u/OratioFidelis

I was spontaneously inspired to read the "Forms of Prayer to be Used at Sea" in my 1662 BCP today for no apparent reason other than to share this post. I've never been in the navy, only time in my life I was even on a boat was for a field trip in grade school. But it occurred to me that sometimes depression and other mental illnesses have been described as being like having to tread on a turbulent ocean, with periods of calm and chaos changing at seeming random, and extreme despair seeming like the abyss of an insurmountably deep ocean, so these prayers could be said analogously for people in mental distress. e.g.:

• O MOST blessed and glorious Lord God, who art of infinite goodness and mercy: We thy poor creatures, whom thou hast made and preserved, holding our souls in life and now rescuing us out of the jaws of death, humbly present ourselves again before thy Divine Majesty, to offer a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, because thou heardest us when we called in our trouble, and didst not cast out our prayer which we made before thee in our great distress. Even when we gave all for lost – our ship, our goods, our lives – then didst thou mercifully look upon us, and wonderfully command a deliverance, for which we, now being in safety, do give all praise and glory to thy holy name, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.