Expectations. We all have them. From the way we want to live our lives to the way we set up our homes and living spaces to the loyalty we expect from our family and friends. We expect certain behaviors from others and others expect them in return, and when people or things fall short of our expectations, we become frustrated at best, and at our worst, destructive, even to the point of self-destruction. I’d like to talk about how expectations, if we cling to them white-knuckled, can affect our mental health. I’d also like to talk about justice and most of all, what God expects of us at this time in our history.
At this point in time, we have certain expectations of those currently vying for the highest office in our land: the roles of President and Vice President of the United States. We expect the candidates to deliver — in the areas of economy, health care, foreign policy, immigration, climate change, human rights, and our police force, to name a few. Finally, we look for a leader who will finally end the war on COVID-19, death , and violence on the streets of our cities and towns. High expectations. A tall order for anyone.
Right behind its ravaging effects on human life, the collateral damage of COVID-19 has become mental health. The pandemic and its resulting economic recession have negatively affected many peoples’ mental health and created new barriers for people already suffering from mental health and substance use disorders.
In a tracking poll conducted in mid-July, 53% of adults in the US reported that their mental health has been negatively impacted due to worry and stress over the coronavirus. This is significantly higher than the 32% reports in March, the first time this was included in the poll.
Many adults are also reporting specific negative impacts on their mental health and well being, such as difficulty sleeping (36%) or eating (32%), increase in alcohol consumption or substance abuse (12%) due to stress and worry over the coronavirus. As the pandemic wears on, aging and necessary public health measures expose many people to experiencing situations linked to poor mental health outcomes, such as isolation — and job loss.
A broad body of research links social isolation and loneliness to poor mental health, and data from late March shows that significantly higher shares of people who were sheltering in place (47%) reported negative mental health effects resulting from worry or stress related to the coronavirus than among those not sheltering in place (37%).
Research shows that job loss is associated with higher depression, anxiety, distress, and low self-esteem and may lead to higher rates of substance abuse and suicide. Isolation is a risk factor for suicide. Over half of people who lost income or employment reported negative mental health impacts from worry or stress over coronavirus; and lower included people reported higher rats of major negative mental health impacts compared to higher income people.
Poor mental health due to burnout among front-line workers and increased anxiety or mental illness among those with poor physical heath are also concerns. Those with pre-existing mental illness and substance use disorders, and those newly affected, will likely require mental health and substance use services.
As we get older, we lose our ability to complete once routine daily tasks, and depression can set in. Physical ailments might end a senior’s ability to drive, read, engage in conversation or other activities that allow a person to stay independent or find meaning. “Growing older in America can be very hard…People don’t talk to you.”
If you or someone you know seems to be getting more distant or difficult to get a hold of, seems crankier OR more jubilant/ joyful than usual, changes in sleep habits or sharing statements of hopelessness or is withdrawing socially, then it is time for YOU to reach out them. together we can provide support systems for those we know and love , those we care a about.
What does God say about this?
What if we notice despair and depression within ourselves? What can we do?
- “Be of good courage, for I have overcome the world” John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble! But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
- We cannot care for others or ourselves without love. 1 Cor. 13: “If I spoke with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love…I am like a sounding gong and a clanging cymbal.”
- Cols. 3:1- “Fathers and Mothers, do not provoke your children to anger lest they become discouraged.”
Do not provoke … to anger. Both passages contain the same exhortation: Do not provoke, though Ephesians adds to anger. Provoke is the kind of word you might use when you kindle a fire into flame—you begin with something small and provoke it into a roaring fire. Or from another angle, it is the kind of word you might use when you are getting your children all excited, chasing them around and tickling them until you provoke them to being all wound up. Here, of course, Paul is using it in a negative sense of stirring, exasperating, or irritating them toward anger or bitterness. Parents must not provoke their children to anger.
- This can also apply to us as God’s children. We have a responsibility not only to our own chidren and the elderly, but ourselves. You know what they say when you get on a plane with your child. Take care of your own oxygen mask before your child’s, so that you are fully equipped to provide help for that child.
- The Shema (Hear, O Israel) states: “Thou shalt love your neighbor as yourself.” This is a commandment, something we are called to do.
Don’t give in to the pandemic of Anger. Anger in any form is a red flag, or a wakeup call. It usually masks a deep-seated fear that may have originated in childhood. if and when you see this within yourself or another person, it is time to get help and get on your knees.” Remember, too, the PERFECT LOVE CASTS OUT FEAR.
Do not beat down, but raise up. Do not provoke with impatience and injustice, but instead shepherd with nurture and tenderness, and do this through discipline and instruction.
WHAT DOES GOD REQUIRE OF US?
