Christ? Have you kept the law? How much tithe do you give? But
humanity's urgent need was relegated to the periphery of life.

Jesus showed that theology and service are inseparable. Any attempt to separate
them undermines them. Bartimaeus' cry is that poverty, suffering, unemployment,
illness, hunger are religious problems. However, one can still hear: the church
must be kept out of economic affairs. Jesus demonstrated that every human need
was also His problem. And it still is.

Third, in this story we see that Jesus resolved the conflict between the transitory
and the transcendental . He was on his way to Jerusalem, where the final scenes of
His life on earth would vilely play out in public. His ministry was reaching its
climax. All the lines of his teachings, the great center of the prophecy were about
to be revealed. Big things were at stake. However, Master stopped! This unique
moment, which truly would have gone unnoticed amidst the incipient drama on the
horizon, represents a defining moment for that lonely soul.

An excessive interest in the proclamation of final events can distort our vision of
service here and now.

Mental Health and the Mission of the Church :

This brief summary shows a small part of God's interest in emotional health and
well-being. And it is on this image of God's concern and care for humanity that the
Church must draw on when addressing emotional issues.

What can we do :

1. Celebrate the freedom and security of salvation.

Those who teach, preach, and write the gospel message must ensure that they are
conveying the gospel in the proper way. They must make sure that grace is greater
than guilt. It is easier for people who belong to a religious community to think of
salvation in rights-based terms rather than as a response to grace.

Ellen White described her own struggle as a teenager. When I was a child I saw
God as a “severe tyrant who forces men to blindly obey him.” When preachers
described the fires of an eternal burning hell, she personalized the horror of this
experience. She wrote: “As I listened to these terrible descriptions, my imagination
was so active that I began to perspire, and it was difficult for me to restrain a cry
of anguish, for I seemed to already feel the pangs of perdition.”
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She once recalled: “Despondency took hold of me, and… not a ray of light came
to hurt the melancholy gloom that surrounded me.” His “feelings were very
sensitive” and on one occasion he feared he had “lost his mind.” Ellen White
recalled that sometimes “all night long” she did not dare close her eyes but “knelt
on the floor to pray silently in a silent and indescribable anguish.”

Finally, at the age of 15 she talked with someone who helped her better understand
the loving character of God. Referring to his interview with Millerite Methodist
pastor Levi Stockman, he recalled that he gave him a lot of help. Stockman
empathized with Elena's emotional pain and even shared her tears. She wrote that
she “gained from Stockman more knowledge of the love and compassionate
tenderness of God than in all the sermons and exhortations she had heard before.”1

2. Break the silence/remove the stigma.

Many people are afraid of mental illness and don't know how to deal with someone
who has a mental illness. Unlike physical illness, which is seen as temporary,
mental illness is often seen as permanent and untreatable.

We could consider that mental illness occurs among the marginalized of society.
Actually, when considering the prevalence of mental illness in society, these
constitute the main group. With today's medical knowledge, mental illness can be
treated and controlled effectively in many cases.

However, unfortunately, the media often reinforces the fear of mental illness or
makes a comedy out of it. Amusement parks use mental illness to entertain or
frighten with attractions such as “Psycho Mouse,” “Psycho House,” “Psycho
Drome,” “Dr. D.'s Asylum.” Mind for the Criminally Insane,” “On the Edge of
Insanity: Still Crazy,” and “The Path of the Psychopath.”

When we come together as a church we should be careful not to maintain a sense

of spiritual community through exaggerated piety and courtesy. We are all broken
people – in different phases of the repair process carried out by the Great
Physician.

So, let's not be afraid to talk about it. Let us recognize the existence of mental
health problems in our circle of acquaintances and in the Church. Let's talk about it
publicly – but without making jokes.

Let's find out what we can do to help: from simple friendship to professional

1 See Merlin D Burt, “Ellen G White and Mental Health,” Dialogue (20-3 2008) p. 12.
See also Ellen G White, Life Sketches , p. 28-39.
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resources in our community. Let us wholeheartedly accept people, even those
suffering from obvious mental struggles. How else can we be the people who
represent Christ?

And when it is our turn to suffer from an emotional illness, let us not be afraid or
hesitate to seek help. Mental illness does not mean weakness. It's not something to
be ashamed of.

3. Carefully explain the theology and meaning of suffering.

Our theology must not be small to fight big questions. We must ensure that the
image of God is not distorted by the existence of suffering. How can God allow
people to endure the suffering that mental illness brings? Is mental illness a sign of
divine punishment or lack of faith?

