I just returned from speaking at the Fort Wayne seminary.  The topic, of course, was clinical depression.  It was really a two part visit.  The first part was speaking to a deaconess practicum class, and the second part was doing a “fireside” chat in the Commons with about fifty students and (if they had one) their wives.

I always feel like it is returning to the mother ship when I go home.  No matter how much I like (or dislike) what is going on at the place, it is home in many respects for me.  I feel the same way about Seward.  I don’t really have many ties to Seward anymore, but it is still my school.

The visit itself was good.  I got to catch up with some friends, etc. More importantly, I was able to speak to about fifty members of the student body (and their wives) about depression.  It was basically the same schtick I have done elsewhere (if you want to order the talk, CLICK HERE).

What do you say to a group of men who are studying to be pastors about mental illness and depression?  There’s a lot to say but I tried to keep it to a description of depression, why pastors are at risk, and ways to address it (either preventatively or in the midst of it).  I don’t know if they liked it.  Can you “like” a talk about clinical depression?  But I believe it was and is important for them to hear, and pray that there are more opportunities to do the same.

What would you tell a soon-to-be-pastor about clinical depression?  Why?

Thought I would let the dear readers know that I will be speaking at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne on

Tuesday

April 12, 2011

7:00 PM

In the Commons

Concordia Theological Seminary

6600 N. Clinton St.

Fort Wayne, Indiana

The topic will be depression and the Lutheran pastor.  You may go to the Facebook page for the event at

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=194920890546386

Let me know if you are coming.  Thanks!

-DMR (aka Todd Peperkorn

(This is a copy of the  article on my church’s web site.)

Messiah Lutheran Church is pleased to announce its first speaker in the IMPACT series. The IMPACT series is a series of presentations available to the community in conjunction with our fiftieth anniversary.

Our first presentation is entitled, I Trust When Dark My Road: A Lutheran View of Depression.  Our speaker is Pastor Todd A. Peperkorn, pastor of Messiah Lutheran Church.  The title of the presentation comes from Pastor Peperkorn’s book of the same title, published in 2009.

Please consider joining us for this important topic.  It is free of charge.  You may follow updates on the IMPACT series through our Facebook page:

Messiah’s Facebook Page

You may also indicate if you will be attending by going to the Facebook event:

Facebook IMPACT event: I Trust When Dark My Road

We hope to see you there!

[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

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

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

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.

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

I recently had the opportunity to speak at the Concordia Deaconess Conference on the topic of depression and how to care for those suffering from mental illnesses of various types.  Below is the reading list I prepared for this wonderful group of ladies.  If I have missed anything that you might consider important, please let me know!  I’d love to revise and update it along the way here.  Thanks!  -DMR

Bibliography for Deaconess Conf

Recommended Reading List on Depression

On Depression

Greene-McCreight, Kathryn. Darkness is My Only Companion: A Christian Response to Mental Illness. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2006.

Hart, Archibald D. Unmasking Male Depression. Thomas Nelson, 2001.

Karp, David A. Speaking of Sadness: Depression, Disconnection, and the Meanings of Illness. Oxford University Press, USA, 1997.

Peperkorn, Todd A.  I Trust When Dark My Road: A Lutheran View of Depression. St. Louis: LCMS World Relief and Human Care, 2009.

Rogers, Matt. Losing God: Clinging to Faith Through Doubt and Depression. IVP Books, 2008.

Solomon, Andrew. The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression. Scribner, 2002.

Stryker, William.  Visible Darkness: A Memoir of Madness.  New York: Random House, 1990.

For the Families of Loved Ones

Karp, David A. The Burden of Sympathy: How Families Cope With Mental Illness. New York: Oxford University Press, USA, 2002.

On the Theology of the Cross

Floysvik, Ingvar. When God Becomes My Enemy: The Theology of the Complaint Psalms. Concordia College, 1997.

Forde, Gerhard O., and Martin Luther. On Being a Theologian of the Cross: Reflections on Luther’s Heidelberg Disputation, 1518 (Theology). Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997.

Lewis, C.S.  A Grief Observed.  San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1961, 2001.

Schulz, Gregory.  The Problem of Suffering: A Father’s Thoughts on the Suffering, Dead, and Life of His Children.  Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1996.

On Pastoral Care

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Spiritual Care. Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 1985.

Eyer, Richard C. Pastoral Care Under the Cross: God in the Midst of Suffering. Concordia Publishing House, 1995.

Eyer, Richard C. They Will See His Face: Worship and Healing. Concordia Publishing House, 2002.

Kleinig, John W. Grace Upon Grace: Spirituality for Today. Concordia Publishing House, 2008.

On Pastoral Burnout

Hoge, Dean R., and Jacqueline E. Wenger. Pastors in Transition: Why Clergy Leave Local Church Ministry (Pulpit and Pew Series). Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2005.

Preus, Robert D. “Clergy Mental Health and the Doctrine of Justification.” Concordia Theological Quarterly 48, no. 2 & 3 (1984): 113-23.

Prayer and Devotional Works

Bansemer, Richard. Forced to Pray: God’s Chosen Under Pressure. New York: American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, 2008.

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible. Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 1974.

Burke, William.  Protect Us From All Anxiety: Meditations for the Depressed.  Chicago: ACTA Publications, 1998.

Deffner, Donald L. Prayers for People Under Pressure. Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1992.

Gerhard, Johann. Meditations on Divine Mercy: A Classic Treasury of Devotional Prayers. Concordia Publishing House, 2003.

Kinnamon, Scot, ed.  Treasury of Daily Prayer.  St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2008.

Lewis, C.S. Reflections on the Psalms (Harvest Book). Harvest Books, 1964.

Luther, Martin. Reading the Psalms with Luther. Concordia Publishing House, 2007.

Lutheran Book of Prayer. Rev. ed. Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2005.

Lutheran Service Book. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2006.

Reardon, Patrick Henry. Christ in the Psalms. Conciliar Press, 2000.

Steinmann, Andrew E. Is God Listening: Making Prayer A Part of Your Life. Concordia Publishing House, 2004.

Below is a PDF file of the slideshow from the Deaconess Conference, as well as a QuickTime movie of the same.  I have not posted the actual slideshow file, since I will probably use portions of it in the future.  If for some reason you would like access to the actual Keynote or PowerPoint file, please contact me via email or telephone. Thanks! -DMR

Presentation on Depression for CDC

Presentation of Slides in QuickTime for CDC

Click here to view the embedded video.