US pastor Gabriel Hughes tweeted the following to his 15k followers this week. I want to spend a little bit of time responding here as quite a few people reacted strongly to what came across as an insensitive comment. Among Hughes’ followers will be people who struggle with depression, other forms of mental illness and… Continue reading Pills, therapy and sin
Category: pastoral-care
Angry at God? (3) The root cause of my anger
Sometimes someone is in so much physical pain that they cannot tell where the pain is coming from. It seems to come from everywhere. When someone is in that much pain, it is very difficult to get close to help. This can be true with emotional pain too. You hurt so much, you cannot remember… Continue reading Angry at God? (3) The root cause of my anger
Angry at God ?(2) What to do with my anger
Yesterday I looked at the question “Is it right to be angry with God?” Today, I want to think a little further about what we do with that anger when we experience it. Here are some thoughts. Take time to pour out your heart to God being open about how you are feeling. You may… Continue reading Angry at God ?(2) What to do with my anger
A message for those getting A Level Results
I wanted, as usual, to share something specifically for those of you getting GCSE and A-Level results over the next couple of weeks. When I first wrote this article, the results were unusual due to COVID-19, determined not by final exams but by a mixture of previous work, teacher judgement and algorithms. I understand things… Continue reading A message for those getting A Level Results
When pastoral questions might be linked (A further response to Beth Moore)
I want to come back to Beth Moore’s questions. Now we assumed that the two questions were hypothetical and that they were about two distinct scenarios. However, suppose that they weren’t. Of course, only Beth Moore knows the answer to that. Certainly I get the feel that they are at least based on her wealth… Continue reading When pastoral questions might be linked (A further response to Beth Moore)
Husbands, wives, Ephesians 5 and mental health (responding to Beth Moore’s questions)
Earlier in the week, Beth Moore asked two questions, specifically aimed at men who hold to a complementarian view of male/female relationships in the church and family.[1] Whilst she asked for quick tweet answers, I wanted to make a fuller response. So here it is. My friend Steve Kneale has also written and so I… Continue reading Husbands, wives, Ephesians 5 and mental health (responding to Beth Moore’s questions)
Unasked and unanswered questions
A person asks the question on a forum “Is God telling me to divorce my husband?” They explain that they struggle with anxiety, that they had used pornography but that they had repented, their husband had forgiven them and their relationship was on the mend. However, they wondered if God was still telling them to… Continue reading Unasked and unanswered questions
How do we talk about work?
In an earlier post on rest and restlessness, I said that we are likely to be able to help each other in the area of getting rest if we start with a better approach to work. I then went on to say that we often see work as a necessary evil and that prevents us… Continue reading How do we talk about work?
Who is God? – The Father and the Son
Here’s the recording of this week’s Faithroots Live looking at how the Bible names God as Father.
Restlessness
There is, in my experience, a happy and healthy form of exhaustion and a deeply unhappy and unhealthy one too. That healthy form of exhaustion comes at the end of serious hard work, or exhaustion. It is that feeling when you know that you have put the time and effort in, that you have achieved… Continue reading Restlessness
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