Living in the Spirit
May 28, 2018
Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)
Now the Lord came and stood there, calling as before, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ And Samuel said, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening.’ Then the Lord said to Samuel, ‘See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle. On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. For I have told him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be expiated by sacrifice or offering forever.’ –1 Samuel 3:10-14
God does not need to punish us; we suffer the consequences of our own actions. God from the beginning carefully prepared us and continues to prepare us for how we are to live and love to our best advantage and to the best advantage of all God’s children. God apparently thinks it is important that we choose to follow God’s guidance. God even went to the extraordinary step of sending Jesus to dwell among us and model that way of being understanding that we might need some further help in understanding what those right choices are. God followed that up with gifting us with the advocacy, guidance, and counsel of the Holy Spirit.
I worked on the edge of services for persons with mental illnesses for many years providing public human services that complement mental health services and still am involved in volunteer advocacy. It is a frustrating coordination because the mental health system practices under the philosophy that people must be willing to get help before the help works. While I tend to agree with that, the reality of homeless, hungry persons with mental illness must be addressed by human services including adult protective services. The solutions are complex; the near absence of primary preventive mental health services makes it even harder.
I detail these divergent ideas not to suggest that all sin in mental illness or vice versa, I do not think it is. I am suggesting that followers of Christ, in working toward the fruition of the Kingdom of God, must also work on the edges being present with people and ready to help when and if they choose to seek God’s ways while tending to their basic needs in whatever way possible. Perhaps working on the edge is what Jesus was suggesting in Matthew 25 when he speaks of feeding the hungry, healing the sick, dealing with prisoners, welcoming strangers.
Prayer: Lord, help us to see your work on the edge of those suffering from mental illness and those who live in the prison of sin. Amen.