This week I am leading a discussion at a senior community on ways to battle the winter blues. Here are some of my talking points. We’ve officially entered the hard months, the “dark ages” as the midshipmen at the Naval Academy say: the time of the year when the sun disappears and the pale complexions...

Last Thursday I led the Thanksgiving service at the senior community where I serve as a chaplain. I thought I would post my sermon here. It is written from a Christian perspective, so I invite persons of other faiths to take whatever is meaningful. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It is much simpler than Christmas...

Mindfulness and meditation aren’t easy for anyone. Whenever we dim the lights and sit in Indian style, there is a core part of our primitive brain that rebels like a hyper puppy in a choke collar: “Don’t do that to me! You know I need to roam!”  But for professional ruminators such as myself, meditation...

In the third chapter of Ecclesiastes, we read that there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven – to plant and uproot, to tear down and build, to love and to hate. But I think it’s more accurate to say all of this can happen together in the same...

One of my least favorite Scripture passages is the one about Mary and Martha. Most Bible thumpers know exactly which one I’m referring to. My not-so-religious friend who found herself in Bible study one afternoon was totally confused.  “I’m sorry, who are we talking about? Martha Stewart?” she asked. The story of Mary and Martha...