We Sure Could Use Some Good News
Dealing with Difficult Feeling: Depression & Sadness
Gettysburg Presbyterian Church
Rev. Lou Nyiri
Psalm 22: 1-15 & Mark 15: 33-40
May 16, 2010

We continue this morning in our sermon series on Dealing with Difficult Feelings. 
We began with Anger, Moved into Fear, Last Sunday we Worried together and this morning we look at Depression and Sadness. 

Depression and Sadness…
What do you say about depression and sadness?
Do you quote Bobby McFerrin, “Don’t worry, Be happy.”
Do you quote my grandfather’s life philosophy which applied to every situation – good or bad – “It’s all in your head…Get over it…and Move on with your life.”

Unfortunately, there are some out there who think my grandfather’s life philosophy is how you embrace feelings of deep, deep sadness and depression.
Unfortunately, there are those who have had words like these said to them as they have been immersed in the waters of deep, deep sadness and/or depression.
Now, fortunately for you all, I didn’t go to seminary for three years nor have I been serving in ordained ministry for 14 years to leave you with a 90 second message this morning.

So, here we go!

And let me start by saying, “we sure could use some Good News!”

Singer Anne Murray, back in 1983 had a hit song called, “A Little Good News.”
It topped the country chart and even crossed over into the pop chart.
The song told about the typical “bad news” which headlined newspapers and TV news back then:  fighting in the Middle East, bad economy, robberies, hostage-taking, environmental damage…did I say, 1983? 

But, then the song says, [9:30 a.m. show clip of song – embedded in the PowerPoint]
Just once how I’d like to see the headline say,
“Not much to print today, can’t find nothin’ bad to say,” because,
“nobody robbed a liquor store on the lower part of town…nobody OD’ed, nobody burned a single buildin’ down…Nobody fired a shot in anger, nobody had to die in vain…We sure could use a little good news today.”
“…How I wanna hear the anchorman talk about a county fair And how we cleaned up the air, how everybody learned to care…Nobody was assassinated in the whole Third World today…And in the streets of Ireland, all the children had to do was play…And everybody loves everybody in the good old USA…We sure could use a little good news today.”

What made this song so popular was that at the heart of it was the sentiment that as a society what we really wanted and yearned for is to be in a place where we aren’t so weighed down by despair and sadness.
We cry out for relief from the pain which surrounds us.
If you check this song out online one of the sites where you can find the song lyrics also has room for viewers to add comments.  One such viewer acknowledged they remembered when the song first came out in the 80’s and then wrote, “It still brings tears to my eyes.  What a great sentiment.  Wish it could come true.”

Did you catch the pseudo compliment wrapped in the negative outlook?

It sounds as if they like the song though they don’t believe it could ever become reality.

I wish it could come true. 

Wishing implies it probably won’t.

For many of us, that is the neighborhood we have lived in or are currently living in.

A neighborhood filled with despair; deep, deep sadness; darkness; depression.

We want to believe it can be better than it is…though something inside tells us it’s just not going to get any better than this.
In the words of Jack Nicholson to Helen Hunt in the movie As Good As It Gets, we continually ask ourselves, “What if this is as good as it gets?”

Well, we sure could use some good news!

So, here it is, and I’m not going to tell you anything you wouldn’t already expect the preacher to tell you on a Sunday morning, in worship, in a sanctuary, in reference to the good news…

The good news is – Jesus the Christ!
The good news is – that God has chosen to identify with us by becoming one of us in and through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ!
The good news is – that God understands our pain, our sadness, our grief, our dark times, our depression because God has experienced these same feelings in and through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ!
The good news is – that God has promised to never leave us lost, alone or abandoned because Jesus the Christ has promised to be with us always…even to the close of the age.
The good news is – that God will always be with us…whether we recognize God’s presence or not.

Because, the good news is – Jesus the Christ!
And, the good news is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow…

No matter what we are going through – we must compel ourselves to believe – no matter how thin a strand of belief it might be – that tomorrow can be better than today – that tomorrow will be better than today – for tomorrow is what one friend of mine was fond of saying,
“Is a day that never has been before nor ever will be again.
So, let’s make tomorrow the best it can be and let’s fill it with hope.”

Now, lest we move outside the realm of life’s reality, we will affirm this outlook is easier said than done.

For many of us have known a time when we have felt distanced from God and others.
We have felt as though what we were going through is outside of the realm of God’s sight or control.
We have felt like we were all alone and there was nowhere to go – we were at the bottom and couldn’t sink any lower nor do we have the strength to rise any higher.
And we want to cry out – if we could muster the energy to do so – “God where are you?  Why are you doing this to me?  Am I really that bad a person?”

Sound familiar? 

They are the Psalmist’s words –
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest.”

These are also the words of Christ from the cross.
Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachtani! – My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me!

These are words of despair.
These are words of deep, deep sadness and darkness.
These are words of depression.
These are words devoid of hope…or are they?

The Psalmist found himself digging deeper into a pit of despair – devoid of hope – surrounded by enemies, broken in body and spirit…and what does he do?
He cries out for help.  We too must cry out for help!
In the midst of deep pain, debilitating depression, the writer of this Psalm seeks the intimacy of relationship with God.
But God seems “so far from helping.”
He remembers how God has been there for others (vss. 4-5), but now, now all he hears are sarcastic taunts from his enemies ringing in his ears – verse 8, “Commit your cause to the LORD; let him deliver – let him rescue the one in whom he delights!”

