I am considering writing a book on pastors and depression (other volumes may follow). What would you want to see in such a book and why?
This is a project I’m very excited about (if someone on all the drugs I’m on can be excited). I want this to be a place of hope for pastors, as well as a resource for families, congregations, and the like. Those are my thoughts right now at least. What do you think?
-DMR
I, for one, would look forward to reading it and learning from it.
I, for one, would look forward to reading it and learning from it.
You’ve got a good start already, if you simply begin with the posts on this blog…
You’ve got a good start already, if you simply begin with the posts on this blog…
Go for it! I think that it would be an excellent resource for those in the pastoral ministry. It would benefit the people that they serve and the pastor’s themselves.
Go for it! I think that it would be an excellent resource for those in the pastoral ministry. It would benefit the people that they serve and the pastor’s themselves.
Some of the topics that you already have on this blog would create a good outline for it….
‘a layman’s look at medications’ and other options
counseling and the difference between that and the care a pastor/father confessor provides…
not being afraid to ask for help
navigating the insurance and disability system
cutting back on responsibilities
how to relate to your congregation during this time
family issues
taking care of yourself
creating a sense of balance in life
fulfilling your vocations/marriage and family issues
relying on God’s mercy…
You’ve covered some very challenging topics in this blog in a very straightforward way. I think you’ve got a good base of material
I agree that you’ve already gotten a good start from what you’ve written here. All very useful topics that could really help others in the same situation.
I agree that you’ve already gotten a good start from what you’ve written here. All very useful topics that could really help others in the same situation.
As others have suggested, you already have your topics, and even chapter headings and outlines, in this blog. My suggestion would be to maintain the perspective of a pastor dealing with depression rather than a generic person dealing with the same. The pastoral life is a unique calling – public, personal, spiritual – and depression suffered by a pastor has unique dimensions, as you have already skillfully shared through this blog. A book that would be both personal narrative and resource would be most welcome. Thank you for your willingness to write so openly.
As others have suggested, you already have your topics, and even chapter headings and outlines, in this blog. My suggestion would be to maintain the perspective of a pastor dealing with depression rather than a generic person dealing with the same. The pastoral life is a unique calling – public, personal, spiritual – and depression suffered by a pastor has unique dimensions, as you have already skillfully shared through this blog. A book that would be both personal narrative and resource would be most welcome. Thank you for your willingness to write so openly.
Might I be so bold to put this book into the form of a novel? Maybe its just me, but a book that would depict a pastor struggling with the many parameters of depression and anxiety and how they are impacted with being the parish might be recieved in a different light as well. I have found something like “The Hammer of God’ to be a great pastoral practice book in a novel form. I think you could use all the posts and headings/topics and place them into a character who is faced with depression/anxiety and dealing with the day to day life of being a parish pastor. Its a bit of a different spin from my perspective, but it also may open up the eyes of the laity to see what its like to be a pastor with such a dilemma.
I’m thinking that everyone is right and that you have oodles to work with for your 1st book. May God bless you and guide you in all!
Someday, I would like to find a Lutheran book dealing with pastoral care for the ‘sinned against’ and the traumatized beyond the LAW of FORGIVE!
To forgive is true and needed – I do not want to deny that, but I’m wondering if the lamenting similar to the psalms is needed before forgiveness comes. Perhaps sometimes it takes time to forgive from the heart. I’m thinking of a comment by C.S. Lewis saying he had finally forgiven someone after 30 years. That kind of forgiveness is often a gift from God. Also the horror of an event can haunt some for a lifetime.
I think a lot of damage can be done by putting a guilt-trip on someone who wants to forgive and cannot find it coming from the heart (too numb to feel, or still an anger that will not go away). Or by trying to coerce someone to forgive – too soon. Or by trying to pick through their lives for all kinds of real and imagined sins in their pasts? All the emphasis is put on the sinned against to repent and forgive and look at themselves – it’s almost like a denial of the evil that happened. It can sometimes cause some to turn away from the church and/or God. Perhaps solid teaching on the laments and not expecting the joy at the end of psalm to come quickly? (eg: you have 5 minutes to get over it, forgive, and move on?) And what else?
The theology-of-the-cross can be used to bludgeon a sufferer, so I’m thinking there needs to be some wisdom that has either been forgotten or not thought through?
Thanks for asking for input! 🙂
I’m thinking that everyone is right and that you have oodles to work with for your 1st book. May God bless you and guide you in all!
Someday, I would like to find a Lutheran book dealing with pastoral care for the ‘sinned against’ and the traumatized beyond the LAW of FORGIVE!
To forgive is true and needed – I do not want to deny that, but I’m wondering if the lamenting similar to the psalms is needed before forgiveness comes. Perhaps sometimes it takes time to forgive from the heart. I’m thinking of a comment by C.S. Lewis saying he had finally forgiven someone after 30 years. That kind of forgiveness is often a gift from God. Also the horror of an event can haunt some for a lifetime.
I think a lot of damage can be done by putting a guilt-trip on someone who wants to forgive and cannot find it coming from the heart (too numb to feel, or still an anger that will not go away). Or by trying to coerce someone to forgive – too soon. Or by trying to pick through their lives for all kinds of real and imagined sins in their pasts? All the emphasis is put on the sinned against to repent and forgive and look at themselves – it’s almost like a denial of the evil that happened. It can sometimes cause some to turn away from the church and/or God. Perhaps solid teaching on the laments and not expecting the joy at the end of psalm to come quickly? (eg: you have 5 minutes to get over it, forgive, and move on?) And what else?
The theology-of-the-cross can be used to bludgeon a sufferer, so I’m thinking there needs to be some wisdom that has either been forgotten or not thought through?
Thanks for asking for input! 🙂