Archive: April, 2012

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Every Day Is A New Creation

Went with a friend to see the movie Blue Like Jazz based upon Donald Miller’s best selling book.  I liked it!  In fact, I think the movie helped me make sense out of the book. In a later book (A Million Miles in a Thousand Years)  Miller uses the term inciting incident to describe what […]

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Post reply to NPR Story: Elders with Dementia Music

I love this piece about music and dementia for two reasons: 1) It shows that the individual is still alive, still responsive and still who he or she is. We most times fail to remember that this person is still an indiviual with thoughts, hopes, dreams and desires. Music helps us express who we are. 2) I […]

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Workshops: Spiritual Care and Memory Loss

Steve Arnold will be presenting on the topic Spiritual Care and Memory Loss in two different settings in the coming weeks.                 April 25, 2012    –       St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church, Columbia Heights, MN                 May   9, 2012       –       University […]

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Why Be A Deacon

WHY? I am receiving many questions about my new involvement with the Lutheran Deaconess Association (LDA),  The questions come in many forms.  The questions are not judgmental.  The questions express a sincere curiosity, but, also express that people have trouble understanding what this “deacon thing” is all about.  The questions essentially boil down to two: […]

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Book Review: Lutze, Karl (2001) Of Walls and Doors: Processions Through My Life. Fairway Press.

Profound!  Delightful!  Insightful! Enriching!  All of the above.  I probably like this book so much because I had the chance to live in the author’s home for over a week while in diaconal formation.  We were so busy with formation that I didn’t get to visit with him and his wife as much I wanted […]

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Recent Items

  • The Loneliness Factor

    I was at a luncheon that was serving as a listening post for seniors to describe their sense of loneliness and isolation. I knew that the population invited to this luncheon was one that would probably have a higher sense of isolation, but, what I heard was much more intense than I expected. A man […]

  • Social Networks and Aging

    It is interesting that research is showing two demographics experiencing social isolation in such as way as to impact health: Young Adults (18-22) and Senior Adults (65+). I have worked with both populations over the past 50 years and I continue to be amazed at the similarity of the questions raised by both groups and […]

  • An Eye-Opening Awareness: One More Transition for this Guy

    I sat at a luncheon two weeks ago that opened my eyes to a reality that I knew was there, but as the discussion unfolded I began to realize how the discussion, about to take place, was going to expand my thinking. As I listened to the needs of the people with whom I shared […]

  • TRANSFORMATIVE CHANGE: LETTING GOD SET THE AGENDA

    When it comes to the human condition and a desire to change, we can become easily frustrated: we think that we want to change … but we really don’t. Paul expresses this contradiction well in Romans 7:15-24: “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do […]

  • The Crisis of Loneliness

    THE NATIONAL CRISIS CALLED LONELINESS From “LINKED IN” “America is becoming Isolation Nation. Nearly half of respondents to a nationwide survey by health insurer Cigna say they always or sometimes feel alone, and 54% say they feel no one knows them well. Such loneliness is connected to increased risk of heart disease, stroke and premature death. The […]