B
lessed are the crazy
Rewriting the story of mental
by Sarah Lund
illness, family, and church
I’ve been a Disciple since my baptism/
confirmation class at Broadway Christian Church
in Columbia, Missouri, where I sat as a frecklefaced, wide-eyed girl listening to one of our
pastors, Rick Frost, speak about God’s open
table. Earlier that morning I had witnessed the
church’s other pastor, Kim Gage Ryan, lift up
the bread and the cup during worship, offering
it to everyone who wanted to taste and see the
goodness of God’s love. The thing I remember
most about first becoming a Disciple was the
love that radiated out of the words and actions
of our two pastors, Rick and Kim, and how this
love (God’s love) overflowed into the members
of the congregation. Looking back, I understand
my call to be a Disciple as connected to my
call to be an ordained minister. Moreover, as a
young girl, it was my ability to see Kim, who
was in her third trimester of pregnancy, navigate
officiating communion around her black-robed
baby bump that planted the seed of what was to
come.
Fast forward years later, and in 2002, I’m
making my ordination vows at Broadway
Christian Church. My promises to offer my
life in the service of God were spoken in the
same church that sustained me and my family
during my childhood, a time when we faced
life-threatening mental illnesses in my father
and oldest brother. Even though we chose not
to speak openly about our struggles with mental
illness, we knew the church loved us.
MY FIRST CALL
During my first call as a minister in a local
church, I participated in Bethany Fellows
(www.bethanyfellows.org ), a program designed
to support young clergy in their first few years
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FALL 2015 · Just Women
of parish ministry. Kim Gage Ryan was one of
the leaders of this group and Broadway Christian
Church is one of the congregations that provides
funding for it. The program gave me a chance to
retreat for five days twice a year with other young