#all of the loneliest of creatures. jesus christ | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

riverdamien · 1 year

Text

Good Mental Health!

America's Loneliest Era!

(from the Washington Post)

Our Lady of Mary's Month!

Pray the Rosary!

Mental Health Month!

Jesus the Way to the Father

14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe[a] in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?[b] 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And you know the way to the place where I am going.”[c] 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you know me, you will know[d] my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, but if you do not, then believe[e] because of the works themselves. 12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If in my name you ask me[f] for anything, I will do it. (John 14:1-14 NRSVEU)

Mental Health Awareness Month What it is: May is mental health awareness month, making mental health and suicide prevention bigger topics than ever. #mentalhealthmatters has around 42 billion views on TikTok, and #mentalhealthawareness has racked up 20 billion. Why the conversation is changing: The CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior survey showed that suicidal ideation, especially for teenage girls, is continuing on a concerning trajectory. In 2021, 30% of girls said that they had seriously considered suicide in the past year, and 24% said they had an actual plan to end their life. According to data published by Mental Health America, 16.4% of youth reported experiencing a major depressive episode within the last 12 months. This news comes at a time when adults are feeling so lonely that the US surgeon general has declared loneliness a public health emergency. Stigma around mental health topics appears to be eroding, but that isn’t necessarily leading to better mental health outcomes for teens and for the population at large.

Conversation Starter: What do you think are the biggest contributors to mental health issues for your generation? (Check out our new video series on Mental Health for more help having this conversation!)

-----------------------------------------------------------

What is good mental health? In his book, Ash Wednesday, J. R. Mabry has the Sheriff say: "If I have learned anything from my mother, Jake, it's there are no good people. There are only people in various stages of being fu. .cked up. Some less, some more."

Good mental health is the ability both to value life and to engage in a life of affirming other people and creatures and value their lives as we do our own, seeing them as independent from us. Good mental health means the ability to behave differently depending upon the circumstances and not expect every thing go our way. Good mental health is our ability to see everyone, regardless of social status, sexual identification, and color, simply as a fellow human being.

"In Christ there is no east or west. in him no pride of birth, the chosen family God has blessed now spans the whole wide earth. For God in Christ has made us one from every land, race, and sexual orientation, has reconciled us through the Son, and met us all with Grace."

We live in America's loneliest era. Our country is so divided, we stay buried in our social media and do not talk to one another, and most importantly listen. Good mental health means to"shelter our souls." For me it means to dwell in Jesus. "Dwelling in Jesus", means to be open to all, to listen, letting them find good mental health, and a "dwelling in whatever their belief in the Higher Power."

Recently a young man came to my place. He was well dressed, and he said don't you remember me, and I said, "Well, I am not sure," "You knew me as "Chaos", who at fifteen had been high on fentanyl and knocked me down, sending me on a two year journey of recovery. He said:

"You simply forgave me, and continued to be my friend...and for the next year you simply listened when I came to your house, even in pain you listened." Through our listening I found a Higher Power in AA." I went home to my parents, and am now in college. I keep a photo of you in my wallet to remind me you care and you listen, never judging."

Listening saves lives, simply listening with out judgment.

The word "dwell" is related to an old English word for "heresy" or "madness". Perhaps it is a sort of insanity to believe that God dwells here, with us.

Or that, somehow, resurrection is an end to our exile, and an invitation to come home to God. If so, the madness is the long-lingering hope of the human race, the dream to dwell. Not only a hope, however it is hard work, this effort to shelter our souls.

To "dwell" means we struggle as a family with all people in finding safety in life, in finding "good mental health".

None of us are "good", but we try as hard as we can and move from the stage of evil ultimately into the fullness of God, the fullness of accepting all as a reflection of Jesus of Nazareth--black, white, brown, blue, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning and all in between. The fullness of good mental health.

In the midst of our fears and uncertainty and old Methodist hymn, one upon which I was raised and one that will be sung at my funeral rings out:

"O God, our help in ages past,

our hope for years to come,

our shelter from the stormy blast,

and our eternal home."

Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

--------------------------

Fr. River Damien Sims, D.Min., D.S.T.

P.O. Box 642656

San Francisco, CA 94164

[email protected]

415-305-2124

River's Creed:

"I write because this is the way I protest".

Ministry on the streets is the way I resist, dong what I can to proclaim the Gospel of Love to every human being with out judgment."

"Now I hand down to you what has been revealed to me: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures."

0 notes

aliveinjesuschrist · 6 years

Text

Do you want the Friends you need?

