Norman B. Bendroth
Norman B. Bendroth is the coordinator for clergy and church resources for the New England Pastoral Institute and a transitional minister ordained in the United Church of Christ.
One year when I was between interim gigs I got a job at Macy's. My training there wasn't unlike church outreach training.
September 23, 2013
In 1992 I had a clinical depression. It was a long time in coming, but in hindsight it was inevitable. I was hunkered down in my study trying to write a sermon on the atonement. Behind the stormy sky in my mind, I saw not a smiling Providence offering a gesture of boundless love in sharing his son Jesus, but a scowling ogre, an angry, petulant father. Whether this torment was a function of the descending depression or a contribution to it, I cannot say, but I called my wife and said, “I can’t do this anymore. I’m coming unglued.”
May 1, 2007