Soul Searchings

January 4, 2024

Imagining the next life stages I

By Bob Sitze

In For Caregivers, Lifestyle, Personal Power, Soul Searchings, Time

January 4, 2024

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04January

(Today’s blog is the first of a series of four entries that treat a matter that most older adults eventually face: How will we live well when that becomes difficult?) Presently, Chris and I take care of ourselves, our capabilities not yet severely diminished. I think we’re ready for what comes next. We’ve followed the guidance of counselors, physicians, financial advisors and friends, putting inMORE...

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January 1, 2024

An old man, a baby and a two-faced god

By Bob Sitze

In Arcania, Current Events, Soul Searchings, Time

January 1, 2024

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01January

When it comes to popular media’s metaphors for the turning of a year, I am presented with two familiar choices: An old man and a baby greeting January 1st together, or the ancient Roman god Janus, looking both ways. Neither symbolic representation quite matches what tugs at my spirit. The old man—Father Time?—and the unnamed baby/infant raise a critical question: Who will pass on the wisdomMORE...

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December 28, 2023

Fast away the old year passes

By Bob Sitze

In Current Events, Soul Searchings, Time

December 28, 2023

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28December

2023 has zipped by quickly. This annum may go down in long-view history as out-of-place in the parade of venerable years. but I don’t see much value in marking any year of my life as undesirable or regrettable. For its duration, this year has been part of God’s gift of life. God has been active, perhaps in ways I don’t yet see. I’ve lived within the confines of this year’s seasons, and haveMORE...

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December 21, 2023

Over the Babel sounds

By Bob Sitze

In Current Events, Soul Searchings

December 21, 2023

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21December

In his beloved hymn, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, the 19th century pastor and hymnwriter Edmund Sears wrote that the angels sang “o’er the Babel sounds.” That short phrase strikes me as a hopeful note within the tumult of current news events and trends. (Wars, loudly ranting politicians, relentless climate change and AI’s rampaging all come to mind.) What Sears recalled was an angelic lateMORE...

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December 18, 2023

Magnificat revisited

By Bob Sitze

In Personal Power, Soul Searchings, Words

December 18, 2023

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18December

Earlier in life, I took heart from the Magnificat’s message (Luke 2:46-55). Perhaps God could use me to feed hungry people, cast down the mighty from their seats, show mercy to those who were poor and put humble people in places of power! That felt like a righteous, even prophetic ministry. I also missed something along the way. I had overlooked another side of Mary’s borrowed and revised songMORE...

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December 14, 2023

Greetings from the heavenly host

By Bob Sitze

In Arcania, Soul Searchings

December 14, 2023

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14December

My preference for celebrating the Birth of Jesus is to seek quiet moments to contemplate the mystery of God’s redeeming love for me. To remember all the beautiful Christmas carols and hymns that echo that kind of feeling. Noise bothers me—life is filled with too much of it—so Christmas can offer a respite from that irksome aspect of life today. But then I remember how, in the middle of shepherds’MORE...

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December 7, 2023

Hopeful musings

By Bob Sitze

In Current Events, Soul Searchings

December 7, 2023

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07December

Advent weather in the Northern hemisphere—darkness, cold, mixed precipitation, etc .—invites me into cozy caves of theological thought that I trust will eventually emerge as something useful. Today, two musings scrawled on the walls of this temporary hiding place: Hope and creativity, and End Times hope…. Chris and I are part of a congregation where creativity— demonstrated by pastors, staffMORE...

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December 4, 2023

Waiting to be known

By Bob Sitze

In Arcania, Lifestyle, Soul Searchings

December 4, 2023

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04December

  I sometimes wonder how folks going about their daily routines might be waiting for the moment(s) when they could be known for who they really are. What thrives under their workplace exteriors. What they’re good at doing. What benefits they bring to the rest of us. How they live out their best selves. (An Advent theme, perhaps?) In that frame of mind, it isn’t too hard to imagine and valueMORE...

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November 30, 2023

Finding hope in TV commercials

By Bob Sitze

In Arcania, Lifestyle, Soul Searchings, Words

November 30, 2023

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30November

In our family, the sound gets turned off during TV commercials. It recently occurred to me that these soundless visual stories are doing more than selling products. Many of them may depict lived-out hope! I see a lot of ads related to health, automobiles, medical conditions, insurance and legal help. I witness pleas from charities and other non-profits, teasers for coming shows and a smatteringMORE...

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November 27, 2023

A season for waiting

By Bob Sitze

In Current Events, Soul Searchings, Time

November 27, 2023

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27November

In its original manifestation—4th century CE—Advent was the time for converts to Christianity to prepare themselves for their baptisms at Epiphany. That ancient practice might be helpful as we try to wrestle with the current state of the world, and our place in it. Some personal thoughts…. Back in my halcyon days, waiting could feel like a waste—”So much to do and so little time.” IMORE...

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