On public pastoral prayer

Last week, I wrote about a prayer assignment I’m creating for a class I’m teaching. I wrote about public prayer in “God. We Need You.”: A Year of Prayer in a Hospital Chapel +++ When I started as a hospital chaplain, I didn’t write out my prayers. I’m from a tradition that is more spontaneous. […]

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Winning And Winners

More from Rich Dixon: +++ My conversation with Carbondale athletes wasn’t really about sports. “How do you know if you won a game?” They pointed at the scoreboard. “Who knows which team won?” They hesitated. Finally, someone replied, “Everyone. Read the score.” “Of course. Everyone knows. Now, a tougher one. “How do you know if […]

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Only my personality is retiring.

When I was a kid, people retired at 65. Their companies walked them to the door, with some parting gift. And then, so the myth goes, they went golfing. Except for my maternal grandfather, who kept working on the small farm where he’d lived after immigrating from Sweden when he was eleven. He kept working […]

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A prayer for the fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

God. I think we are all like Paul some days. What we want to do, we don’t do. What we don’t want to do, we do. I know, God, that Paul wasn’t talking about fitness goals or writing goals. He wasn’t talking about mid-year resolutions. He was talking about doing good and doing bad. “I […]

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