Sermon: Burnout
June 23rd, 2019 Rev. Betsy Perkins
First Baptist Church, Delavan WI
Scripture passages: 1 Kings 19:1-15, Psalm 42
Burnout: Elijah, a case study
“Occupational Burnout Syndrome.” It is one of the newest medical diagnoses being added to the official international handbook of diseases. It was announced by the WHO in May of this year. That term, burnout, was first used in the 1970’s. Shortly after that, Christina Maslach created the Maslach Burnout Inventory to measure a person’s symptoms. But burnout existed long before we were able to measure and diagnose it.
This story from the prophet Elijah’s life appears to be a classic example of someone suffering from Occupational Burnout Syndrome. Earlier in the story of Elijah he has shown himself to be a person of great faith, with tremendous courage and power. Elijah delivered the news from God that there would be a severe drought. There was then not a drop of rain for 3 years. During the dry years, God cared for Elijah, sending ravens to feed him on one of his journeys. Then, when a widow shared her last meal with him, Elijah miraculously made it so her flour bin and oil jug would never run out. When the woman’s only son died, Elijah prayed over him and God listened and brought the boy back to life.
At that time, Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab, the king of Israel, practiced and promoted the worship of idols, particularly Baal, the god of rainstorms. She took offense to the prophets who were faithful to the Lord God Almighty and who spoke against her. So she began to have all those faithful prophets executed. Eventually, when many had been killed God directed Elijah to challenge Jezebel’s prophets, the Baal priests, to a showdown. The Baal prophets failed miserably, but at Elijah’s word, as he prayed, “Lord, let it be known today that You are the God in Israel, and turn their hearts back to You.” Fire rained down from heaven. The false prophets were put to death. And Elijah knelt before God praying, until the first rain drops began to fall, breaking the long drought. Elijah was at the peak of his career! The verse just before the passage we heard today goes, “The power of the Lord came on Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of King Ahab (in a chariot) all the way to Jezreel (17 miles).”
But everything goes downhill fast from there. Elijah receives death threats from the King’s wife. It frightens him terribly, perhaps because he has PTSD from seeing his prophet friends and colleagues murdered. He is still grieving their loss. Elijah starts to shows signs and symptoms that meet the 3 defining criteria for burnout in the new international handbook of diseases.
The first criterion is energy depletion, exhaustion. (Maxine cartoon) Do we see that in Elijah? Absolutely, he is exhausted from his intense and demanding work. He has been running here and there. He is so tired, weak and overwhelmed that he sits down under a tree and immediately falls asleep. Even the angel looks at him and says, “This journey is too much for you!” He must have looked terrible.
The second criterion is increasing mental distance from one’s work, indifference, along with negativism and cynicism. (Maxine cartoon) There’s a complaining and “I just don’t care anymore” attitude. How about Elijah? He has pretty much given up on his prophet job, escaped out into the wilderness, told his servant to get lost. When God asks him why he’s there, Elijah gives a litany of everything that’s gone wrong. “I’ve had enough, Lord.”
The third criterion is reduced professional effectiveness, a sense of diminishing accomplishment and self-doubt. (Maxine cartoon) And Elijah? He is very discouraged that so many in Israel have been led astray to worship idols. “The Israelites have rejected your covenant,” he moans. I wonder if he feels a sense of responsibility for that as one who should have been leading the people to God. He sounds dejected. “I’m no better than my ancestors,” he says, implying a sense of failure and despair.
Burnout is a form of depression. As is not uncommon with depression, Elijah is suicidal. He prays that he might die. “Lord, take my life.” His distress, his concern and fear is not imagined; he is in real danger. He is angry at being left all alone. “I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
Mental Distress and Illness
The topic of mental and emotional distress often makes people uncomfortable. It’s one of those things that’s considered private; a secret not to be discussed in public. There’s a stigma that depression or other mental illness reflect badly on you or on your family. There’s a fear that you might be seen as weak or crazy. Too often in churches, people don’t want to talk about depression because they feel it reflects a lack of faith.
We need to change that! We need to start talking about mental health and mental illness more openly, especially in the church. There is no correlation between depression and a lack of faith. Elijah had an abundance of faith and yet he got seriously depressed.
In a recent interview by David Letterman, Kanye West spoke about his bipolar condition. He said, “This is a health issue. This is like a sprained brain, like having a sprained ankle. And if someone has a sprained ankle, you’re not going to push on him more. But with us, once our brain gets to a point of spraining, people do everything to make it worse!” As if mental and emotional distress is not enough, the difficulty in talking about it, the difficulty is seeking treatment for it, only makes things worse.
