My Mind’s Musings

Today, I was poking around on the internet and ran across an article by Dr. Larry Crabb (http://www.newwayministries.org/sovstumbling.php) Dr. Crabb is Christian Psychologist who is the Spiritual Director of the American Association of Christian Counselors. The article is focused on how God has directed his path during his lifetime, through what he calls, “sovereign stumbling.” He ends the article, though, by telling how God has led him to a focus on the community of God, the church. He says:

In my 10 years of private practice, I became persuaded that the community of God’s people was meant to be the place where the deepest healing takes place. I came to the conclusion that real healing has less to do with technical intervention and more to do with profound relational engagement.

Why did this strike me as very poignant? I am almost finished with two books on helping those suffering from Combat Stress and PTSD (Achilles in Vietnam, by Dr. Jonathan Shay and Down Range: To Iraq and Back by Dr. Bridget Cantrell and Chuck Dean) and I also have been attending a lot of training on the same subject. Almost universally acknowledged is the fact that in order to recover or reach a “new normal” in life and coping with the experiences of combat is the need for proper sharing of your story with others who have been there. The person needs to develop his narrative and share it in a safe environment with others instead of holding everything in and acting out inappropriately on those unexpressed emotions and feelings. I know that this is an oversimplification of the process; but I am not a therapist, and don’t pretend to be one.

I think Dr. Crabb is applying that same idea to the Church, in that when we function as the body of Christ, hurting individuals can find the love, strength and encouragement to overcome problems in their lives through Godly, true, honest and open relationships with others in the Church. However, that can only happen when the Church demonstrates the life changing power of God in those who claim Christ as their Savior. This comes through incarnational ministry as we truly become the hands and feet of Jesus Christ.

Could this be what 1 Corinthians 12: 14-26 talks about when Paul writes:

Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. (NIV – bold not in original)

Would we see more spiritually/mentally healthy people if the church was truly encouraging its members to provide profound relational engagements with others in the church? This would look different depending on location, denomination, culture etc., but I can certainly say that it would go much further than asking people to join a Sunday School class and come to a fellowship meal!