A partner ministry of The General Commission on Religion and Race | |
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Winter 2025
Volume 15, #1
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TheVOICE
of the
United Methodist
Disability Connection
MENTAL HEALTH EDITION
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Greetings and welcome to The Voice, Mental Health Edition!
A new year has begun with all the hope and promise of a better life. The theme for this newsletter is "Hope." For those suffering with mental health issues, finding hope can be a challenge. As we struggle with medication side effects, lack of quality medical care, fear or disappointment over the status of our illnesses and the stigma such a diagnosis brings, it's easy to get discouraged.
But God has something better in store. Perhaps we're able to stabilize. Maybe God brings people into our lives - like us - to offer encouragement and support. Or maybe God just puts His arms around us as we weather the storm. Whatever we battle, wherever we are in our challenging journey, we don't have to give up. We can keep fighting. We can to cling to hope!
Jasmine Ray-Symms, MA
Newsletter editor,
Mental Health Task Force
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Finding Hope
Positive Thinking?
Prudential Grace
People of Hope
Resources
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It would be easy to succumb to despair and fear in these uncertain days of disasters, divisiveness, and unending wars, but we are called to be people of hope.
Where do you find hope?
- In the crystal-clear or rosy dawn of a new day?
- In new forms of ministry coming to life that draw in new people?
- In the innocent laughter of little kids exploring the outdoors and sharing the treasures they find?
- In reading your favorite Psalms and other passages and claiming God’s promises? Try writing and posting them where you see them throughout the day. Scripture suggestions:
Romans 12:12 "Be happy in your hope, stand your ground when you’re in trouble, and devote yourselves to prayer."
Romans 15:4 "Whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction so that we could have hope through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures."
Ephesians 4:4 "You are one body and one spirit, just as God also called you in one hope." (CEB)
Maybe you find hope...
- In the wisdom of a saint in your church or family who has lived for eight or nine decades and learned that no hardship lasts forever.
- In the chirping of birds coming back or bulbs peaking through the soil as signs that spring will come.
- In conversation over coffee with someone who really gets you, shares your concerns, and will offer mutual support and accountability in seeking to address injustices.
- In sensing a nudge from God to reach out to someone, doing it, and discovering that you're calling at exactly the right time.
- In listening to, reading the words, or singing hymns and songs written to inspire endurance and faithfulness.
You might listen to a choral anthem on You Tube such as "Hope of the World" (United Methodist Hymnal #178) sung by the Foundry UMC choir. Find other hymn suggestions throughout this newsletter.
May we all practice finding and sharing hope during these turbulent times!
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Contributed by Deaconess Lynn Swedberg, Pacific Northwest Conference
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
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Psalm 25:5
Lead me in your truth — teach it to me — because you are the God who saves me. I put my hope in you all day long. (CEB)
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The Faith We Sing #2197 "Lord of all hopefulness" | |
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People talk a lot about “positive thinking.” That can be so hard for people with mental health issues. When we’re so depressed we can’t get out of bed or so manic we don’t go to sleep, positive thinking sounds impossible. When psychosis turns our lives into mental fun houses, we seek to make sense of our distorted world. We’re in survival mode, not thinking positively. It seems impossible to put a positive spin on our lives, so we give up, sinking into the mire that is our minds. But when we’re at our lowest, that is when we are desperate for relief, desperate for hope.
Positive thinking has been a thorn in my side. I understand the concept but when life is so hard you lose touch with reality, it seems a Herculean act. I’ve learned it’s not other’s interpretation of positive thinking that matters, it’s mine. And it doesn’t come out of my own experience. True positivity draws from the fact that God is on our side. God is not giving up on us so neither should we.
We have hope because of the God who loves us. God doesn’t always rescue us when and how we want, but promises to be by our side our entire life journey. When our brain betrays us, God is faithful. When we’re wracked with fear, God's arms of safety are wrapped around us. When pain feels overwhelming, God reminds us this isn’t it. This life we’re living doesn’t end with the life we have today but with God's offer of eternal life without fear, pain or feelings of being overwhelmed.
So, we may not be able to think positively in a particular moment in time, but we don’t need to give into the negativity either. We must replace our thinking with God's truth. We may feel like we’re drowning but God reaches out His hands and brings us back onto solid ground. God gives us hope!
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Contributed by Jasmine Ray-Symms, Pacific Northwest Conference
Photo by Yoann Boyer on Unsplash
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Psalm 27:14
Hope in the LORD! Be strong! Let your heart take courage! Hope in the LORD! (CEB)
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United Methodist Hymnal #3462 " 'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus" | |
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We United Methodists hear the phrase “means of grace” repeatedly. However, we may not have heard of Wesley saying anything about the prudential means of grace. These are the ways in which God reaches out to us with his love, wisdom, strength, etc. according to one’s needs and circumstances.
I am reminded of a story about a young boy, afraid in a nighttime storm, who had the following response to his mom’s comforting words, “dear, God is with you,” saying, “yeah, but I want some flesh and blood." Ever feel like that little boy at times? I sure do. All of us have at one time or another.
Help from the larger Christian – and sometimes non-Christian - community is the prudential means of grace. This is how God’s grace comes to us incarnate, that is, in flesh and blood. If God can speak through a donkey in Numbers 22:28-31, then why can’t he use a non-Christian to give us his grace in our time of need?
