Kirsten Black – Washington Presbyterian Church

What It Means That Christ is Praying for You Today

And our Advocate isn’t distant. He’s not working remotely from some heavenly retirement home. He’s seated next to the Father, pleading our case, defending us against every accusation, and interceding for us day and night.

I Thought Healing Would Look Different

Kirsten Black writes about how grief tends to have a starting point but no obvious end point.

Healing doesn’t look like I thought it would. Before loss, I assumed healing meant the hard days would resolve; that there would be an end to the sadness. Now I realize that healing is learning to honor the sorrow when it returns. It reminds my heart that because of Christ, there is still hope, even when the sadness remains. It speaks to my still-aching heart, reminding her life is not as God intended it to be, yet the life to come will be exactly how he planned. And then it patiently waits for the sun to rise, knowing that sorrow will not have the final word.

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

Our poem of the week: Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence, by Megan Willome. This is a very short poem about the difficulty we have with silence.

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

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

Why Don’t We Read The Bible More? Three Common Misunderstandings

Ava Ligh looks at the real reasons (not just the stated reasons) we don’t read the Bible. She clears up some misunderstandings about the purpose of Bible reading to help us on our way.

Most sermons and Bible teachings tend to approach Scripture through a medical paradigm. The text is seen as offering a diagnosis and remedy for a specific problem within the congregation, and the sermon concludes with various prescriptions or applications to address the symptoms of that problem. However, Jesus encourages us to engage with Scripture through an agricultural paradigm, where the Word of God is compared to a seed that must be received (Matthew 13:1-23; Mark 4:1-20; Luke 8:4-15).

Nearness is Enough

Kirsten Black writes about her experience in the hospital as one of her sons was dying. She honestly wrestles with the promise of God’s nearness and how or whether that’s a good thing in the midst of suffering.

So, what does the nearness of God look like amid our trials and our suffering? For years, I thought the nearness of God would mean that everything would be okay or, at the very least, feel okay. I hoped that his nearness would mean some sort of tangible presence, some sort of relief from pain. I hoped that it would act as a shield and protection around me, that it would stop the fiery arrows of the enemy from penetrating my heart. But that was not the nearness of God.

When

Our poem of the week is When, by Henry Lewis in Ekstasis Magazine. Brace yourselves—this one is about dying.