In the middle days of Twitter, a hashtag started in Fort Wayne. #callitoff was the tweeted cry of high school students begging Curtis Smith to include enough snow in the weather forecast to call off school the next day. It was a pretty powerful social… Read More
All posts filed under “Chaplaincy”
The Great Mother’s Day Ache of 2021
Mother’s Day in the US in 2021 is May 9. The advertisements are already starting. I’ve been thinking about this post for awhile. I think it’s time to finish it. I don’t hate Mother’s Day, though I am frustrated by what it has done. By… Read More
A challenging time to start being a chaplain.
When Hope and I were talking about how to finish the book ( God. We Still Need You: A Year of Pandemic Prayer and Practice From a Hospital Chaplain.), some kind of afterword made sense. And when we started talking about who to ask, Hope said,… Read More
When a book is close to home.
A collection of my prayers and reflections during the last year was published recently (God. We Still Need You). I want to tell a little bit of what led to it coming out. +++ We were walking from the emergency room to the cath lab… Read More
Praying in a pandemic.
My new collection of prayers and reflections from the past year is now available.: God. We Still Need You: A year of pandemic prayer and practice from a hospital chaplain. +++ Here’s the back cover: Healthcare workers go to work every day no matter what.… Read More
God. We still need you.
My next-to-last book was a collection of Sunday prayers, prayed in the hospital chapel where I’m a chaplain. Each Sunday, I interacted with the texts for the week and with God and with the people watching on the closed-circuit channel and the people reading at my blog.… Read More
A conversation about calling
Jen Bradbury. Called: A Novel about Youth Ministry Transitions. The Youth Cartel, 2020. I’ve known Jen for several years. We’ve worked on some research projects together. I asked her to write about one of my books. For me, she’s the person who asks me to… Read More
A prayer for the person at the edge of life and death.
I’ve written about everyone else at a CODE BLUE–an event, usually in a hospital where a person’s heart has stopped and a team of people gathers to restart it. I wrote about how to talk with God about all the people who are gathering. When… Read More
Prayers of a hospital chaplain on the way to a Code Blue.
The warning sound on the overhead paging system is heart-grabbing, starting at a low pitch, then quickly sliding higher. And then the words: “CODE BLUE Core Tower. 6th floor. CODE BLUE. Core Tower. 6th floor.” A few seconds later, pagers buzz with the room number. … Read More
I hate shots. But I’m on the list.
I hate shots. I can’t watch other people get them. I turn my head all the time in the hospital when a needle shows up anywhere close to an arm. And choosing to receive flu shots has been a challenge, though I’ve done it. So when… Read More