Have you ever gotten sick when you were really stressed out? Have you ever chosen comfort foods when you were sad or upset? Have you ever had a “spiritual high” or peak experience? It’s no secret that the Mind, Body and Spirit are intimately connected. Each one impacts the other. Health and wellness (or sickness and trauma) in one area of our being affects all three parts of our being. This month at Peoples Church we will be focusing on the Mind.

Of course it would be impossible to separate the Mind from the Body or the Spirit, so we will approach the topic holistically. We will explore how mindfulness, reason, intuition, and mental health impact our full human and spiritual being. After all, as French theologian and Jesuit Priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin once said, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”

So what does it mean to be a spiritual being with a Mind? What does it mean to be conscious and alive with the capacity to think, reason, and use logic? And what about mental health, an issue we usually don’t talk about because we are embarrassed or maybe even ashamed? Mental health impacts each one of us, either personally or somehow in our family systems. The real shame is that we don’t talk about it as much as we should.

We can change that. I believe Peoples Church is bold enough and loving enough to reject the stigma surrounding mental health. And we have already taken the first step! At our Congregational Meeting in December we voted on Mental Health as our social justice issue for 2017. We will work this year to make a difference in Cedar Rapids and the wider world in connection with mental health care and mental health care access. Can we also make a difference in our own spirits? Can we open up about the issue and respond to one another with love and care? I believe we can.

I am looking for a few people willing to offer a short testimonial during worship sometime this year on their own experience with mental health. The first testimonial is scheduled for March 26th. Are you wiling to testify? Are you brave enough to open up about your experience and guide us on our path towards understanding and wellness?

If so, please let me know! I would love to hear from you!

In faith,
Rev. Rebecca