Monica A. Coleman's Blog, page 8

Sojourners Magazine, Bipolar Faith and World Mental Health Day

“Too blessed to be stressed” is one of the phrases that I think the church should erase from its vocabulary

“What I like is that in the stories of Jesus healing people, there are other people around. These aren’t private sessions; it’s very much a communal act. Mental health is a public health issue.”

Talking with Sojourners on mental health, faith, activism, justice and self care.

Check out the entire article here

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Suicide leaves scars, not the stain of sin

September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, and every September I hear that suicide is the unforgivable sin. As a minister and theologian, I understand the rationale.

It goes something like this: Sin is doing something that offends God. It is the pride of trying to be God. And murder is a sin. Because that’s what it says in the Ten Commandments. And because only God can determine life and death. So murder is taking on God’s role. It is a sin. And suicide is an unforgivable sin because if...

Growing, Moving and Standing in Faith

I had a great interview with Faith and Leadership, a learning resource for Christian leaders and their institutions from Leadership Education at Duke University Divinity School.

 

Throughout her life — through high school, college, seminary and graduate school — Monica A. Coleman always excelled. But beneath her success was a deep sadness she tried to keep hidden, a grief that seemed to run through her entire family.

“I was building a résumé, and getting good grades, and getting scholarships...

Patheos 10+1: A Q&A with ‘Bipolar Faith’ Author

Great Interview with Patheos when BIPOLAR FAITH first came out.

“I would like churches to talk about mental health the same ways we talk about every other health challenge. I would like us to combine prayer with other medical and social services that help people. I would like for us to affirm that health challenges are not a reflection of the depth of one’s faithfulness. I’d like us to cultivate communities that can hold grief, pain, anxiety and the inexplicable without sacrificing individual...

Drawing Out of Myself

Fellowship Meals

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Lenten season for Christians. On this day, many people attend a ritual of the imposition of ashes as a reminder of humanity mortality, or the human propensity to sin. By this beginning, Lent is a season of reflection and spiritual depth. Of relinquishing vices and shortcomings in order to grow closer to God. Of fasting from food in order to spend time in deeper communion with God. Of focus on spiritual disciplines in order to better at...

Grieving Faith

I was raised in black Baptist and African Methodist churches. My grandparents’ Carolina Christianity migrated with them to Washington D.C. As they ambled around the kitchen preparing dinner or in the alley side herb garden, they hummed hymns under their breaths. They got down on their knees at bedside every morning and every night. They told me that Jesus loved the little children.

I spent several weeknights and all day Sunday in church. I joined the Sunbeam Children’s Choir at church when I...

Becoming New

Every time I experience a depressive episode, something dies. Sometimes I have lost things I would have preferred to keep – a sense of hope, a faith I recognize, friends, ideals about relationship, a secure understanding of myself. Other times, I lose things that needed to go anyway – beliefs that weren’t working for me, inaccurate perceptions of myself and others, unrealistic ideals about what I should be able to do, or unsupportive individuals. But this loss never feels good. It’s never inv...

Mental Health is Physical Health

It hit me all at once as a new psychiatrist laid out my options before me.

I knew the drill. New doctor, long intake appointment, re-tell my story with craziness, get a diagnoses that may or may not match previous diagnoses, discuss medicines and side effects and whether or not I need it now or later.

But this one leaned in earnestly and said, “You know, it’s your brain. And you’re taxing it. It’s your body”

The Human Brain

I’m the first to tell a doctor that I’m medication-phobic. I hate swa...

Slippery Slope

I didn’t know it was depression until I couldn’t feel the happy. That is, I had really good news and nothing about it felt good. I know, intellectually, that it is good, but I don’t feel happy.

Sure my therapist uses the word, “depressed,” in our conversations. I ignore her. I am not depressed. I was sad. Grieving. Then stressed out from more responsibilities than one person should have. But not depressed. I know depression. Depression is numbness. Not feeling the happy.

But it’s a slippery s...

Not Hiding

I like rituals. I like sacraments. Those rituals we think of as being holy. The ones that point us towards God. Baptism. Eucharist. Weddings. Foot-washing. Penance. Ordination. Anointing. Altar prayers. I love it all. Not because I am sure that there is special divine power in the water, oil, or wood. But because they are, at best, outward symbols of an inward transformation. They let our community and the wider world see that something within us has changed.

Today is Ash Wednesday where many...