Dear Grace Community,
Each Sunday in worship we share joys and concerns together. While we often give voice to concerns about upcoming knee surgeries and cancer diagnoses, we don’t often name issues of mental health. We do on occasion, but this kind of sharing requires a different level of vulnerability.
People in our church community are impacted by mental illness, either directly in their homes or indirectly with extended family and friends. Still, we don’t often talk about it. This October we change the narrative. For three weeks, one of our Sunday School classes focuses on youth and mental health.
Dr. Joyce Crane and some of her colleagues lead this time together. I asked Joyce to lead this because every year teenagers connected to our congregation struggle with mental health, and out of respect for their privacy, their families sometimes struggle alone. My hope for this class is that we learn more about teenagers and what they might be experiencing. I also hope that this is an opportunity for our community to start talking more openly about mental health. No one struggling with mental health, and no one supporting someone who struggles with mental health, should do so alone.
In Christ,
Catherine
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