W E L C O M E T
O A S B U R Y
Rev. Brian Joyce
Members and Friends,
“Here comes the heat”, that is what the TV has been screaming all week. August is finally here – hot, humid, and unremitting. Many of you know that I hate the heat and have despised it all my life. I love the summer but hate the heat. It is a conundrum that I have lived with and one that changed greatly after marrying Nanette. We joke that she would be happy just to stretch out on a hot rock and nap – happily lazing in 90 degree heat where I would be boiling and half-mad. This is an example of how marriages actually work; they are constructed from affection and accommodation.
This affectionate accommodation forms a pattern for much holier facets of our relationship, for example depression. You see occasionally I suffer depression. In my life depression behaves similarly to the hottest days of summer; it slips in, shuts off my access to life, and is oppressive and unremitting. Yet it is in the crucible of depression that God’s rich design of our marriage is most powerfully on display. Just as in the heat of summer Nanette functions well while I wither, likewise she does not take my depression as an attack against her. Her strength is in her ability to walk with me; lovingly reminding me that depression is not a terrifying dead-end but an often traveled, well-worn path that leads to renewed life and joy. She is my rock, my Jesus partner, and she freely offers her strength in this area. As I said I have strengths that balance weaknesses in her as well but those are hers to tell; I’ll restrict myself to this story, where she is my hero.
Depression needs heroes, it is an illness that comes without warning and often passes just as mysteriously. The older I get the shorter my depressive periods last. The longest in the last decade lasted only a few weeks, this may seem long to anyone who has never been depressed, but it is actually quite manageable. I give all the credit for this to God, God directly nurses me in prayer and meditation, and God brought me Nanette.
A good friend cautioned against telling you this story, warning me to be wary of admitting my depression to the church or to the denomination. This fear is from the old Pastor as Superhero days, I prefer the pastor (note the lower case) as person era. It is my hope that by telling you about my occasional sojourns into depression and God’s healing I might encourage two things. Firstly, I want to encourage anyone who silently suffers mental illness to stand up and be heard, reach out to the church and ask for help. If we lovingly embrace those among us suffering from cancer then we must also extend the hand of fellowship to those suffering from mental illnesses. Secondly, I want to offer a prayer of thanksgiving for those of you who are caregivers to those suffering mental illness. The silence and embarrassment over these disorders that permeates our culture cause not only the afflicted to suffer in private but also their caregivers to hide as well. Caregivers are often very lonely lacking outlets to speak about their pain.
Depression, like summer, does not last forever - but to those suffering alone it often seems that it will. We in the church must demand of ourselves the adoption of Biblical principles toward mental illness that reject worldly embarrassment, replacing it with Christ-like care and holy community. God bless us each wherever we are in our walk and grant us the freedom to live openly in the body of Christ.
Peace,
Pastor
Brian