Tag: Depression

Links for the Weekend (2024-05-31)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

When childless becomes grandchildless

This is a sad and touching reflection on childlessness. I appreciated Karen Swallow Prior’s honesty, and her words are beautiful.

You realize you will never know what kind of grandparent you would have been, what kind of birthday parties you would have hosted, special outings you would have planned, spoiling you would have done and dreams you’d have helped fund. But you think you would have been a good one.

Let the Bible Help You Understand Depression

Kathryn Butler helps us understand depression through a Biblical lens and offers some Biblical hope for those who are suffering.

Understanding these truths can guide sufferers back to their hope in Christ when they need it most. In Sarah’s case, a gradual and careful walk through Scripture with compassionate church leaders was life-giving. As she wrestled to see the realities of her depression through a biblical lens, Sarah learned to trust God’s sovereignty and mercy, to express her despair through lament, and to lean on the church for support.

Our Mother-tongue Is Love; A Sonnet for Pentecost

Our poem of the week: this sonnet for Pentecost, by Malcolm Guite. Even though we’re two weeks past Pentecost on the church calendar, I think you might enjoy this.

On the WPCA Blog This Week

This week on the blog we published an article I wrote called A Christian Alternative to Optimism and Pessimism. If you haven’t already seen it, check it out!

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

Links for the Weekend (2024-05-17)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

Did the Jews Kill Jesus?

With Israel in the news a lot recently and anti-Semitism on the rise, Kevin DeYoung answers an important question: Should we say that the Jews killed Jesus?

But what about the Jews? Isn’t it the case that the Bible repeatedly affirms that the Jews as a people were responsible—perhaps uniquely responsible—for killing Jesus? After all, the crowd in Jerusalem, in clamoring for Jesus to be crucified and for Barabbas to go free, exclaimed, “His blood be on us, and on our children” (Matt. 27:25). Even if the statement is unpopular, aren’t we obliged to say with the Bible that the Jews killed Jesus?

The short answer is: It depends.

Cling to the Light: How to Cope When Suffering with Depression

This article may be helpful for some in our church family, and it may be helpful for others who have friends and family members in this situation. Kathryn Butler offers counsel for Christians suffering with depression.

Dear friend, if you’re among those who cry out to God and yearn for his comfort, know you’re not alone. Your walk in the darkness cannot hide you from the Light of the World (John 8:12). Even when you can’t feel his presence, Jesus remains with you until the end of the age (Matt. 28:20), and nothing—not your shame, your despair, or the agony of depression—can separate you from his love (Rom. 8:38–39).

Jazz

Our poem of the week: A four-stanza poem about jazz and much more. This one will repay multiple readings.

On the WPCA Blog This Week

This week on the blog we published an article I wrote called Ordinary Ingredients of Christian Growth. If you haven’t already seen it, check it out!

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

Links for the Weekend (2022-05-27)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

The Psalms Know What You Feel

With distance, we might be tempted to think that the Psalms are repetitive, sounding only a single note. But this article shows how the Psalms offer something for all of our emotions and lead us ultimately to praise.

And through mountains and valleys, through trials and triumphs, through ecstasy and agony, we hear one common, beautiful thread: praise. In the throes of fear, praise. In the vulnerability of uncertainty, praise. In the darkness of doubt, praise. Even in the heartache of betrayal, praise. The praise doesn’t always sound the same, but we still hear it, in each and every circumstance. And so the book ends, after every high and every low, with a call: “Praise him. . . . Praise him. . . . Praise him.” Can you praise him where you are right now?

Did Jesus Have Female Disciples?

The short answer to this question is “yes!” But Rebecca McLaughlin’s article is still worth reading, as she shows us from Luke’s gospel what Jesus’s female disciples were like.

Luke notes that many of the women who traveled with Jesus had been healed by him—whether physically or spiritually—and that his ministry was supported financially by his female followers. This is significant. Luke often focuses our eyes on the poor and marginalized. But here we get a glimpse of the rich women who were drawn to Jesus—so captivated by him that they left their homes and followed him wherever he went. 

Not Enough Wisdom

How should a father answer when a daughter asks for his best wisdom for her college years? Here’s a touching attempt to describe that effort.

It is an earnest question from a humble heart. And all of a sudden I felt it. Her question hits me in the chest and my heart drops. What more wisdom can I offer? What bullets are left in the chamber? What gold nuggets are left in the chest? I search and come up empty.

Charles Spurgeon’s Battle with Depression

We may think of Spurgeon as simply a prolific preacher, and his sermons certainly offer us a lot. But we can also learn from his battle with depression.

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here.