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We Cannot Become Authentic Without Self-Reflection

I heard someone offer a quote from their Clinical Pastoral Education supervisor:  “to the depth you can go to your own pain is the depth to which you can go with the others to their pain.”   I was really struck by the reality of this statement in simply saying you cannot go where you haven’t […]

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Free Consultation

Ever wondered what it is like to go through a spiritual direction session?  Feel a little nervous about getting “trapped” into a process or a person?  Not to worry! In meeting with a spiritual director, it is usual practice that the first session is a FREE consultation that allows the director and prospective directee to […]

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Book Review: Have A Little Faith: A True Story

It is not often that I get teary at the end of a book, but Mitch Albom has done it again in his book have a little faith: a true story (Albom, Mitch, 2011).  It really made me mad, because I was finishing it in a restaurant while waiting for my food.  I hate it […]

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Lenten “Breather”

One of the meanings of the term “sabbath” is to “take a breather.”  In Genesis, God breathes into humans the breath of life.  After the Fall, it becomes Satan’s mission to make us breathless by stealing, through activity, the very life given to us by God. As I processed my own transition right now, it […]

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Off On A New Adventure

Well, I am off on a new adventure.  I have been invited by the Lutheran Deaconess Association (LDA) to enter into formation as a deacon in their community with the intent of being consecrated as a deacon, and then with the invitation to help in the formation of a male community of deacons.  I am […]

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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 […]