Older Adult Ministries

"The COVID-19 is testing more than our bodies. Our spirits are getting a great test too," writes the Rev. Paul Graves. He argues that despite our separation and individualistic tendencies, we are our best, most authentic, selves when we help each other.

By Rev. Paul Graves For his regular column in the Spokesman-Review, Rev. Paul Graves will occasionally use the format of a letter to his grandchildren....

"When we celebrate Jesus’ birth only as a “Jesus sweet and mild” newborn, we unconsciously dismiss the radically prophetic message his birth and whole life embodied." Rev. Paul Graves challenges us to see the birth of Christ as the bold unmerited gift of grace that it is.

In his latest post, Rev. Paul Graves tackles a topic that many wrestle with particularly as they approach the holidays: grief. When we are ready, Graves encourages us to resist our fear of grief and instead to sit with it and learn what it can teach.

The Rev. Paul Graves believes that gratitude is a gift we are born with. In his latest post, he shares a personal example of this truth and a call to nurture and care for the gift as we find it in our children and grandchildren.

The Rev. Paul Graves has an occasional practice of sharing a letter to his three grandchildren in his column for The Spokesman Review. In his most recent, he explores confrontation as a practical and spiritual matter.

A recent excursion had the Rev. Paul Graves mesmerized by the amazing rock formations of the Canadian Rockies. It got him thinking about creation, religious affirmations toward its preservation, and our calling to be active partners with it.

"From benign bicyclists ignoring stop signs to increasingly toxic shoving matches to the horrors of mass shootings, zero-sum games are played every day." For the Rev. Paul Graves, the pervasive winner-takes-all mentality this engenders stands in contrast to the ministry and teachings of Jesus.

The process of downsizing has not been easy one for the Rev. Paul Graves as his family moves to a new, smaller home. In his post, Graves considers the value of accumulated "stuff" and the relationship between grief and gratitude.

"As I watched immigrant children sitting silent in cages on our southern borders, I could only imagine what grief and fear their silence betrayed," writes the Rev. Paul Graves in a letter to his grandkids. In his message Graves considers the power of sacred silence, both in times where it is a reprieve to a noisy world and in moments where it is an alternative to a silence born in fear.