Jane’s e-Update

A Pastoral Prayer for the National Day of Prayer for Mental Illness Recovery and Understanding.


2015 invitation: “A Nouwen Network continues to proclaim that ‘Any day is a good day to show support’ for those whose lives are affected by mental health issues. We also believe that there is a great need or A National Day of Prayer for Mental Illness Recovery and Understanding to be held annually here in Australia. We encourage you to join with us in praying for mental health issues on the Sunday of, or immediately following World Mental Health Day 10th October. Workplaces of church organizations and schools are invited to participate in the day of prayer on a weekday of choice during Mental Health Week. We do not suggest that there is just one way in which this day should be celebrated. Participate in whatever manner best suits your own faith community. You can download helpful Worship Resources to use for the Day of Prayer from several Mental Mental Health Ministry websites.”

…Please join us in praying for all who are living with mental illness, and those who care for them. This pastoral prayer is by Reverend Susan Gregg-Schroeder, the founder of Mental Health Ministries.

A Pastoral Prayer for the National Day of Prayer for Mental Illnesses Recovery and Understanding.


Loving Creator, we come to you on this National Day of Prayer for Mental Illness Recovery and Understanding because we know that you are a God of love and compassion.


We come as people of all creeds and all nations seeking your presence, comfort and guidance. We come as individuals living with mental illness, family members, friends, co-workers and mental health professionals.


We come this day because we believe that you, Divine One, love each one of us just as we are. You walk with us on our individual journeys through life. You see the ignorance and injustice that divide and separate persons living with mental illness and you weep with us.


Give us courage to face our challenges and open us today to the many ways you are already working in our midst. Help us to identify mental illness as the disease it is, that we might have courage and wisdom in the face of ignorance and stigma. Inspire us as we seek to overcome fear, acquire knowledge and advocate for compassionate and enlightened treatment and services.


Lead us as we open our hearts and homes, our communities and job opportunities, our houses of worship and communities of faith. Enable us to find ways to include persons living with mental illness in our everyday lives. Be with doctors, therapists, researchers, social workers and all those in the helping professions as they seek to overcome ignorance and injustice with care and compassion.


Sometimes, Divine Spirit, we feel discouraged and hopeless in the face of so many challenges. Help us to see ourselves as you see us—persons of value and worth, persons of creativity and potential.


May we come to understand the interconnectedness of mind, body and spirit in bringing about health and wholeness. And may we go forward into our communities with a renewed sense of vision, hope and possibility for the future.


Amen.

Reverend Susan Gregg-Schroeder

A Nouwen Network always encouraged Australian faith communities and individuals to write some of their own ‘local’ prayers around mental health issues. Our members were always quick to share the ‘good news’ of  instances of this happening! 

The Reverend Dr Elizabeth J. Smith AM, member of Australian Academy of Liturgy, was among the first to  respond to our request for  ‘prayers in an Australian voice’ that could be shared.




Holy Spirit, we pray for all who experience mental illness,

for those who care for them,

and for our church and community,

helping to overcome fear, stigma and isolation.


Send your peace to anxious minds,

and lift the burden of depression.

Inspire doctors and counsellors who use their skills

to bring people from confusion and distress

to safety and hope.


Give wise and generous companions to people with mental illness

as they make the journey from pain

to creative and life-giving futures.


Shine in our darkest times

to bring healing and freedom,

through Jesus Christ our Lord.


Amen.

Reverend Dr Elizabeth J. Smith 




O Lord, you have searched us and known us


You know when we sit down and when we rise up,


and know our innermost thoughts.


You search out our paths and know all our ways.


Before we speak, you know our words.


When we were knit together in our mother’s womb


You knew us as woman, as child, as man.


Wherever we go, Your hand will lead us.


So guide us along the pathways to hope,


that night becomes bright as day.


So lead us on our walk together,


that darkness is lifted from our hearts.


So encourage us that our sisters and brothers


Who have mental illness shall know that


they never walk alone.


Amen

 

prayer by Margaret Ann Holt, UMC. 

(from ‘Bulletin Insert Suggestions’ offered by NAMI FaithNet.)


Mental Illness Awareness Week Prayer

by Margaret Ann Holt, of the Virginia Interfaith Committee 

on Mental Illness Ministries (VICOMIM)


O, God, we gather here together today, as people from many different faith communities. 


We come before You, remembering all those persons whose lives have been touched by mental illnesses.


 We give thanks for those persons here who have given of their time and talents to do what they are able to help persons who are dealing with mental illnesses in their lives and in the lives of their families and friends.


 We give thanks for the improvement in medication and treatment programs that have enabled persons with mental illnesses to live productive lives.


We pray that our society would do everything possible to make early diagnosis and treatment a standard operating procedure.


 We pray and ask that stigma be removed, so that persons and their families would get the appropriate help as soon as symptoms appear. 


Guide each one of us, and help us, as we endeavor to bring help and hope to those families and individuals.


Amen.

Our Lord God, you see all and know all and love all.

As your church, please grow our awareness and compassion for those in our midst who suffer with their mental health. 

Let no one be hidden away beneath blankets of stigma or shoved into corners of marginalisation. 

You call us as your Body to care for the least, the lost, the lonely, the left-behind – teach us how to include those whom others consider unworthy. 

Bless us with the opportunity to become a community where they flourish.

 Enable us to reflect your love in our love for each other. 

We ask for this mercy in Jesus name, Amen. 

Adapted from Catherine R. Downing, Sparks of Redemptive Grace, p. 58

Sourced via the Anglican Deaconess Ministries (ADM) ’s  1010-Resource-Pack-Prayers.pdf 

Prayers of General Intercession 

For all those who face discrimination and stigma due to mental illness, that they will find welcome and inclusion as branches of Jesus’ vine, 

Let us pray to the Lord.

For all men, women, and children, and on this day especially mothers, who themselves or within their families deal with mental and emotional crises, that the joy and love of Jesus may bring them comfort, 

Let us pray to the Lord. 

For all those who struggle with mental health problems, that the Church and public agencies will act with justice to ensure the availability of necessary support services to aid in their recovery,

Let us pray to the Lord. 

That the Holy Spirit will inspire Christians everywhere to open their hearts and arms to welcome those who face mental illness, 

Let us pray to the Lord. 

For all who provide services for people whose lives are affected by mental illness – social workers, counsellors, mental health professionals, pastoral caregivers – that they will bear witness to God’s spirit of love, 

Let us pray to the Lord.

From: Australian Catholic Bishops Conference 2015, ‘Parish Kit to assist parishes to acknowledge World Mental Health Day’ 

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