God’s prudential means of grace provides important, varied, and real-life help in our lives. There were those who were short-term means of prudential grace who came into our lives for a season and then were gone. Others helped meet specific needs at the time which later either were not needed any longer. At times others took their place because of moving elsewhere. A faithful few continue as the prudential means of grace over the long-haul offering insights, wisdom, a non-judgmental listening ear, and perspective. This support may include pointing to where the friend could get needed outside practical help beyond what they could offer.
This was seen in a couple with two children. The husband was under extreme professional and personal stress. Additional stress came with one family member having severe mental health challenges requiring repeated hospital visits. After one hospitalization, a nurse offered him a handout about NAMI (National Alliance for the Mentally Ill) and encouraged him to contact the state office to learn more about help available. This stranger was the means through which the man met new people who already understood his path plus offered their own support and free resources for his journey.
Others reached out to him as well, e.g., a therapist who helped him to feel much better about himself. He learned about boundaries and having concrete consequences when they are broken. Another person came into his life that offered an empathetic, nonjudgmental ear. This was a reciprocal relationship of prudential grace for each other. Their friendship meant when one was strong, the other reached down into the other’s dark places and lifted them out. There was a friend from high school who, with her husband, gave him awesome support and other random acts of tangible kindness. Two cousins provided practical advice, physical presence plus a suggested book to read.
The man had random mystical experiences of God’s love. He felt the emotional and mental chains fall off from past coping mechanisms due to his traumatic experiences. He felt an almost tangible presence of God and His love. He is thankful to God and to these people for all the various experiences of the prudential means of God’s grace he experienced in his and his family’s life. The support extended down through the years in their journey as they dealt with their ongoing challenges.
There is a time to be still, fully in the present moment, avoiding offering solutions, and listening attentively without expressing any reactions. Such listening is a means of prudential grace.
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Psalm 130:5
I hope, LORD. My whole being hopes, and I wait for God’s promise. (CEB)
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The Faith We Sing #2186 "Song of Hope" | |
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What was the last thing that you hoped for? Possibly a particular Christmas gift or was it perhaps something more mundane, like hoping your pizza gets delivered on time? As Christians, we are called the people of hope. Our identity as United Methodists is an essential aspect in providing and helping to activate hope with each other.
We know that hope is a powerful concept in our lives. We all know what it is like to lose hope. The presence of hope is one of the most important factors that a mental health professional will assess in determining one’s course of treatment.
Merriam Webster defines “hope” as “a desire accompanied by expectation or belief in fulfillment.” Psychology tells us that hope involves two parts:
1. A pathway/direction for ways to meet a goal and
2. A sense that they have the ability to use that pathway to move forward.
Seeking help for mental health issues often challenges both of these concepts. Sorting out the details of insurance and finding the most helpful person is especially taxing when already feeling depressed or anxious. Sometimes the people and/or the pastor don’t know how to help in an effective, affirming manner. In these situations, hope for acceptance and community can be extinguished quickly.
Fortunately, our identity both as Christians and as United Methodists can provide a sense of foundation to our process. Particular to Wesley’s teachings was “prevenient grace.” God is there reaching for us and attempting to connect with us even before we know we need Him.
We don’t need to know the perfect response. Our part is to respond to God’s love for us by reaching out to each other just as Jesus taught us to do. This is our pathway forward. We gain the ability to do this by reading helpful material or by taking a class. These resources can help us identify what areas our church needs to improve on, such as ways to be more inclusive in worship or better helping persons know that God loves each of us, especially when we struggle. In this we live out our identity as the people of hope because we ourselves know how to live that with each other.
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Psalm 146:5
The person whose help is the God of Jacob — the person whose hope rests on the LORD their God — is truly happy! (CEB)
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United Methodist Hymnal #505 "When our confidence is shaken"
United Methodist Hymnal #507 "Through it all"
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Upcoming Events & Resources | |
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Calvin Symposium on Worship
Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI - in-person
Feb 5-7, 2025
Sessions on trauma-informed, inclusive, and dementia-appropriate worship
Symposium website
Moral Injury Workshop
Duke University - 8 hours, fully online via Zoom
February 15, 2025 8-hour via Zoom. Designed specifically for healthcare professionals, chaplains, mental health professionals (counselors, psychologists, pastoral counselors), clergy, students, and anyone else interested in the topic of moral injury, the distressing emotions associated with it, and the devastating consequences that can result (worsening of PTSD, depression, and increased risk of suicide). Faculty: Harold G. Koenig, M.D.,
Moral Injury Workshop website
2025 Institute on Theology & Disability
Iliff School of Theology, Denver, CO - in-person and virtual
June 16-18, 2025, see Institute link for more information and for access to video recordings of the 2024 plenary sessions
Resources
Pathways to Promise Mental Health Multifaith Resource Center
Explore a comprehensive library of mental health and wellness information at
Resource Center | Pathways 2 Promise
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Scripture quotations from the COMMON ENGLISH BIBLE. © Copyright 2011
COMMON ENGLISH BIBLE. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
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The Mental Health Task Force is a group of lay and clergy representing US UMC conferences who meet monthly by Zoom. We are looking for new members to join us in living out this call.
As always, we welcome your questions, feedback, and suggestions. Please send them to us at the committee e-mail address and include "Mental Health" in your subject line.
Mental Health Task Force of the Disability Ministries Committee of The United Methodist Church
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