Same Old Song

In this episode we discuss the lectionary readings for the fourth Sunday in Lent (A): 1 Samuel 16:1-13, Ephesians 5:8-14 and John 9:1-41. Show Notes: Of all the emotions associated with darkness, none is more powerful than depression. Those of us who have experienced it know that, like darkness, depression is frightening. The great American writer David Foster Wallace was not exaggerating when he described depression as a “large dark billowing shape,” “the billowing black sail of hell.” Sigmund Freud theorized that depression is anger turned inward. Child psychologist Dorothy Martyn defines it as “a loss of stature in your own eyes.” As we all know, anger at oneself and loss of stature can be justified. In my own life, depression has always had a trigger, usually a perceived failure of some kind— something as significant as the break-up of a relationship or as trivial as the purchase of the wrong kind of air-conditioner. Still, anyone who has been depressed, or dealt with a depressed person, knows that it