Conference on aging and spirituality broadens international participation
This past June, scholars, practitioners, support workers, health-care experts and interested parties from across the globe gathered together virtually over the course of three weeks to advance the connections between spiritual practice and the effects of aging, at the ninth International Conference on Aging and Spirituality. Many health-care support workers and religious/spiritual practitioners recognize the…
Spirituality and aging seminar nurtures courage and resilience
“Old age is not for sissies,” quipped Celia McBride, one of six presenters at the annual Aging and Spirituality Seminar sponsored by the Schlegel-University of Waterloo Research Institute for Aging (RIA) and hosted by Conrad Grebel University College on June 13-14. But, McBride said, we all have access to an “infinite well” of spiritual resources…
Hitting reset
Anyone who has operated a computer knows that, from time to time, it’s necessary to hit reset. The same is true in the life of faith. “Resetting is an affirmation of God’s grace,” said Rachel Miller Jacobs, an associate professor of congregational formation at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Ind. “Things do not have…
Listen to the silence
Recently, I heard a story about a young prince named Hullabaloo. He lived in a land where everyone and everything was noisy. When people talked, they shouted at each other. When they ate their soup, they inhaled it with a loud air-over-tongue sound. When they worked, they clanked and bumped until the air was filled…
Nurturing spirituality
The church’s primary job is growing relationships with God, says Dave Rogalsky in the feature, “Experiencing the good news,” on page 4. He encourages faith communities to be “actively teaching spiritual practices to strengthen the experience of God in people of all ages, in order to underpin our community, worship, evangelism, missions, and peace and…
Experiencing the good news
“You . . . were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people” (Ephesians 1:13-14, NRSV). I understand spirituality to be our knowledge and experience of God active in our lives. But I hear little in our congregations about how we…
Experiencing God
When my youngest son “graduated” from Grade 5 in June 2000, his class took a special year-end trip to Toronto. I was working as a school bus driver at the time—we lived in Ontario then—and I drove the bus. The highlight of the trip was attending The Lion King live at the Princess of Wales…
Solitude and community
A peculiar thing happened to me last Sunday while I was on holidays. I felt a strong desire to attend a church service. Curious, to say the least. You see, by the time summer arrives, I’m usually churched out. As a pastor, church is not only my work life but a significant part of my…
‘God just isn’t finished with me yet’
I was raised in a family with Scottish Presbyterian roots, where no one talked about faith for fear of being “too religious.” We trusted that seniors had it all figured out and their faith carried them, although we would be stretched to say we understood how. I wonder sometimes about their experience with God and…
Readers write: April 23, 2018 issue
Spiritual directors thanked for their Lenten prayer guide Re: “Lenten prayer sheet reflects Lululemon spirituality” letter, March 12, page 7. The references to the Lenten prayer guide as “scriptural soundbites, social-justice propaganda and Lululemon theology” that is “hacking away at the roots of faith” are inflammatory rhetoric that is unproductive, not to mention deeply…
