My pastor used the "A" word in church

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JFSurvivor

JFSurvivor

Senior Member
Jan 20, 2015
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So I really didn't want to go to church today but I did anyway and I am really happy for that.

First:
 I went and when the singing started at the beginning of service I sat down and wrote a letter to God instead. No one stared at me and no one said anything so that made me feel good. :-)

Second: At the end of the pastors sermon he said that he brought up the fact that he had a physical illness. I thought he had a bad back or leg but instead he said that he had anxiety and suffered from panic attacks. That was the first time I had ever heard the word "anxiety" used in church outside of the context of the Bible.

He brought up Exodus 4:12 which was where Moses was like "don't send me God! I'm not good at public speaking!" and God's like "I will help you speak". He explained that God chose Moses BECAUSE of his anxiety because his anxiety would keep him humbly on his knees.

What do you think of this? :-)
 
JFSurvivor said:
So I really didn't want to go to church today but I did anyway and I am really happy for that.

First:
 I went and when the singing started at the beginning of service I sat down and wrote a letter to God instead. No one stared at me and no one said anything so that made me feel good. :-)

Second: At the end of the pastors sermon he said that he brought up the fact that he had a physical illness. I thought he had a bad back or leg but instead he said that he had anxiety and suffered from panic attacks. That was the first time I had ever heard the word "anxiety" used in church outside of the context of the Bible.

He brought up Exodus 4:12 which was where Moses was like "don't send me God! I'm not good at public speaking!" and God's like "I will help you speak". He explained that God chose Moses BECAUSE of his anxiety because his anxiety would keep him humbly on his knees.

What do you think of this? :-)
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First! Totally not the A word I was imagining when I saw the title of this. lol

Second, well, yeah, you can say many things about Moses but he clearly did NOT want to be God's spokesman, but God made him one anyway. I'm fairly mellow, but, got to say, if God ever made me go to the head of any country to curse him, "anxiety" is too small a word for what I'd be feeling. (And, have you ever noticed, it's too small a word for anyone who is anxious or who suffers with anxiety? Seems to me the word should be closer to BOOM!!! than the quiet little softness the word "anxious" or "anxiety" feels like. It's a huge thing, neither soft nor quiet, except the sound of the word leaving our mouths.)

So, yup. I'm agreeing with the pastor. Sounds about right, and a good place to start to explain what he's going through.

Also, dang! Can you imagine God making you a pastor and having anxiety? That's as tough as Moses. Possibly tougher, since Moses only had to go to the Pharaoh 11 times, and a pastor has to get up in front of the congregation every week for years!

Also, Moses got a lot of literal face time with God, so he literally glowed from God's presence. That probably helped his anxiety.

(Just stuff I'm thinking. This isn't some kind of lesson or brilliance. Just stuff I'm thinking.)
 
When he talked about his anxiety I literally cried because it was the first time anyone important in the church gave it any recognition. Like he understood and he put it all out there for us to see and I felt so many emotions I cried right there in church.
 
I would say it was less about anxiety and more about insecurity. Moses had a stutter and felt he was a bad speaker because of this. The idea of what God wanted to do may have made him anxious, but anxiety was not the root problem in my opinion.
 
JFSurvivor said:
He explained that God chose Moses BECAUSE of his anxiety because his anxiety would keep him humbly on his knees. What do you think of this? :-)
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Anxiety could have been part of it, but besides his speech impediment, Moses knew the response he would receive when telling everyone God spoke to him therefore they should pick up and leave the only life they knew. We have places for folks who say God talks to them in such a manner, and right, wrong or indifferent, that's reality.
 
JFSurvivor said:
When he talked about his anxiety I literally cried because it was the first time anyone important in the church gave it any recognition. Like he understood and he put it all out there for us to see and I felt so many emotions I cried right there in church.
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Yo! (In all the tough Phillyism I could muster in that word, which isn't much, since I'm crude, not tough. lol)

That makes me a bit angry. He's an important guy? Does that mean you aren't important? Does that mean the person next to you at church wasn't important? Get over that in a hurry! We're all important, you included! Your church doesn't have a single unimportant person in it!
 
JFSurvivor said:
So I really didn't want to go to church today but I did anyway and I am really happy for that.

First:
 I went and when the singing started at the beginning of service I sat down and wrote a letter to God instead. No one stared at me and no one said anything so that made me feel good. :-)

Second: At the end of the pastors sermon he said that he brought up the fact that he had a physical illness. I thought he had a bad back or leg but instead he said that he had anxiety and suffered from panic attacks. That was the first time I had ever heard the word "anxiety" used in church outside of the context of the Bible.

