DAY 109: “How is COVID-19 Affecting Our Mental Health?”

DAY 109

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

Week Sixteen – Wednesday 1 July 2020

“How is COVID-19 Affecting Our Mental Health?”

“By now, the world is familiar with the physical threat of COVID-19. But the psychological impacts of the pandemic are only just beginning to come into focus. In April, more than one in four U.S. adults met the criteria that psychologists use to diagnose serious mental illness. That represents a roughly 700% increase from data collected in 2018. Meanwhile, roughly 70% of Americans experienced moderate to severe mental distress – triple the rate seen in 2018. … This is a perfect storm for mental health issues. We’re dealing with social isolation, anxiety around health, and economic problems.”  From a current news magazine article by the same name.   

In a previous church, my wife and I ‘team-preached’ a sermon on the relationship between mental health and Christian faith, she for many years a state-licensed professional counselor, LPC, in private practice, and I as someone who had listened for decades to people sharing the private pain of mental health issues attempting to integrate into their Christian faith what wouldn’t go away. I also shared my personal struggles with trying to reconcile and balance my own experiences with depression, medication and my Christian faith. At the end of the service as she and I greeted people at the door a young man in his late 20’s shook my hand, silently put his arms around me in a gentle hug, lowered his head onto my shoulder and just sobbed. He lived with a significant manic-depressive schizophrenic condition, on medication and disability. I felt the weight of his existence on my shoulder, as he without a word indicated what it meant to him to hear someone talk from the pulpit about his own particularly painful journey.          

Yes, we believe that Jesus still heals today, but for whatever mysterious reason Christians who travel with emotional and mental health issues usually find them a permanent part of the definition of who they are. The Presbyterian Church USA has resources for mental health ministries: presbyterianmission.org and God’s Word remains our number one resource.  

    

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration:

1.800.662.4357

365 days 24/7

Reflective question: Are you, or is someone you know, struggling with mental health issues due

to or exacerbated by the current multiple crises? Call the federal government agency above.

Reflective Scripture: Isaiah 40:1 – ‘Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.”

Reflective hymn:

“I Want Jesus to Walk with Me” – African American Spiritual

I want Jesus, to walk with me; I want Jesus, to walk with me;

All along my pilgrim journey, Lord, I want Jesus, to walk with me.