Micah 6:8 -
Do justice
LOVE mercy
WALK humby with your God.
In order to do justice for others, we need first be able to do justice to ourselves, simply by being ourselves, starting with behavior that befits God’s beloved children.
The Golden Rule —
What it ? Do until others as you would have others do unto you
AND…Do unto yourself as you would have others do unto you..
A Toolbox
So I just gave you a toolbox for how to cope with the side effects of what we are going through as a nation and as global citizens. If we think these tools are going to solve all of our problems, we will be disappointed. Why? Because having a toolbox increases our expectations even more. After all, we grew up with Band-Aids, so we think we can just slap one on and our problems will be fixed and gone.
Well, I’d like you to meet someone who didn’t grow up with that kind of luxury. In fact, I think many of you know him. His name is James McJunkin, and he is our Executive Minister at the PBA. On September 17, he wrote a Pastoral Letter to all 165 churches in the PBA and in it, he shared his personal story. Here it is:
My Story:
I will never forget what it was like when the police car came speeding around the corner as officers with guns drawn pointed spotlights in my face. They jumped out of the car and started yelling for me to lay on the ground, face down, and to spread out my legs and arms. I was forced to the ground, and my friend was forced to step away at gunpoint as one of them searched the bushes behind me for a gun.
The Taco restaurant just up the block had been robbed at gunpoint by a Black man in a white jacket. I was standing on the sidewalk waiting for a bus while wearing a white jacket. I ended up being cuffed, forced into the car, and driven up the street to the restaurant. The officers asked the woman working the cash register to come out and see if I was the man who held her up. She came out to the car and they pointed a flashlight in my face. I thank God she could tell that I was not the person who robbed the store. She said--in what I understood to be outrage--"No, that’s not him. I said he had on a nylon jacket; that’s not a white nylon jacket!”
After my “I told you so,” the officers gruffly handed me a business card with a number on it that people were to call if they felt that the police had done anything wrong. Can you guess what would have happened if I were not completely compliant? I am glad that my father taught us how to respond to the police. I experienced the disregard for my humanity that is reserved for the poor and people of color in this nation.
Of similar ilk was the I time spent in jury duty in Media PA when at the end of the day the clerk happily announced the number of trails conducted and the success of the nearly 100% conviction rate to the remaining jury pool members. The group broke into spontaneous applause and cheers, much to my surprise, curiosity, and dismay.
In Conclusion:
The full picture is that indeed we are changing as a nation—over the years real progress has taken place in racial justice and we celebrate the same. Life itself has a way of humbling everyone and surely victimization is not limited to certain racial ethnic groups or economic class. Policing in America is not limited to citizens being killed. Law enforcement also saves lives! Even so, we are at a critical juncture, together.
This is an all-consuming and all of America dilemma. Each of us must search our conscious to determine our own responses. It will take all of us in an intentional effort to change course. We pray that the church helps to make a difference in the days ahead.
The justice movement in our midst will be around for a while and history will record our participation. Scripture speaks to Christ’s church in America today in the story of the unjust Judge.
Luke 18:1-9 (NRSV)
[Jesus] said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’ For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’” .... And the Lord said,” Listen to what the unjust judge says.”
I will remind you of the ancient context. Jesus and his disciples were people living in poverty under the domination of the Roman government. Rome utilized crucifixion as a policing practice, a public demonstration of what happens to people who protest and challenge their rule. This unjust judge was one of the paid magistrates appointed either by Herod or by Rome. Unless a plaintiff had influence and money to bribe her way to a verdict, she had no hope of ever getting the case settled. These judges were said to have perverted justice for a dish of meat. The widow in the lesson represents those that we would term, the most vulnerable, the powerless living in deep level poverty.
Please consider these questions as they relate to the current issues of racism, inequality and police brutality.
• Will we ignore the plight and the plea for justice from the most vulnerable in our society or will we help to bind the wounds?
• In what ways are we able to identify and confront unjust leaders among us who are self-centered and demonstrate a lack compassion and empathy for the people?
• Why do we respond to people who are aggrieved only after feeling threatened by the free-floating anger unleashed by oppression and hate speech?
• In what ways are we complicit by allowing brutal policing practices that crush the powerless whose repeated calls for justice are ignored?
• Will there remain a remnant of the faithful among us who will seek justice for all people, even today?
- Do we trust that God is at the side of the oppressed?
We can rely on God. Though we have our own expectations, we can never be sure that any human being, including ourselves, can fill those expectations. But we can count on God.
Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.[a]
Isaiah 40:8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”
And remember what God’s Word tells us today -
DO, LOVE, WALK. It’s what God requires of us.
Let us pray -
AMEN.