He brought up Exodus 4:12 which was where Moses was like "don't send me God! I'm not good at public speaking!" and God's like "I will help you speak". He explained that God chose Moses BECAUSE of his anxiety because his anxiety would keep him humbly on his knees.

What do you think of this? :-)
Click to expand...


2 Co 12:8-9
8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
KJV

Our society tries to foster independence and self sufficiency. God tries to foster total dependence on Him.

IMO a propession of faith in Jesus is or ought to be a declaration of total dependence!
 
JFSurvivor said:
When he talked about his anxiety I literally cried because it was the first time anyone important in the church gave it any recognition. Like he understood and he put it all out there for us to see and I felt so many emotions I cried right there in church.
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He allowed himself to become vulnerable by telling the congregation about his anxiety. My favorite passage in the bible is "Jesus wept". By doing that He allowed His humanity to show, the same as your pastor. both examples show that we are not alone in the world.
 
Most public speakers and teachers are intraverts or suffer from anxiety. I think Satan is busy usung our insecurities against us to keep us from spreading His word. It's super common, but very little talk about it.
 
I guess I'm spoiled, because I can hardly remember a time when our pastors (except for the CoC) weren't very frequently open from the pulpit (though we don't actually have a "pulpit") about their shortcomings.
 
I agree that Moses was an insecure person. He was anxious about speaking to Pharaoh. One of the things that I love about God is that he chose people who were insecure and different to do great things! It's encouraging for me to know that God sees the heart. He sees our potential and he doesn't judge like people do.

I get what you're trying to say when you call anxiety the a word. Many people in the church don't empathize with people who have mental illness. Some can empathize with people who have physical illness. However, if a person has mental illness then they have the perception that a person must be doing something wrong. It's really sad. These people make those who suffer from sickness feel bad by telling them that what they need is more faith. NOT nice at all. I feel like sickness of any kind, just like any trial, can make you exercise your faith muscle, but people aren't sick because they don't have faith. That's a lie from the devil.

I do feel like the church as a whole should do a better job at addressing mental health issues. There should be more support for people who are suffering. They have support groups for all kinds of things, but I do feel like people shy away from mental illness because they don't understand it. There should be Christian classes at the church on how to cope or even live with someone who has mental illness. Mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of and us Christians need compassion for those who suffer from it.
 
tenderhearted said:
I agree that Moses was an insecure person. He was anxious about speaking to Pharaoh. One of the things that I love about God is that he chose people who were insecure and different to do great things! It's encouraging for me to know that God sees the heart. He sees our potential and he doesn't judge like people do.

I get what you're trying to say when you call anxiety the a word. Many people in the church don't empathize with people who have mental illness. Some can empathize with people who have physical illness. However, if a person has mental illness then they have the perception that a person must be doing something wrong. It's really sad. These people make those who suffer from sickness feel bad by telling them that what they need is more faith. NOT nice at all. I feel like sickness of any kind, just like any trial, can make you exercise your faith muscle, but people aren't sick because they don't have faith. That's a lie from the devil.

I do feel like the church as a whole should do a better job at addressing mental health issues. There should be more support for people who are suffering. They have support groups for all kinds of things, but I do feel like people shy away from mental illness because they don't understand it. There should be Christian classes at the church on how to cope or even live with someone who has mental illness. Mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of and us Christians need compassion for those who suffer from it.
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Completely agree
 
JFSurvivor said:
When he talked about his anxiety I literally cried because it was the first time anyone important in the church gave it any recognition. Like he understood and he put it all out there for us to see and I felt so many emotions I cried right there in church.
Click to expand...

I think it is important for leadership to speak about their faults. They shouldn't use the platform to consistently air their dirty laundry because we need to have confidence in their ability to lead and teach. They have faults, fears, they have not so nice thoughts, they sometimes don't want to do the right thing. We need to realize that they are just as human as we are. :cool:
 
Anxiety and depression are talked about in the Bible, so why would you not talk about them in church?

Paul told the Philippians to be "anxious for nothing." Why would he have told them, unless he knew there was anxiety going on?

"do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." Phil. 4:6

"2 It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
 for he gives to his beloved sleep." Psalm 127:2

Jesus also tells us not to be anxious. Why would he say it, if he didn't know people were being anxious?

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin," Matt 6:25-28

I am glad the pastor was honest and forthcoming about his personal struggle with anxiety. My pastor was talking about his fear of preaching when he first came to the church, and he realized it was the fear of man that made him feel that way, not the fear of God. I was glad he said that, because I am preaching in July, and I haven't preached in at least a year, so I was beginning to get a bit anxious and fearful!

 
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