JANUARY 17, 2018 Do You Want the Friends You Need? Article by Greg Morse Content strategist, desiringGod.org He is often the subject of whispering. “Oh, here he comes — better get your Bibles out.” “No wonder no one invites him out to lunch; he can never just have a normal conversation.” “I can’t enjoy the game without being asked a million questions about my walk with the Lord and struggles with sin.” He is serious about holiness, concerned with his friends’ souls, and devoted to helping them to pursue Jesus with all their heart. Although Solomon calls him the sweetest of friends (Proverbs 27:9), he is often left outside in the wilderness of Christian gatherings to eat locusts and wild honey. He speaks with urgency, he speaks with sobriety, he says things others don’t. He makes Christians bail and jokers ask under their breath, “Why so serious?” His name is Earnest. A Friend Named Earnest Although he does the soul the most good, Earnest is often thought to be overly serious, overly direct, and altogether too spiritual. He smells strongly of Christ — a stench to the world and overbearing even to some nostrils within the church. The world is offended by him, and believers will only endure so much of him. Without a place to rest his head, he can be one of the loneliest people on the planet. But I encourage you, beloved, to embrace the Earnests among you for at least four reasons. 1. Because they love you in ways many won’t. At times, the earnest friend can be awkwardly direct. He can speak truth without love. He can be out of bounds, or just plain wrong. But often, he loves you in ways no one else will. Because he loves your soul more than coddling your feelings, because he believes that heaven and hell are real and the time short, he will turn the blade of God’s word against your soul-destroying sin and constantly charge you onward. He will wound you for your good (Proverbs 27:6). If no one else can be trusted to tell you the truth, he can. He helps you be the man or woman God calls you to be by sharpening you — at times and in ways you’re uncomfortable with (Proverbs 27:17). When all others have told their jokes, had their laughs, and gone home, this friend will stand fast to war beside you — even when it feels like against you — for your eternal well-being. Remember, the friend who loves you most will care most about your soul. Do not put dark for light and light for dark, bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Brothers born for the day of adversity (Proverbs 17:17) are friends who love you enough to be serious with you. Love looks like many things at many times, but the highest form of love, as our Master showed us, is not less than earnest. 2. Because you need them. Not many in heaven will get there without earnest friends. As I read the author of Hebrews discuss the necessity of earnest fellowship, I dare not conclude that it is optional: Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. (Hebrews 3:12–14) And again, Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:23–25) These friends exhort you concerning the dangers of unbelief. These friends check their calendars, and as long as it is called “today,” they call you to repent and believe. They know that only those who continue until the end will be saved (Colossians 1:23), and as far as they can help it, they will not let you perish. They are a citadel against Satan and his schemes: a Samwise to accompany you to Mordor, a Ron and Hermione to battle against Voldemort, a Jonathan to shield you from Saul’s spear. These friends consider you. Know you. Contemplate you. And they desire to stir up your affections for Christ (Hebrews 10:24). 3. Because they need you. The body needs Earnest, and Earnest needs the body. Although everyone should be earnest, not everyone will be Earnest. The church is made up of different parts, and each part needs each other (1 Corinthians 12:14–26). And as the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” neither can the body say such to Earnest — or he to them. The especially earnest needs the especially gracious, hospitable, patient, generous, and hopeful — and they need him. The church would be a strange creature if all were eyes, ears, or Earnests. 4. Because to push them away may be to push away Christ. Perhaps, if we are honest, we push dear Earnest away because we are comfortable with the amount of spirituality we have and want no more. Our stiff arm and bitter jokes come not mainly from Earnest’s erring attempts at love, but our malfunctioning love for Christ. Perhaps we do not like reminders that we are too worldly. Perhaps we do want to kill our pet sins. Perhaps we despise the brightness of these friends’ light because it exposes the dimness in us. Perhaps they walk as a contradiction to the little lie that we have begun telling ourselves: I can be a follower of Jesus and a friend of the world. Or perhaps we do want more of Jesus and we are jealous of Earnest. Why should our Father give more to our brother or sister than to us? He seems so happy, so free from the world. He seems to have one foot in heaven already. Why has he been blessed with deeper levels of fellowship with our Savior than we have been? So, we can pout on the floor in what feels like Christian hand-me-downs and watch our sibling parade in his multicolor garments. If not a pit and slavery for him, we will have to lay our hands of jealousy upon him through gossip, separation, and sarcasm. Will we prove to be a murderous brother like Cain? Beware, lest sin be crouching at your door. Love Him Earnestly Whatever our reason may be, we must not treat those most serious about the things of God with contempt; we must not regard our eternity’s best earthly friend with disdain. Rather, thank them. Apologize to them. Be more like them. If you do not have these friends (for they can be rare these days), pray for them. And invite brothers and sisters in your life to be more earnest with you. Begin by being more earnest with them. Often, it takes one person to go deeper for others to follow. True friends, as with true joy, are never less than serious about things worth being serious about. Although they are not always the friends we want, they are always the friends we need. Greg Morse is a content strategist for desiringGod.org and graduate of Bethlehem College & Seminary. He and his wife, Abigail, live in St. Paul.

#Earnest #friends #want #need #christian

0 notes