An article on my newsfeed caught my eye last week: Deaths of despair soaring in the US (Jamie Ducharme, time.com, June 13, 2019). Deaths of despair are deaths caused by drugs, alcohol and suicide. These are increasing in all age groups, but especially among the Millennial generation. In that group of 18-34 year olds, drug-related deaths are up 108% over the last 10 years, alcohol-related deaths are up 69%, and suicides are up 35%. In 2017, 36,000 millennials lost their lives to deaths of despair. Putting that in perspective, that’s just a little more than half the number of American lives lost over the 20 years of the Vietnam war. It is 8 times the number of American soldiers that have died in Iraq war since it started in 2003. It is 12 times the number of deaths in the 9/11 attack.
I lost a brother to a death of despair. My brother Paul died at the age of 33, from depression and schizophrenia. He had struggled with mental illness from shortly after he graduated from high school. When he took his meds, he had actually been able to complete a college degree and work, but part of the nature of his illness meant that he was not always able to accept his need for medication and treatment.
I, too, have gone through a dark time in my own life. When my children were very young, I experienced a time of depression. I needed to face struggles from my childhood and grieve the long separations I experienced from my parents when I was in boarding school.
Intervention and Prevention
Maybe as I tell you these stories, your own stories have come to mind – your family members, your friends, even yourself. If you hear nothing else this morning, I want you to hear how critical it is to reach out and get help! The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. Or you can text HOME to 741741 for the Crisis Textline. Or call 911. When someone is suicidal it is an emergency. I have sat with people and asked if I could call the Lifeline number for them. I have offered to drive someone to the emergency room and gone with them to the doctor’s office in those difficult days.
There is treatment for emotional and mental disease, just as there is treatment for heart disease or for sprained ankles. There are ways to intervene. There are ways to practice prevention. And as I looked closely at the story of Elijah’s burnout and depression, I’m amazed at how God intervened and provided just what Elijah needed.
There was no Suicide Lifeline back then, no Crisis Textline either. But notice that Elijah reached out to the Lifeline of God in prayer. He took some time off from work. He got some rest. Out there in the wilderness, Elijah laid down and slept. God sent an angel to care for him, awaken him briefly to give him food to eat and water to drink. Doctors today emphasize the importance of eating healthy food, staying hydrated, and getting plenty of rest for those who are dealing with burnout. Did you notice the story says the angel touched him? Touch. Receiving the touch of another person, someone to hold your hand, give you a hug, rub your shoulders – these small gestures make a big difference! Doctors today also prescribe exercise. Maybe Elijah’s 40 day hike was part of his road to healing.
I do know that his 40-day journey was on the road south, to Horeb – which is another name for Mount Sinai. Remember what happened there? There on Mt. Sinai, Moses met God in a burning bush. There on Mt. Sinai the people of Israel came to worship after God freed them from slavery in Egypt. There on Mt. Sinai, they God met in thunder and lightning, in clouds and fire. Elijah headed straight to the place where he knew God has showed up in the past.
I doubt there were therapists or psychiatrists in Elijah’s day. But that doesn’t mean he missed out on Talk therapy. God provided that for him too. “Why are you here, Elijah?” God asked, encouraging him to consider his situation, his feelings, his plans and needs. You’ll notice that God does not reprimand or criticize or rationalize. Elijah is not chastised for being afraid or depressed. God does not correct him when he blames everything on the Israelites. God listens. God shows up.
God prescribes a theophany for Elijah’s distress. A theophany is an appearance of God to a human being. But this time, on the mountain of God, God chooses not to reveal Himself in thunder and lightning, not in fire and storm. God chooses to be present for Elijah in the sound of sheer silence, in a gentle whisper, a still small voice, a quiet breath.
Many people who have gone through the dark valley of depression or other mental illness, bemoan their experience of calling out to God in prayer and feeling as if there was no response, as if God was silent. We think of silence as absence. Yet God has shown us otherwise in God’s healing work with Elijah. God is present in the silence, too… God is present, even in silence.
In that silence, God whispers to Elijah, asking again, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” And even though God has provided sustenance for him, provided His presence for him, Elijah gives the exact same answer. Healing takes time.
But God turns Elijah around. “Go back the way you came,” God says. Elijah is recommissioned, given meaningful work once again. He is to appoint new leaders for the nation. He is to begin mentoring the next generation, appointing his successor, Elisha. He is assured that he is not alone. God says, “I’m preserving for myself 7000 in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to the god Baal, and mouths that have not kissed his image.”
Our God is a God of compassion, a God of Love. Our God invites you with the words from Jeremiah 29: “When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” That is the grace of our God.
Closing Song: “Grace Alone”
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