Reflection: The mental health gospel

Revd John Beauchamp reflects on the Gospel imperative for the church to be a place of belonging and sanctuary for those experiencing mental illness. 

In recent years we have seen a greater recognition of mental illness and a growing openness from many to disclose and talk about their emotional and psychological struggles.  

Additionally, although mental illness is experienced across all sectors of society, it is recognised that it is experienced disproportionately by those who live with other forms of marginalisation and prejudice.  The poor, the disabled, people who are neurodivergent, women, the homeless, people who are LGTBQ, prisoners, racial minorities and many others find that their experience of marginalisation impacts their mental health. So as we become increasingly aware of the experiences of those on the margins, we also encounter more people who may have mental ill-health.

Yet much mental illness is hidden, endured in secret.  It brings feelings of shame and inadequacy.  It forces people into places of isolation and loneliness, and, although it is a common experience, still engenders responses founded on fear and misunderstanding.  

How mental illness is manifest is a complex mix of the physiological, psychological, cultural and environmental. The hormonal and chemical balances within our minds and bodies, the physical and emotional experiences that have been part of our lives, and the environmental and cultural pressures that affect us.  

A unique perspective

Whatever the mix of causes, a frequently observed common factor at the root of mental illness is an experience and place of pain that it is costly for someone else to enter into.  To come alongside someone going through the experience of mental illness is demanding and few are really willing to do this.  It means giving up some of the order of our lives and entering into the chaos of another’s life.  It means becoming vulnerable to the pain of another which requires a particular level of dedication and compassion.  

But this is where the church has the opportunity to approach mental illness from a unique perspective.  A perspective given to us by Jesus who in his crucifixion and death entered entirely into our places of pain and carried, and still carries, them and their consequences for us. 

Jesus and mental health

Jesus we are told was fully human and has taken our human experience of life and death into the heart of God.  Within that human experience there is no doubt that he is acutely aware of the need to focus on mental health as well as physical health.   During his ministry Jesus was prepared to engage with people whose mental illness meant they were ostracised and marginalised by everyone else, and in his times of withdrawal to places of solitude and contemplation I think there is no doubt that Jesus was very aware of the importance of his own mental health.  

This is maybe most clear in the circumstances surrounding the story of the feeding of the five thousand.  In Matthew 14 and Mark 6 this is juxtaposed with the telling of the story of the beheading of John the Baptist.  In Luke 9, although the beheading of John is not recounted in detail, in verse 9 Luke makes reference to the fact that Herod beheaded John.  And in John 6 this comes after arguments with the Pharisees centering on Jesus identity.  In each Gospel we are told that Jesus and his disciples withdrew to a solitary place, a place that was away from the crowds.  From his human perspective, Jesus is under a lot of pressure at this moment of his ministry.  There are powerful people around him capable of killing him and, no matter how much he demonstrates who he is through miracles and kingdom signs, the opposition he is experiencing only grows in strength and intensity.  The withdrawal to a solitary place is not only a physical withdrawal but there is a real sense of psychological withdrawal here as well.  Withdrawal from the relentless pressure of the world to a place where he can focus on his own physical, spiritual and mental health.

But, rather than this being a refreshing personal retreat with his closest friends, Jesus finds himself standing before five thousand and more people, holding in his hand the laughably inadequate  5 small loaves and 2 small fish.  But the meagre becomes not just adequate but bountiful before his very eyes and there is a real sense that Jesus goes on from this experience somehow transformed and relieved of a burden.  Maybe the burden of the physical and psychological pressure that John’s death and the constant opposition had formed around him.  

Releasing creativity

Creativity is sometimes an outcome of mental illness and in fact many of humankind’s greatest artists, musicians, poets and novelists have experienced mental illness as part of their creative pathway.  Making space for a person’s individual creativity to be released, develop, flourish and be recognised is something that a church community can be uniquely placed to do, encouraging all to offer their gifts and talents in the worship and service of God.

Valued and respected

People who experience mental illness can also be acutely spiritually aware.  This though is often misunderstood and dismissed as a symptom or consequence of their illness.  But the Bible is littered with people who today would be diagnosed as mentally ill who are called and equipped by God to bring his message to his people.  From Noah building the ark miles from any water, through the many Old Testament prophets who resorted to extreme acts to proclaim God’s word, to John’s visions in the Book of Revelation.  All these people that we revere as being close to God would easily today be called mentally ill.  Maybe, as John Swinton suggests, the church can be the one place where those who are diagnosed as mentally ill today can be accepted and listened to as valued and respected children of God.  

‘Jesus calls us to engage in persistent love; a love that is gentle, kind, loving and patient. Such love takes time. And time is exactly what many of us are tempted not to offer to people with mental illnesses. When we slow down and take time to listen and try to understand, things begin to look different.  When people who are mentally ill cry out or draw attention to themselves in the midst of their sadness or confusion, it may be that these expressions of concern are not actually ‘problems’. They may be the expression of experiences, questions, fears, requests for love.  Might it not be that they are looking for someone who, at last, will see them as persons and will listen to them? The real problem may be that we have not yet learned the practice of listening properly; of slowing down, being patient and opening our souls to the confusion of the other.  Maybe the experiences of mentally ill people are not just problems to be solved? Perhaps they are in fact cries to be heard, respected, trusted and understood: cries that demand love.’’ 

(Swinton, John, et al, Mental Illness, The Inclusive Church Resource, Darton, Longman and Tod (2013) p68)

The Revd John Beauchamp is Diocesan Disability Ministry Enabler in London Diocese.