Some preachers often claim that if one firmly believes in God everything will turn
rosy. The prosperity gospel attracts many followers. The idea that God will satisfy
your every desire is a treacherous delusion. Yes, God satisfies our deepest
longings even though we often don't understand what they really are. Instead, we
live with fleeting needs and desires and believe that if we have enough faith God
should satisfy them.

How many servants of God do you think have had easy and prosperous lives?
Hebrews chapter 11 lists some heroes of the faith—none of them had an easy life.
After listing several people by name and summarizing their life of faith, the author
goes on to describe others who “were tortured…had trials with mocking and
whippings, and experienced chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they
were sawn, they were tempted, they were killed by the sword. They walked around
covered in sheepskins and goatskins, poor, distressed, mistreated—of whom the
world was not worthy. They wandered in the deserts, in the mountains, in the
caves and in the caverns of the earth.”2

4. Emphasize the experience of forgiveness

Sometimes emotional illness can arise from a deep feeling of guilt for mistreating
others or from strong resentment for mistreatment received from others. For many
people, the experience of coming to understand God's forgiveness and His desire
to extend that forgiveness to others is beneficial to mental health.

The Bible records accounts of Jesus healing people simply by declaring that their
sins had been forgiven. (Matthew 9:2 for example.) If a doctor today said that to a

2Hebrews 11:35-38, NKJV

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patient he would be accused of malpractice. But Jesus knew the close relationship
between the mind and the body.

We can only achieve inner health through forgiveness—forgiveness not only of

others but of ourselves.3

5. Develop the local church as a caring community.

We are not only called to unity, but also to community. We must ensure that our
worship gatherings are also times to celebrate human connection. Let us not be
simple spectators in the church. It is possible to feel alone in the middle of a
crowd.

To what extent do we really know each other? Do we know the names of the
children and young people in our church? Do we greet people by name? Do we
understand the burdens that people carry? Are we attentive to see the pain and
perceive the loneliness?

6. Cultivate prayer.

Often a promise to pray for others is a way to avoid getting involved in a difficult
situation. We think it's a kind of comfort for distressed people to say, “I'll be
praying for you,” or “Why don't you just pray about this?” It can be somewhat
humiliating.

Sometimes people need prayer, but also for their physical needs to be met.

We must take the time and interest in learning how to help them or guide them to
seek help. This does not mean that each member considers himself or herself to be
a counselor. No! There are some ways that we should not assume help people with
emotional illnesses. But there are also other ways in which we can affirm the value
of each individual, according to their dignity as children of God. Kindness and
practical altruism is a ministry that every church member can give to others.

We must be careful not to accept the idea that the markers of a religious life are
Bible study, prayer, and testimony. This is an incomplete list. What is missing is
the service.

3 Joshua Loth Liebman (1907–1948)

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7. Live in harmony with what we know about healthy living

Seventh-day Adventists have been blessed with much information about healthy
living. “Integral” should be one of our hallmarks. The principles of healthy living
are not something we have invented or discovered. They came to us as a gift and
for quite some time their acceptance was simply a matter of faith. Today we are
proud of studies that repeatedly confirm the benefits of what was revealed to us
long ago about lifestyle.

Isn't it strange that today, in the presence of so much evidence, we as a religious

community seem somewhat ambivalent about the health message? Shouldn't we
celebrate this gift in ways that allow us to be known for what we affirm rather than
what we deny? May we not be known as people of joy, peace, health, long life and
love?

The prophetic vision of evangelism:

Seventh-day Adventists base their sense of mission, called the “Great

Commission,” on Matthew 28. To be exact, the Bible has more than one
commission. Matthew 25 has an implicit commission based on loving service. In
the Old Testament there is also a commission on evangelism.

Thus says the LORD of hosts: In those days it will come to pass that ten men
from the nations of every language will take the mantle of a Jew, saying, We
will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. —Zechariah 8:23

This is evangelism. The good news is manifested. It is a way of life, something

evident to everyone.

As we begin a global initiative to work in the world's large urban centers—how

will we be known? For our institutions? By our professionally designed programs
and media? By our prophetic interpretations? Or for the quality of our lives and
our treatment of others?

Conclusion :

Robert Lewis Stevenson, famous for his adventure story Treasure Island , suffered
from poor health for much of his childhood and youth. One night his nurse found
him pressing his nose against the frosted glass of his room window. "Kid, get
away from there. You're going to get cold,” she said, scandalized.

But young Robert did not move. He sat, fascinated, as he watched an old
lamplighter work slowly through the dark night, lighting each lamp along the way.
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Pointing excitedly, Robert exclaimed, "Look; look there; there's a man making
holes in the darkness."

"Making holes in the darkness." What a wonderful image of our work in the
mission so that no one is left behind.