No wonder the Psalmist asks, “Why?”

We too want to know the “why” – the reason for our pain – the reason for our suffering – the reason for our sadness – the reason for our darkness, our despair, our depression – we want to know the rationale, the divine purpose.
We cry out for answers and when we listen we often hear what Simon and Garfunkel made popular, “The Sound of Silence.”
But that doesn’t mean God is silent.
It is, as someone has said, “What God whispers to us in our pleasure, God shouts to us in our pain.

And what God is shouting is “Here I am!”
The answer to the pain of suffering; the despair of depression; the darkness of sadness is not a “why,” it is a “who.”
In the midst of his life circumstance, the Psalmist discovers that God has responded, not with a 3 credit course to help him reflect on the God whom Christians worship and adore (theology); nor does God respond with a treatise on how to justify God’s goodness in the face of evil (theodicy), rather God responds with theophany – God’s very presence.

Somewhere around verse 21, the tone changes – the text reads, “From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me.”
In Hebrew, “rescued” can also be translated “answered.”
We read some of those answers in our Call to Worship this morning – as it was adapted from words found later in Psalm 22 –
“You, O LORD, do not be far away!  O my help, come quickly to my aid!”  (v. 19)
“For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted; he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him.”  (v. 24)
The Psalm changes from lament to praise as the realization is realized that wherever people suffer; wherever we feel most distant from God or others; wherever we cry out in pain – God is there!

In that we have hope!

For God is there – and I believe God’s very presence is felt most clearly in and through the people around us – in those moments of deep sadness; pain; darkness; or depression.
The place we realize God most is in and through the loving actions others take on our behalf.
The friends who surround us; the therapists/counselors/psychiatrists/psychologists who listen and offer advice to us; the medications that have been introduced into our world that can help to regulate the levels of needed chemicals in our bodies that can help to fight off depression…I believe those are moments whereby we encounter God’s grace; transformation; healing and hope at work in this world.

It’s biblical too – remember how God chose to reveal God’s self to us originally?
It was in the incarnation – in Jesus the Christ – in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ God took on human flesh and bone – hands and feet – and he moved into the neighborhood – so that we might know him more fully and in knowing him we might be made whole and in being made whole we might have abundantly full life.

Reach out to those gifts of grace which surround you:

• call a friend;
• be a friend and call on those you care about to see how they’re doing – invite your friend to go for a walk & a talk; or out to lunch; or some other activity your friend enjoys doing;
• call a mental health professional who can help you through chronically sad times or depression – it’s not a sign of weakness…it’s a sign of strength.  – We aren’t depressed because we’re weak or bad or because we have done anything wrong.  – Depression is an illness most likely caused many varied factors.  – Recovery from chronic sadness or depression is a process which is treatable through professional counseling; faith disciplines like prayer and the fellowship of faithful people; time and medication if necessary.  - 
• If you knew someone with diabetes you wouldn’t just say, “Now, your diabetes is all in your head.  Just buck up and move on.”  You’d tell your friend to see a medical professional.  If we have physical pain – we see a doctor.  It’s natural when we endure emotional pain to seek professional help. 
• think about giving yourself the gift of a Stephen Minister – someone to walk alongside you who will offer Christ-like care, compassion, prayer, and a listening ear;
• and if you ever find yourself in such a very dark place where you feel as though you’re not sure what source of hope you can cling to, then do me a favor – call me – together we will find help.

When the Psalmist cries out in verse 2,
“O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest.”
We must remember how Psalm 22 begins with desolation and despair…then ends in hope.

We must remember how Christ, in the midst of his deep pain, chose to cry out,
“My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

In so doing Christ made a point that has significantly influenced theologians throughout history to believe that he indeed was fully human.
The fact that he could feel the thoroughly human emotion of despair, in spite of his divine nature, is both a scandal and a miracle by which Christians affirm the dual nature of Christ.
Those who would temper the harsh reality of Christ’s cry of despair may also point to the fact that Jesus no doubt knew the entire Psalm whose first line he is citing.
It was not uncommon for one to quote a first line so as to remind the gathered of the entire Psalm – they knew their Scriptures back then.
In this line of thinking, therefore it can be understood that in this citation, Christ is showing not only the human emotion of despair, he is also paradoxically invoking the human emotion of hope in spite of despair which is evident in the rest of the Psalm.

When we cry out,
“Where are you God and Why am I feeling this way?”
We must remember that God’s answer is not beyond our suffering…God’s answer is God’s very presence somewhere in the middle of what we are going through.

For therein lies our hope!

A hope that we are not alone in our suffering – we are not alone in our pain – we are not alone in our darkness…

We have a God who walks alongside us…
We have a Savior who reminds us of God’s presence in our pain…
We have a Holy Spirit that empowers us to keep kicking at the darkness until it shines through even the faintest sliver of daylight…
We have a Faith Family who will remind us of these three things by embodying them when we cannot.

Let us pray:
Lord, when we feel as though we are surrounded by thick, unrelenting, deep darkness, help us to see your face.  Help us to know that you are here for us.  Be our light shining in the murky mist, be our hope for all seasons, be our support in suffering, our strength when we feel weak, and our guide when we feel lost.  Hold us in your arms – tight though without smothering.  Lighten our burden, breathe new life into our sagging sails, and restore us to your wholeness.  Help us to know that our cries of despair will be met with the answer of your presence in the middle of our pain.  In Christ’s strong name we pray, Amen.

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