Civility. That is the word I’m adopting as my word of the year for 2022. I ended 2021 with a lovely visit with family in a small town in Nebraska. We attended Christmas Eve and Sunday the 26th worship where my son-in-law is serving as their new pastor and his first call. We ate in local restaurants, visited the Prairie Museum, and shopped in local stores. We toured a factory where my family’s next-door neighbor […]
Continue readingTag Archives: community
#ListenLearnLove – Challenging Times
My friend Sonia Solomonson has written what I’ve been thinking this summer. I thought you’d resonate with her thought and appreciate her insights. Thank you Sonia Solomonson for your thoughts in your March Blooms & Butterflies newsletter. Can’t We All Just Get Along? By Coach Sonia Solomonson To say these are challenging times is an understatement. And to say that people are more contentious, frustrated, angry and fearful than ever also is an understatement. […]
Continue reading
The Power of Community
In Search of Community by the Rev. Dr. Kevin Ruffcorn A colleague I’ve never met has written about both the challenge and importance of finding a new faith community in retirement. Thank you Pastor Ruffcorn for sharing both your personal challenge in finding a new community and reminding us of the value of accepting that challenge. <><><><><><><><><><><> For over forty years I built communities. I was a Lutheran pastor. It was important work, but it […]
Continue reading
Smile: It Could Save a Life
Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love. (Mother Teresa) I met Len Leatherwood, author of this guest blog, at a Story Circle writer’s conference. Given what we’ve experienced recently in the great divide between those who celebrate the appointment of Judge Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court and those who mourn the reaction to Dr. Ford’s testimony, here is a powerful example of how smile therapy can impact […]
Continue reading
Family Camp – Lutherhill Style
Train up a child in the way he (or she) should go, and when he (or she) is old s/he will not depart from it. (Prov. 22:6) Several years ago Gaynell suggested we combine our assorted grandkids and take them all to family camp at Lutherhill where I had retired as Executive Director a few years earlier. Gaynell and I are related by virtue of having married first cousins. That makes our grandchildren second cousins […]
Continue reading