Mental health issues have, over recent months, become a hot topic. There is a new openness and a reduction in the perceived stigma attached to acknowledging mental health problems.
February 4th – 10th 2019 has been designated children’s mental health week and so this is a good time for us to consider this matter and to ask, in particular: What is the Christian response to mental health issues? The immediate and short answer is of course, exactly the same as the Christian response to any form of human suffering: To meet it with compassion, with prayer and, where possible, with the appropriate practical action.
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From Robert Jones, Archdeacon of Worcester
We live in tumultuous political times, so much so that many people are literally switching off from TV and radio news. It does indeed seem that megaphone diplomacy, which, of course, is no diplomacy at all, is playing a bigger part in our public discourse. We must not have a false sense that history automatically gets better as we learn to live better, when it is clear that human sinfulness can mess things up just as effectively today as it ever did.
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“Luise has already bagged Good King Wenceslas” was the message I received from Graham when he told me that St Stephen is the theme for this month’s magazine. Out of the window, then, went my first idea!
So what does that leave me? St Stephen: the first Christian martyr, whose story is told in chapters six and seven of Acts, where he is described as “A man full of faith and the Holy Spirit.”
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“When you go home, tell them of us, and say
For your tomorrow, we gave our today!”
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In the age of the tablet and the e-book, my uncompromising adherence to bound paper is something of an oddity. On the London Underground, as I turn the pages of my book, I am normally surrounded by people reading on Kindles or doing something on their phones, occasionally sneaking confused glances at this interloper with a suspicious, non-technological object. At Amsterdam Airport recently, another man of about my age and I were the only two people waiting for our flight reading books; everyone else - from small children to an elderly man in a wheelchair - was absorbed in something electronic......
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‘I believe in angels/ Something good in everything I see.’
‘I sit and wait/ Does an angel contemplate my fate?’
‘I’m no angel, but please don’t think that I won’t try and try.’
‘Heaven must be missin’ an angel/ Missin’ one angel, child/ ‘Cause you’re here with me right now.’
‘Baby, you’re my angel/ Come and save me tonight.’....................
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On July 22nd the Church celebrates the Feast of Mary Magdalene, possibly one of the best-known figures of the New Testament; but what, in fact, do we really know about her? Also known as Mary of Magdala, and probably from the town of that name, by the Sea of Galilee, Mary Magdalene has become famous as the prototype of the reformed prostitute and a principal witness of the resurrection. Portrayed by several classical artists in various stages of undress, she has become a somewhat notorious figure, presented by some as the lover of Christ and even as the wife he married after “coming to” in the tomb and escaping to lead a full and natural life. Leaving aside these later myths, the first part of this claim to fame is also very insecure......
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As a curate, I was on the governing body of one of the local primary schools and chaired the teaching and learning committee. We were reviewing the Year 6 SATs papers, which newly included a test on Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPAG). It was the only time the deputy head ever let me near that particular paper, following my detailed rant against it, but he failed to regain control of it before I came across a question on fronted adverbials. I realised that I had no idea what a fronted adverbial was. Surely, I reasoned, if I had worked through various degrees and learned (to some extent) several foreign languages, never needing to know about fronted adverbials, this fell into the category of advanced linguistics rather than essential grammar?.....
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“The road is long, with many a winding turn, that takes us to who knows where ….” is the opening line of one of my favourite songs and it takes very little effort or imagination to apply it to my present situation. The road to Ordination is a long and often winding road strewn with “Pot-holes” to avoid and diversions to negotiate but some great “view-points” along the way too. Ordination, though, was not the final destination, only an important landmark and then the road led me on to St Johns where I served my curacy and loved every minute of it – certainly for the first two and a half years anyway. ......
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Late in 2013, just after I joined the West Worcester Group, I wrote an introduction to myself on a flight back from Paris. There is a degree of symmetry, therefore, that I am once more flying between Charles de Gaulle and Birmingham Airports as I write this piece in 2018. With all the changes that have happened since 2013, it was suggested that it might be a good opportunity to revisit my introduction and set out something of my vision for the future.......
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