Todd A. Peperkorn's Blog, page 4
December 6, 2010
How to survive the holidays
Last week I did a radio interview with my friend Gregory Berg on The Morning Show at WGTD in Kenosha. The topic was how to survive the holidays. I thought y'all might appreciate the interview. It's about 50 minutes or so. Enjoy!
Advent Protection
[I posted this originally at http://lutheranlogomaniac.com, but I think you might find it of benefit as well.]
December generally stinks for me on a personal level. I know, that's not a really chipper pastor admission to make, but there you have it. Kathryn and I have had two miscarriages during this season, and December serves as a foreboding for January. Nearly bad memory I have about depression has its triggers in December and January. So for me, December always creates a longing to get away, to escape from my memories and to try and find someplace better. I want it to be better. I want to embrace the joy of the season and be happy, but it doesn't play out that way very often.
That is why I love the collects, or short prayers of Advent. Each one of them has its own emphasis, but the first one really wraps it all up for me. Here it is:
Stir up Your power, O Lord, and come, that by Your protection we may be rescued from the threatening perils of our sins and saved by Your mighty deliverance; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. (LSB, Collect for the First Sunday in Advent)
What I so often forget is that in many ways I am my own worst enemy. My sinfulness is always at the door, always creeping around and trying to draw me into the traps which only Satan can lay for me. And tragically all too often, I succumb to those traps and temptations.
We don't think of sin really as dangerous or or destructive, but it is. It threatens our relationship to God, to one another, and seems into every facet of our lives. Satan and sin are always at work, always trying to figure out what and who they can devour next. I don't say this to cause fear, but first of all as a warning. We should never be surprised when sin messes things up. It is what sin does, and worse.
What this collect (prayer) reminds me of so beautifully is that God's protection rescues me from my sins. No matter how badly I have screwed up. No matter how much I have contributed to all of my own problems, God is there for me. We pray that God would stir up His power to rescue. And God loves to answer prayers more than anything else.
He will deliver you from the threatening perils of your sins. He will deliver you. Perhaps one of our Advent Psalms puts it best, "Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me." (Psalm 50:15)
This Advent I would encourage you to sit back, recognize your own weaknesses and shortcomings and sinfulness, repent and receive God's gracious word of forgiveness. But also recognize the weakness and sinfulness of those around you. They are trapped just as you are. God can use your forgiving words to make a difference in another hurting sinner's life. What could be a better present than that?
Stir up your power, O Lord, and come. Come quickly, make haste to deliver me. Amen.
+The Lord be with you+
Pastor
October 29, 2010
I knew it! Incence IS the cure for depression!
A reader pointed this out to me:
Bethesda, MD—Religious leaders have contended for millennia that burning incense is good for the soul. Now, biologists have learned that it is good for our brains too. In a new study appearing online in The FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org), an international team of scientists, including researchers from the United States and Israel, describe how burning frankincense (resin from the Boswellia plant) activates poorly understood ion channels in the brain to alleviate anxiety or depression. This suggests that an entirely new class of depression and anxiety drugs might be right under our noses.
Breaking News–The FASEB Journal (07-101865)
I will have to digest this a little bit, but it does make a lot of sense to me. Incense or sulfur. I know which I would choose…
My only question is, should this be categorized under "natural remedies" or "divine remedies" or something else?
-DMR
October 28, 2010
Sadness & Depression Video
This is a little clip of the video from the Lutheran Catechetical Society from a couple weeks ago. You can order the video for $20 with shipping.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Sadness & Depression Video
This is a little clip of the video from the Lutheran Catechetical Society from a couple weeks ago. You can order the video for $20 with shipping.
Click here to view the embedded video.
October 20, 2010
Healthy brain gene linked to depression – Telegraph
Healthy brain gene linked to depression – Telegraph
I had a reader pass this link along for your interest in benefit. What this means for those of us who suffer from depression is that there may very well come a time (sooner rather than later) when the medication to treat clinical depression will be much more specific and more more effective than it is right now. How great would that be?
Read this article and let me know what you think. Is this a pipe dream on my part?
-P
October 15, 2010
Video of Lutheran view on depression now available
Through the gracious energies of the Lutheran Catechetical Society, I am now happy to report that there is a video of my presentation that I gave to the LCS last weekend at Christ Lutheran Church in Normal, Illinois.
The LCS has been in existence for around five years, and they have high quality videos of a number of their presentations available. The video of my presentation is essentially a shortened version and commentary on my book, I Trust When Dark My Road: A Lutheran View of Depression, available from LCMS World Relief and Human Care. I receive requests for videos from time to time, and this is now where I will be pointing them.
If you are interested in having me come and speak to your congregation, circuit, women's group, etc., about depression and the hope we have in Christ, please email me here.
Thank you to all of my friends in Indiana and Illinois! It was a wonderful weekend. God bless you!
-Pastor Todd Peperkorn
September 28, 2010
Lutheran Catechetical Society – Speaking on October 10 in Normal, Illinois
The Lutheran Catechetical Society has invited me to come and speak on the topic of (you guessed it!) Lutherans and depression. It is being held at Christ Lutheran Church in Normal, Illinois. HERE is a link to the google map of the same. And HERE is a link to the Facebook event.
So I am driving from Grace, Columbus, IN over to Normal, Illinois, for this gig. If you are in the Normal-Bloombington area, I would urge you to join us! I am told that they will also be offering a video recording of this event.
A Lutheran View of Depression (Columbus, Indiana)
Grace Lutheran Church in Columbus, Indiana, has graciously invited me to come and speak the weekend of October 9 & 10. I will be speaking on Saturday evening, and then preaching and leading bible class on Sunday morning. If any of you are in the area, I would love to see you! I will be posting on another speaking event that I have in central Illinois here in a moment.
If you would like to find out more, check out the event page for this on Facebook.
Pastor Todd Peperkorn
August 10, 2010
I'm Back
So I'm back after an INSANE couple months. So what shall we talk about? Any suggestions?
-DMR
