Ministry

Here I Am, Send Me

This morning I went to the midweek Eucharist service at St. James and Andrew (Greenfield, MA). Pastor Jimmy asked me to do the Isaiah 6 reading which includes the amazing transformation of the prophet from crying out, “Woe is me, I am lost.” To boldly declaring, “Here I am, send me.” Isaiah’s call is the call of every child of God. What once was lost is now found. God makes worthy what we once deemed worthless and cleanses our hearts and minds of impure motives. God presses a burning coal to our lips, inspiring us to speak the truth in love. I graduate from rehab a week from tomorrow (February 13). I will shift from treatment to recovery service in the Greenfield community, Western Mass, and beyond. I am living out my ordination vow to serve people with “intelligence, creativity, imagination, and love.” Pray for me, if you would. [...]

Here I Am, Send Metonyroberts2025-02-05T21:16:11-05:00

What Every Pastor Ought to Know About Serious Mental Illness

Pastors and church leadership are number one on the frontlines to those who seek help for these kinds of issues with these kinds of diagnoses. It is crucial to educate the ranks of church leadership so that we can catch the “least of these” in the crises they may present and refer them to the right solutions. There is evidence that pastors don’t feel very well equipped to handle mental illness and therefore need discernment to appropriately address these situations. I want every pastor to know what to expect, how to communicate, and what to do when they arise. Within the wake of Covid’s circumstances, the matters of the mind have risen to a more visible level. This is good for generating awareness of general disorders and the stressors concerning situational depression and psychological or even spiritual oppression. However, it has not changed the significance nor moved the needle of [...]

What Every Pastor Ought to Know About Serious Mental IllnessKatie R. Dale2024-10-25T01:56:36-04:00

Is My Mental Illness to Blame?

Line in the Sand Where does mental end and spiritual begin? There is no definitive line. You’re going to sin in sickness and be soul-sick in sin. The two (the heart and mind) operate in tandem. As a caseworker, I had a client at one time who was being seen at my clinic for mental health issues she had. Let’s call her Mary. Mary was also diabetic. On her way to town one day, while her husband drove her to an appointment, Mary started to frantically undo her seatbelt, screaming threats at her husband, and opened the door of the truck to fall out. She just about accomplished this act of defiance, but her husband’s quick response and grasp saved her life. At that time, Mary appeared suicidal. Mary appeared out of her mind. Arguably, Mary was in a state of rebellion. Mary appeared to be in a mental [...]

Is My Mental Illness to Blame?Katie R. Dale2024-10-17T05:34:33-04:00

Dear Pastor: What the Church Needs to Know About Mental Illness

Today I'm making a derivative out of an old blog post (Misconceptions Your Church May Have About Depression) and reworking it to address our pastors this month - it's Pastor Appreciation Month. Dear Pastor, First and foremost, you are brave. Your calling is not easy or light. Drawing grit from your faith and convictions is a grit akin to what military forces draw upon. The required resilience that comes from committing to this calling is not glamorous or fiscally promising. The taxation on your spirit and soul your job exacts can be stretched thinner than your leather-worn Bible. To put your job into words is a tall task. So many souls depend on your leadership and rely on your words as support. In hopes of making your job more manageable in the realm of the mental health of your congregation, here is an open letter I share with you. [...]

Dear Pastor: What the Church Needs to Know About Mental IllnessKatie R. Dale2024-10-04T01:28:44-04:00

The Harvest is Plentiful; the Laborers are Few (but growing daily)

36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:36-38) Delight in Disorder Ministries is much more than just a hobby of Tony Roberts. We are an international ministry, with the mission of informing and inspiring those impacted by brain illnesses and other mental health conditions. We have a five-person board of ministry shepherds who volunteer their time, talent, and prayerful oversight to see that we stick to mission and carry out God's calling in an ever expansive field. If you would like to learn more about our ministry efforts, follow this link -- https://delightindisorder.org/supporting-didmin/. The first and best you can do is pray for us. When Jesus saw that his [...]

