Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted (Matthew 5:4). The stories I hear as a psychotherapist and the narrative of Christian discipleship intersects in redemptive suffering. The fires of affliction, betrayal, injustice, diminishment, and loss forge...
After Disillusionment J. Marshall Jenkins Hagar said, “Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing him?” (Genesis 16:13b). Life mercifully disillusions you in increments: Mother forgets to hug or hear. Playmates shame or exclude just to see you cry. Grades...
‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. ‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled....
When love hurts, there is hope…
Read Ezekiel 37:1-14 Hope and Prophecy Grief is natural and necessary. A flesh wound heals with its inevitable pain, bleeding, scabbing, and scarring. It is neither pretty nor comfortable before the wound disappears or we adapt to it. Just so with grief’s angry...
Sermon text: 1 Samuel 3 Something sacred happens at dusk. The purple and orange clouds in the western sky herald the sun just set. The green of leaves and grass deepen like the sea, and the brown woods blacken. There is just enough light to see and search, just enough...
Praying Through Depression by J. Marshall Jenkins My Lord God, when the cares of the world distract me from the gift of breath, and my worries insist they are as real as the moment’s pain, when regrets come home to crowd and clamor my memory, and the future...
The surprising comfort of finding Jesus’ face.
Soft Morning Light for Wanda J. Marshall Jenkins No matter how strident the march of darkness as my good angels scatter and deny knowing my name, your soft morning light prevails after predawn darkness, sometimes playfully, sometimes ever so quietly. It is...
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted (Matthew 5:4) Telling and Healing The first Beatitude blesses the poor in spirit who give thanks like beggars for receiving all they need from God (Matthew 5:3). In a sense, it blesses those who face reality...
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted (Matthew 5:4). Then [the prodigal’s older brother] became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working...
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted (Matthew 5:4). Healing processes are not pretty until the end. For example, a cut on the hand takes you through pain, bleeding, scabbing, and scarring before it clears up. Grief, too, goes through awkward or...