May is Mental Health Awareness Month.

The UCC Mental Health Network has sent worship resources to use during this time.  May 19 is Mental Health Sunday this year, but any Sunday is a great day to focus on mental health!  The following prayer was created by The Right Rev. Dr. Richard Bott, Moderator, United Church of Canada.

We recognize,
God of all life,
all people, all places;
that many of us continue to not understand
issues of mental health— our own, and that of others’. For so many broken reasons
stigma is placed upon folks
living with mental health difficulties,
building walls of isolation,
rather than the support and love of beloved community;
the support and love
of radical belonging;
the support and love
that Jesus exemplified,
over and over and over again.

Open our hearts, open our arms,
open the ways to knowledge
     and comprehension—
that all your beloved children
would find safe home, here.
Now.
Always.  

We ask this in the name of the One whose hands and heart always reach out, Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

- The Right Rev. Dr. Richard Bott, Moderator, United Church of Canada