Tag Archives: depression
Mental Health November Week 2: Prayer
#blessed
However it hits us – with sudden strike Or slow attrition – it hits all the same. Movements may be slower, tentative, like A creature not accustomed to the day; Or, paralysed, you might see the sun and Not know that it calls you to anything But sleep. If so, sleep deep. Tomorrow’s hand IsContinue reading “#blessed”
Asking
Too simple. The copers always say yes until the last and the question’s sincerity must be matched with the moment, the timing devised for the heart to respond: no hallway exchanges, or coffee machine chit-chat. Space is required – a safe place to land when sand bags and bubbles collapse. Too late to be askingContinue reading “Asking”
The Consolation of Psalms: Podcast Episode Two
I was angry with my friend; I told my wrath, my wrath did end. I was angry with my foe; I told it not, my wrath did grow. So William Blake begins his poem “A Poison Tree”. Where as Christians do we take our anger, or all the other messy emotions that seem not toContinue reading “The Consolation of Psalms: Podcast Episode Two”
Astronomy
…the dread of something after death – The undiscover’d country, from whose bourn No traveller returns – puzzles the will, And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of… (William Shakespeare, Hamlet) What dreams may come when we set out for stars? What will we findContinue reading “Astronomy”
Burnt-out Prayer: For Ash Wednesday
King: I cannot come to You however I choose yet all I am is a bundle hurriedly put together, no sack cloth, no ashes, hair still mussed from slumber, limbs dragging, soul flat, feet not yet expecting to walk… Can I come to You as a stowaway, scarcely awake, found among cargo, hiding like JonahContinue reading “Burnt-out Prayer: For Ash Wednesday”
Apology
If perhaps in sullen days I might slide back to where I fell, a child, into the dark, please wait with me as slowly I am brought again into the light. Your love has brought the truth to bear in silent corners, back- rooms where thick lies have festered in the dark. AlthoughContinue reading “Apology”
From Ashes 11: The Poor in Spirit and the Fainting Minister
Poverty in spirit is the porch of the temple of blessedness…Till we are emptied of self we cannot be filled with God. Stripping must be worked upon us before we can be clothed with the righteousness which is from Heaven. (C.H. Spurgeon, “The First Beatitude”) I remember a dream I had once, when I wasContinue reading “From Ashes 11: The Poor in Spirit and the Fainting Minister”
From Ashes 10: Søren Kierkegaard – Original Sin and the Fear of Possibility
“When you’re absolute beginners,” folk singer M. Ward tells us, “it’s a panoramic view, from her majesty Mount Zion, and the kingdom is for you.” What he seems to suggest here is that, at any beginning point, there appears an infinite potentiality to life, stretching out like a majestic panorama before us. W.H. Auden, in hisContinue reading “From Ashes 10: Søren Kierkegaard – Original Sin and the Fear of Possibility”
The Consolations of Writing 