Why We’re Publishing “Blessed Minds”

Think for a moment about the human mind itself. What is a mind actually made of? We know it’s a combination of chemical reactions and electricity, but we can produce reactions and electricity in a laboratory and still be no closer to creating a mind. Something more is at work. Truly only God knows how we creatures, accurately described in science fiction as “bags of mostly water,”¹ have the ability to think, to create, to love.

Each of us is, as Psalm 139 says, “fearfully and wonderfully made” by God, each mind unique. That one-of-a-kind nature means we encounter minds that don’t quite make sense to us. Perhaps we recognize that enigma in ourselves. How we choose to react to those differences—with compassion or with rejection—can have a huge impact on a life.

For more than a decade, Rev. Dr. Sarah Griffith Lund has written on how Christian faith relates to the human mind and some of its more challenging aspects. Blessed Minds: Breaking the Silence about Neurodiversity is Sarah’s fifth Chalice Press book. Each has helped us peer into minds we may not understand — or perhaps to understand our own minds better.

• Lund’s 2014 debut book, Blessed are the Crazy: Breaking the Silence about Mental Illness, Family & Church, is a go-to resources for everybody who recognize the roles faith and religion can play in helping us address mental illness in ourselves, our families, and our communities.
• Blessed Union: Breaking the Silence about Mental Illness and Marriage (2021) looked at marriage and mental health, arriving at a time when the pandemic created new kinds of stress our generations had never before encountered.
• Blessed Youth: Breaking the Silence about Mental Illness with Children and Teens (2022) provide a deep dive and frank discussion about the growing mental health challenges our youth face. Blessed Youth includes practical resources like prayers and a guide for having age-appropriate talks with children about warning signs and how to get help for themselves and friends.
• Blessed Youth Survival Guide (2022) is a pocket-sized book for teens to help them an emergency and includes mental health basics, emergency contacts, and tools to equip a teen to respond in a crisis until professional help arrives. More than 10,000 copies of Blessed Youth Survival Guide have been sold, making their way to compassion’s front lines. Together, the Blessed Youth books offer hope and help for everyone who loves a child or youth with mental health challenges.

Blessed Minds delves into neurodiversity, defined by the Cleveland Clinic as a “nonmedical term that describes people whose brains develop or work differently for some reason.” Neurodiversity is recognizable in more familiar names like Autism, dyslexia, Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyspraxia, and Tourette’s Syndrome. Neurodiversity is not a medical condition, but rather a concept recognizing the natural variation in human brains. 

Neurodiversity affects up to 20 percent of Americans and their families, and we may often see it in a place that brings us into the kinds of communities where we can most be ourselves: Congregational life. But we can also realize times in our sacred communities where we may find ourselves judging or evaluating others for their neurodivergent behavior. Lund writes, “It is not the role of the church to diagnose people’s mental illness or make assumptions about their identities; instead, the church can invite people into explorations and conversations about their identities as part of God’s good creation. It is the church’s role to extend an extravagant welcome to all and not to exclude people because of their differences. The evolution of our language to include neurodiversity is a sign that God is doing something new.”

Blessed Minds is a guide to helping your church and other groups grow to truly reflect love and acceptance of all, including neurodivergent people. Compassion, vulnerability, and justice are all a part of that welcome. So are creating a neuroinclusive worship experience, strategies for welcoming neurodivergent families, theological insights on neurodiversity as part of God's beautiful creation and learning from neurodivergent ministers about their own unique ministries.

In the years I’ve had the gift of knowing Sarah, I’ve found a gentle, supportive soul, understanding and compassionate when talking about this challenging topic. That always translates into her writing. Understanding and compassion are in short supply these days, and our churches need to be places of gentle support, especially for those marginalized for their differences. Blessed Minds will help your congregation become a blessing, a faith home, for a community that recognizes the blessing that is diversity and inclusion.

Gratefully,
Brad Lyons
President and Publisher

¹ Star Trek: The Next Generation, “Home Soil,” 1988. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAlqp0_a0tE. Live long and prosper!