Are You on Prozac?

I want to share something I read in the Wretched Newsletter.  Wretched is an extremely gospel centered ministry, follow, I listen to their daily radio podcast and occasionally watch their TV show, check them out HERE.  Anyways, I subject on the show lately has been depression and how Christians should deal with it, because honestly, it's not something we really talk about in Christian circles.  We may be feeling really down, but we feel like we have to cover up and appear happy all the time, like feeling sad is a sin or something.  It's not sin, it's just an emotion, it's what you do with that emotion that can make it sinful.  

Is Your Church on Prozac?People are depressed. According to the CDC, one in ten Americans struggles with depression. That means one in ten Christians struggles with depression. Are they comfortable in your church?The modern day church has jettisoned many traditions and customs in an effort to contemporize and not resemble the misnomer “dead orthodoxy.” With little thought, we have ditched pulpits, robes, organs, choirs, hymnals, liturgy, etc. This is not to suggest that all modernizing is a sin, I am merely pointing out that we have made radical church changes without debate or recognition that preceding generations were not morons. Permit me to suggest that many churches have undergone a more subtle shift that perhaps deserves a rethink.AttitudeWhile George Barna has not done a survey on this…yet…I fear that many evangelical churches have decided that the tone of the church must be untiringly HAPPY.-     Church growth ministries advise churches to make their guests feel welcome by placing the cheeriest greeters at the front door.-     Congregants are directed to put on their happy faces to make church a more welcoming environment.-     The pastor is coached to bound onto the stage with a big smile and cheery, “Good morning, Church!”If you didn’t know better, you would think that Christians don’t have any problems. Unfortunately, we do.BalanceAm I suggesting that the church atmosphere should be a bummer? Nope.Am I recommending we never sing a joyful song? Of course not.Am I proposing that every sermon should be melancholy? No way.But I am suggesting we act more, I don’t know, maturely. Does your work environment have the same tone as your church? Is everyone perpetually “up” at your local grocery store? Do your fellow commuters always have a smile on their faces? Then why do our churches feel like we have no other emotion than giddiness? Come on, even Mary Lou Retton frowns once in a while.Let’s be realRather than pressuring people to act happy when they are not, perhaps we allow for an environment that says it is OK to be blue. What does that environment look like?   That is up to your church.One in ten Christians suffers from depression. One in ten Christians is unemployed. One in ten Christians can’t get pregnant. One in ten Christians is grieving a loss. One in ten Christians has a prodigal child.
And yes, one in ten Christians just got a raise, or promotion, or pregnant, or healed. Does your church allow everyone to feel the way they are feeling?

I am blessed to be in a church that isn't on Prozac, when we meet, the inside jokes and sarcasm is usually flying, but when prayer time comes, people are real.  We know there are people struggling and they usually get a hug and an encouraging word after the service.  And maybe you're blessed to have a church like that too.  But I think this doesn't just apply to churches, is can happen to individual believers too.

Sometimes we don't want to scare people off by thinking that your problems don't magically go away when you get saved, so we sweep our feelings under the rug and act like there's nothing wrong at all.  We don't want to appear stodgy so we go to the other extreme like we take a daily happy-slappy pill.  Either one of those will scare people off, no one likes a wet blanket, but also no one likes unrelatably cheery person.  Maybe if we acted like real humans, with real emotions, people would actually stop to listen.  Getting saved doesn't take away life's storms and pain, but it does give you a purpose for the storm and a divine hope for the pain.  I think part of the problem why we pretend is because we ourselves don't believe Jesus is enough.  He is, and that's why we can have feelings but submit them as a living sacrifice to our Creator.

Just some food for thought.