If you're as old as I am you'll remember the late Bob Hoskins reminding us that “It's good to talk" at the end of the BT commercials he starred in. He was, of course, absolutely right —it really is good, and healthy, to talk.
But if we needed prompting to have a chat with one another in the nineteen eighties, how much more do we need that reminder now? Many of us are so wedded to our electronic devices that ordinary conversation feels like a dying art.
Why speak face-to-face when you can text, WhatsApp, Facebook message, or Zoom? And why seek help for something we're struggling with when there are thousands of social media forums and YouTube advice videos to consult instead?
And the truth is, many of us are struggling. With grief, loneliness, mental health issues, addiction, financial and relationship crises... the list goes on. What's more, I know that sometimes we can feel too embarrassed or ashamed about our private struggles to share them. We may feel that as a Christian we shouldn't grieve as we do, or be as anxious as we are, or be so helpless when tempted as we may be. Shouldn't we followers of Jesus be “rejoicing in the Lord always” as the Bible fells us to do? Well yes, and no.
Of course we Christians have much to rejoice about when we consider our salvation and the blessings that each of us receive from our Lord. But our lives are not always easy and will probably not get any better if we feel unable to talk about them, share them, or – if necessary, confess them.
I would love our Church to be a place where any one of us can find someone with whom they can share exactly what they're going through without feeling judged or pitied or looked down upon. A place where we can admit that we're struggling with our mental health or with an addiction without being treated like a second-class Christian.
By, the way, if we were to "learn" about a brother or sister's secret struggle and think “thank God I'm not like them" we ought quickly to heed Jesus’ Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector in Luke 18 verses 9 to 14.
Not one of us would be free from shame if it were not for Christ. We need to remember Jesus' teaching about taking the log out of our own eye before pointing out the speck of dust in our brother's or sister’s!
In the autumn I'm hoping to hold some sessions to discuss sensitive subjects about grief and loneliness, addiction, mental health issues, finance, and relationships; not just for those who may be struggling with such things, but so that we all may better understand these increasingly common battles and be better able to help one another. lan