In the season of Lent 2022, our world is at war. No, it’s not World War III. Not yet. But if you think the Russo-Ukrainian conflict has no worldwide implications, you’ve not stopped at the gas pump lately. Last January…
A pediatric chaplain offers five tips for talking with children about death and loss
Beneath the intensity of the fluorescent lights, the pediatric intensive care unit felt even more garish at 3 a.m. as I stood in the hallway with a patient’s dad who was tearful and afraid. His daughter’s nurse had called me…
Is it time for another Gettysburg Address?
Our nation lives in suspended grief over 900,000 dead from COVID. Every day we go to the funeral home, the graveyard. Every day the bells toll for those who keep dying from COVID. Where are words of comfort? Is there…
What if there were an ‘in memoriam’ for people like us?
On the evening of Dec. 30, NBC concluded the national news with its annual “In Memoriam” segment for 2021. Some 90 singers, musicians, composers, actors, filmmakers, television personalities, professional and amateur athletes, coaches and managers, writers, and even an Apollo…
A daughter’s tribute — 50 years later
My brother was 15 and I was 18 when our father died Dec. 4, 1971 — 20 days short of his 46th birthday. Initially it was thought he died of a heart attack; he’d been sick all that previous year….
Tim Tebow and Demaryius Thomas and the world we see
After having what will one day be recognized as a Hall of Fame NFL career, Demaryius Thomas died unexpectedly of what police are calling “a medical issue” in his Georgia home on Dec. 9, 2021. He would have turned 34…
When walking with the grieving, carry the umbrella
“Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls….
Something doesn’t add up about the two Kentucky seminaries suing the federal government over vaccine mandates
“Pandemics unmask who we really are — our morals, our values, our ethics, our humanity. They test us in ways nothing else can.” — Sanjay Gupta, M.D., World War C, 2021 In a tutorial for doctor of ministry students at…
Why do we still wonder when violence happens?
Why do we wonder? That is an important question for God-folk like us. It is probably a question we ask regularly, or at least one we should ask frequently. After our first reactions of lament, anger and frustration at the…