From toothbrushes and walruses to the gospel’s heart

The toothbrush. The walrus. The pencil. The handlebar. The Dali.

The last two should have given the game away; I’m talking, of course, about moustache styles. November, or ‘Mo-vember’ as it is often renamed, is Men’s Health Awareness Month and you may have been aware of friends sporting various ’taches reminiscent of dodgy bandits or luxuriant WWI fighter aces.

The idea started with a group of friends chatting over a beer in a pub in Melbourne, Australia and has become a worldwide initiative aiming to raise awareness and money for men’s health charities. In the UK, Movember fundraising benefits Prostate Cancer UK, testicular cancer charities, mental health and suicide prevention programmes among others.

Slow to seek help

But what do these different charities have in common and why the focus on men’s health? Many of these cancers carry an embarrassment factor, making some men slow to seek help and treatment which then affects recovery and even survival rates.

The difficulties of getting a GP appointment in these Covid times certainly hasn’t helped. Yet despite incendiary newspaper headlines, our GPs continue to work hard offering virtual and in-person appointments, and they really want to see us if there’s a problem that needs looking into. In my own wider family, leaving troubling early male cancer symptoms until they got impossible to ignore resulted in significant life-altering surgery. Being British can make talking about these things difficult. As a woman, it’s perhaps easier to talk about them, although there is a similar stigma around screening for cervical cancer.

Fear of appearing weak

But Movember isn’t just about physical illness; there is a big focus on mental health too. Despite huge advances in our understanding of issues like depression, men are still far less likely to seek medical help and advice than women. The reasons for this are complex and will be slightly different for everyone, but perhaps some of it stems from a mistaken sort of manly stoicism that doesn’t want to be seen as weak or needing help.

Dr Luke

Perhaps we need to listen to Dr Luke on this. In his account of the brouhaha surrounding Jesus’ calling of Levi (Matthew) and eating with sinners and tax collectors, Luke records the words of Jesus: ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.’

If we don’t like admitting that we are physically ill and in need, we certainly don’t like admitting that we are spiritually sick! We see that human heart attitude in the reaction of the Pharisees and teachers of the law. But as Christians we know we are in desperate need of the Heavenly Physician and we also know the joy of coming to Him in our weakness for forgiveness and rest. Perhaps we need to remember that model in our response to physical ailments too?

Depending on our Saviour

How many times do we carry on working and rushing around when we really should stop and rest, reluctant to acknowledge our weakness? I write this recovering from a week when I’ve been knocked sideways by Covid, despite having been double jabbed. When we are really sick, we gratefully accept the care and help of others – we haven’t the energy to do anything else. And that’s no bad thing. As human beings we are dependant on each other and most of all upon our Creator and Saviour. Again, that is not a bad thing, it is the way that God has designed us.

So, don’t be afraid to ask for help – whether you are a man or a woman. Don’t be slow to seek medical help if you need it. Above all, don’t forget that we all need the Heavenly Physician who heals us of all our infirmities and diseases – pride, stubbornness and fear included.