The Harvest is Plentiful; the Laborers are Few (but growing daily)tonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:20-04:00

Will you lay down your life for me?

Jesus asks his disciples and us this pivotal question of discipleship. It has often been interpreted as martyrdom. Will you die for me? But I learned this week that the Greek word translated life here is not bios, or physical life but psuche, which describes our inner life of thoughts and feelings. So Jesus is asking: Will you lay down your internal orientations and agendas? Are you weilling to pattern your life around my example? Will you let your heart come into sync with mine, until you care about the same things as I do. (from The Reservoir: A Fifteen-Month Weekday Spiritual Formation Devotional by Renovare). This insight makes all the difference in the world to me. It affirmed my decision to go on psychotropics, for instance, in an effort to experience relative balance and continue to provide and be present for my family. Had I not been a husband and a [...]

Will you lay down your life for me?tonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:24-04:00

Word of the Year: Eucharisteo – the miracle of thanksgiving.

Eucharisteo—thanksgiving—always precedes the miracle. ― Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. (2 Corinthians 9.10-11) Each year I select a word to focus on in my faith journey each day. Said better, God selects the word and I confirm it. Today the word came to me from Ann Voskamp's book One Thousand Gifts. The word Eucharist appears in various forms 53 times in the Greek Scriptures. Strong’s Concordance lays out three ways that these words can be used: 1. To be grateful, to feel grateful; 2. To express gratitude [...]

Word of the Year: Eucharisteo – the miracle of thanksgiving.tonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:25-04:00

How Does God Feel About Mental Illness?

Some time ago, I began a subscriber survey that has proven very fruitful. I've learned more about who my readers are and what they are looking for when they come to Delight in Disorder. Some of the most revealing content came from the comments provided in the "other" category. When asked what sort of posts would be most helpful, one reader replied: "... how God feels about mental illness and why He allows it." This thoughtful response raises many profound questions. I want to carefully and prayerfully respond. Yet, please understand that I am not an expert theologian or a mental health professional. Instead, I am a believer in Christ who has lived with a mental illness for over 30 years. This doesn't give me all the answers, but helps me better understand the questions. I feel much more confident answering the former question than the latter. The depth of [...]

How Does God Feel About Mental Illness?tonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:27-04:00

Faith Grows in Community by Lisa Jamieson

My growing up could read like a mashup novel from National Geographic, Little House on the Prairie and Epicurious magazine. Before kindergarten, I was riding my bike to a Minneapolis candy store several blocks from home. Later, I ice skated to elementary school on the James River in North Dakota. By the time I was 9 years old, we had moved to Canada where I was collecting sap from maple trees every spring, catching smelt in Thirty Mile Creek, building blanket forts surrounded by peach and cherry orchards in the summer, swimming to a rocky pier off the southern shore of Lake Ontario and stomping Niagara grapes with the neighbors every fall. Woven between the lines of that idyllic childhood were some dark days too. I carried the grief of good-byes and struggled to make friends. Attending weekly church developed my sense of God’s presence but I perceived him to be [...]

Faith Grows in Community by Lisa Jamiesontonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:29-04:00

Book Launch: Disability and the Church by Lamar Hardwick

Lamar Hardwick was thirty-six years old when he found out he was on the autism spectrum. While this revelation helped him understand and process his own experience, it also prompted a difficult re-evaluation of who he was as a person. And as a pastor, it started him on a new path of considering the way disabled people are treated in the church. Disability and the Church is a practical and theological reconsideration of the church's responsibilities to the disabled community. Too often disabled persons are pushed away from the church or made to feel unwelcome in any number of ways. As Hardwick writes, "This should not be." He insists that the good news of Jesus affirms God's image in all people, and he offers practical steps and strategies to build stronger, truly inclusive communities of faith. Editorial Reviews Review "In a time when first-person disability narratives remain hard to come by, Disability [...]

Book Launch: Disability and the Church by Lamar Hardwicktonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:29-04:00