Lockdown Mental Health Support – Psalm 121

In a world full of dangers, where does our protection come from? Psalm 121 is a short and wonderful Psalm which says that our protection is complete.

This evening I didn’t do a mental health livestream, it was pre-recorded and premiered at 8pm (I’m having a couple of days off!)

I am aiming to do a session each Friday night during lockdown. I find that it’s helpful for my own mental health, let alone anyone else’s!

Last week’s one was on Psalm 112 – “Do not fear bad news”. All previous sessions are available on this playlist.

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Lockdown Mental Health Support – Psalm 27

Last night’s lockdown mental health livestream was on Psalm 27: “Don’t give up hope!” Hope is a hugely powerful thing when it comes to resilience. If we think that things will never change and we’re stuck with awful circumstances forever, we might give up hope. On the other hand, if we trust that things will get better, we will have hope. Psalm 27 is full of hope, even in the midst of difficult times.

I was really struck by the final two verses:

13 I remain confident of this:
     I will see the goodness of the Lord
     in the land of the living.
 14 Wait for the Lord;
     be strong and take heart
     and wait for the Lord.

I am aiming to do a session each Friday night during lockdown. I find that it’s helpful for my own mental health, let alone anyone else’s!

Last week’s one was on Psalm 37. They will all be available on the playlist.

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Lockdown Mental Health Support – Psalm 37

Last night, I did another Lockdown Mental Health Support livestream. This time the Bible passage was Psalm 37. I chose this Psalm because it speaks into feeling powerless and at the mercy of forces beyond our control. Some people get fearful, or some people get angry – I can sympathise with both of those responses. But the best thing to do is trust God and accept that he is in control of things we can’t control.

I found these verses particularly helpful:

Stop being angry!
   Turn from your rage!
Do not lose your temper—
   it only leads to harm.
For the wicked will be destroyed,
   but those who trust in the Lord will possess the land.
(vv8-9)

I am aiming to do a session each Friday night during lockdown. I find that it’s helpful for my own mental health, let alone anyone else’s!

Last week’s one was on Psalm 29. They will all be available on the playlist.

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“At” church vs “Being” Church

Yesterday I wrote on my personal blog about something I’ve been thinking about during lockdown: Being AT church is not BEING church. I think many churches focus on running lots of events rather than facilitating relationships. What’s happened during the lockdown is that this has been exposed.

Here’s how it begins:

Can you remember LBL – Life Before Lockdown? (It’s a new acronym, I hope it’ll catch on). It feels like life has changed so much in the past year, it’s hard to remember what it was like before. My days were full of activities and meetings – taking a look back in my diary brings back memories of having activities most days: groups, meetings, services, there was at least something on every day.

My life was in many ways centred around the church. The beating heart of this was the services, especially on a Sunday: in the morning I would go to two services (in our parish there are two church buildings, with a service at each one). Then there would be a service in the afternoon which I was at most weeks. Sometimes there would be an evening service. So each Sunday I was usually at church three times – even four, on occasion. That’s a whole lot of church!

So – what’s the problem with that?The problem is that I spent so long AT church that I forgot to BE church. Let me explain what I mean by that.

Do have a read if you’re interested. I am hoping to think more about this

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Lockdown Mental Health Support – Psalm 29

I have just done another YouTube livestream on lockdown mental health. I’ve been a bit up and down this week to be honest, and my family have too. Many people I’ve spoken to have said they’re really struggling at the moment. It’s funny looking back at the videos I did at the start of the first lockdown – I don’t think I really knew what struggling was at that point!

Anyway, I’m planning to do a session each Friday evening during the lockdown. We’ll spend a few minutes reading the Bible and then pray. I find it hugely helpful to do this and I hope you do too.

Last week’s one on Psalm 23 is still available to catch up with.

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