A friend of mine committed suicide recently. He was highly intelligent, quite skilled at his profession, and helped a multitude of people...

“Lord, teach us to pray …” (Luke 11:1) Many well-meaning prayers fail to plumb the depths of the divine. We all know that rote pious...

One of the saddest things I’ve seen as a pastor, chaplain, counselor, and spiritual director is grown-up children who reject, rebuff,...

Many sins are quiet and respectable, and therefore go unnoticed in our culture. How many sermons have you heard on gluttony or the evils...

Asked to define love, the young man replied, “Love is a feeling you feel when you feel a feeling you’ve never felt before.” Everyone...

I meet regularly with a spiritual director and a psychologist for my own growth. In my experience, everyone can benefit from spiritual...

Questions Often Mask Deeper Questions Quite regularly, congregants will approach a pastor after the worship service and ask generalized...

We far too often talk past each other. In order to understand one another, it’s imperative we define terms. Two different people both...

To be fully present in each moment opens up a whole new glorious universe. An advantage of having a scientist father was learning the...

How deeply will I allow the Spirit of God to penetrate my being? Spiritual direction involves spiritual formation that goes well beyond...

I had a friend named Zach (not his real name) whom I had known for over 20 years. He came to me for pastoral care. For most of this past...

He sailed from island to island Never setting ashore, nor Dropping anchor in spite of Inviting coves of clear water, Reefs teeming with...

I regularly cross paths with people who were once evangelical and/or fundamentalist Christians but now identify as atheists or agnostics....

The 1866 Gothic novella, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson was an immediate success. He...

Tectonic plates slip Cement liquifies Buildings implode Thousands perish Tens of thousands Refugees, cold, weary, hungry Dazed, wandering...

They are different, however. · Chaplains are seminary trained, board certified, ordained or endorsed, and specially educated in...

I’m not anti-church Churches have done much good over the centuries – Invented hospitals, nursing homes, hospice, orphanages promoting...

“The maintenance of secrets acts like a psychic poison which alienates the possessor from the community.” – C.G. Jung Family secrets are...

Enlightenment influenced modernity deifies the mob. While the despot, the dictator, and the king identify themselves with the state,...

Grief waves not in sets, crosscurrents, rip tides, slapping, gasping not a lake shore gentle lapping, nor the predictable surfable sets,...