Last week I led a Celebration of Love service at the senior community where I serve as a chaplain. The following reflection is based on the readings of The Good Samaritan, 1 Corinthians 13, and an excerpt from The Velveteen Rabbit. Eight months ago, a made a firm commitment to become more loving. This had...

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt often gets credit for the line, “Do one thing every day that scares you.” The correct attribution may go to Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich who used that line in a graduation speech she penned for young students. Included in her list of advice was: Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts. Don’t put up...

I had grown to love this resident. A chaplain at a senior community, I saw him at least once a week and he made me laugh. In his mid 90s, he had started to fail only in the last two months. I was informed over the weekend that his hours were numbered. I ran to...

Today I led a Celebration of Love service at the senior community where I work as a chaplain — a thanksgiving for love past and present. Here is my sermon. Today we are celebrating all the love that we have in our lives. That includes the people we share our day with and also those...

Three years ago I began to have problems with my concentration and memory. A veritable Goldilocks, I went from one physician to another seeking the solution. Each had a different explanation, of course, some more alarming than others. A few said I didn’t have a condition at all — that my symptoms simply aligned with...