Entries in this category probe deeper thoughts about old age. Spirituality, self-image, relationships, hopes and yearnings — all the stuff of self-talk and core meaning for people who are older.
This Federal holiday has emerged as another opportunity to honor some matters about our nation that warrant our remembering. Since any holiday can get co-opted to become another chance to sell something—e.g., traditional Memorial Day mattress sales—I’d like to pre-empt that possibility by offering my personal observations about this special day. What’s there to remember? Obviously, the truth thatMORE...
This entry completes a series of entries about my reactions to the remarkable insights in a *new book about awe. Today: What’s the big deal, anyhow? I owe you an explanation about what lies under my perhaps-dispassionate reporting about awe and wonder. I’ll be direct: As desirable and practiced attitudes, awe and wonder may hold promise as solutions—or at least corrections—to some of theMORE...
This entry continues my reactions to the remarkable insights in a *new book about awe. Today: Congregational worship as awe experiences. Reading the descriptions of social scientist and author Dacher Keltner regarding awe-filled experiences, I’ve realized that worship likely involves awe. When we worship God together with other believers, that experience can invoke, invite and inspire awe in theMORE...
One of my favorite Scriptures has the Holy Spirit interceding “with *sighs too deep for words.” (Romans 8:26b NRSV). The passage has been helpful when I realize that I don’t always know who or what to pray about. I also feel sad about the state of the world, and the difficulties and terrors so many people are facing at this very moment. I’m not sad about myself—I’m grateful to be alive, findingMORE...
During Sunday worship, it sometimes feels like The Confession is a list of sins that seems to apply mostly to younger folks. As though our mutually confessed sins take place mostly within contexts not applicable or easily available to older adults. Yes, I’m aware that sinfulness extends into older adult lives, perhaps even distilling or concentrating into transgressions that are harder to confessMORE...
(What follows is a summary of the thoughts shared by our pastor this past Sunday. For most congregations this was Good Shepherd Sunday, but Pastor Shelly Satran found something more than that inside the day’s lectionary. Brilliant and inspiring stuff…..) On this Sunday, it’s common—and perhaps expected—that we revisit the familiar analogies embedded in Psalm 23 and Jesus’ musings aboutMORE...
Previously I reviewed a new book about awe. In this entry I share some of the author’s significant observations. Today: His basic framework to describe this phenomenon. Like most fundamental human emotions, awe presents itself in simple terms. UC Berkeley Professor Dacher Keltner and New York University collaborator Jonathan Haidt define awe as “1the feeling of being in the presence ofMORE...
Easter’s multitude of joyful themes starts with *resurrection, but can also expand in many directions. Beyond the comfort and assurances that come from the realization that Death is not the final reality, there are other metaphorical and physically tangible restorations of life that we can rejoice about. The Resurrection of Jesus makes possible other joy-carrying resurrections. As a mindset thatMORE...
Along with Holy Cross Day (September 14), each Good Friday is a good time to contemplate the meaning of the cross in our lives. That reflection includes remembering with both sorrow and gratitude Jesus’ redemptive death by gruesome torture—nails in his wrists, thirst/hunger, exhaustion and his slow death by asphyxiation. In his suffering and dying we are granted forgiveness and salvation—aMORE...
A few days ago, I re-read the red-letter chapters (13-17) of John’s gospel. Jesus is talking with his disciples on the night of his betrayal, after the Passover meal and after Judas’ exit towards treachery. Jesus knew what was coming, so this was his last opportunity for transferring his heartfelt instructions and observations—even some *mandates—to the folks who would carry on after himMORE...
BOB SITZE has filled the many years of his lifework in diverse settings around the United States. His calling has included careers as a teacher/principal, church musician, writer/author, denominational executive staff member and meat worker. Bob lives in Wheaton, IL.