A 6 week small group book study, <em>Blessed Are the Crazy</em> by <a href="https://sarahgriffithlund.com/">Sarah Griffith Lund</a>. We will begin Saturday, October 29th @10am in the Worship Center.

We will have a few books available for purchase.  You can find them on your own online at <a href="http://www.chalicepress.com/Blessed-Are-the-Crazy-P1454.aspx">chalicepress.com</a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Blessed-Are-Crazy-Breaking-Silence/dp/0827202997">amazon.com and on kindle</a>.<!--more-->
<h3>Book Description:</h3>
When do you learn that “normal” doesn’t include lots of yelling, a lot of sleeping, and lots of beatings? In<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Blessed Are the Crazy</i>, Sarah Griffith Lund looks back at her father’s battle with bipolar disorder. She visits the helpless sense of déjà vu as her brother and cousin endure mental illness, as well. She seeks answers in her faith communities.  From feeling pain in God’s presence, through seeing the Holy Spirit on Death Row as she witnesses her cousin’s execution.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>

With a small group study guide and “Ten Steps for Developing a Mental Health Ministry in Your Congregation,”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Blessed Are the Crazy</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>is more than memoir.  It also serves as a resource for churches and other faith-based groups to provide healing and comfort. As Sarah writes, “This testimony is for anybody who has ever wondered how God can use craziness to teach us about the depths of human and divine love.”<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>
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<h3>Editorial Reviews</h3>
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"A brave and beautiful memoir, told with compassion and tenderness, that will open up conversations about some of the most neglected, shadowy corners in our human experience. Sarah Griffith Lund has given the church a gift: the chance to walk, as Jesus did, in the company of those who bear the blessings and marks of a crazy cross." --Anna Carter Florence, Columbia Theological Seminary
"Sarah Lund offers a beautiful and brutally honest account of mental illness in her family and its impact on her ministry. There is neither romanticism nor hopelessness in these pages. Rather she shares a story that is both introspective and prophetic, and invites us all to share in this lifelong struggle between shadow and light." --Stacy Smith, editor, Church Health Reader; co-author, <i>Bless Her Heart: Life As a Young Clergy Woman</i>
"Sarah's book is a detailed, personal story-telling of the impact that the mental illnesses in her family has had on her life. As she wrestles with her experiences, she affirms that to tell the true story is to heal. Her faith comes alive in the telling and we, as readers, can find hope in her words." --The Rev. Alan Johnson, United Church of Christ Mental Health Network and the Interfaith Network on Mental Illness

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<h3>About the Author</h3>
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Sarah Griffith Lund is passionate about loving her family, God, and being part of faith communities. As an ordained minister she has served as pastor to churches in Brooklyn, NY, Minneapolis, MN, and New Smyrna Beach, FL. She holds degrees from Trinity University, Princeton Theological Seminary, Rutgers University, and McCormick Theological Seminary.  Currently she serves as a Vice President for Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, IN. Sarah received The Bob and Joyce Dell Award for Mental Health Education from the United Church of Christ Mental Health Network in 2015 for "her outstanding authorship and leadership in breaking the silence about mental illness in family and on church and offering healing and hope." She blogs at sarahgriffithlund.com and at huffingtonpost.com

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