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Paul Graves

In March 2026, Paul will have completed 30 years as a faith/values writer, and he has plans to keep writing! After almost 37 years in Sandpoint, ID, Paul and his wife moved to Hillsboro, OR in March 2025, to be close to their son and family. They live in a retirement community, where Paul’s professional back as a retired United Methodist pastor and also a retired geriatric social worker, have been welcomed and are grist for the writing-mill on matters of spirituality, politics and aging.
Commentary

Some Essentials About Being Unessential

This debate gets heated when our own sense of “essence” is challenged, even indirectly.
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Small Changes, Big Differences

But recently, I’ve seen how the “butterfly effect” impacts us both spiritually and scientifically.
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COVID-19 Tests More Than Our Bodies

The health crisis is testing not just our ability, but our willingness to keep our physical distance from other persons even while we reach out to support other people.
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Is your religion a tie that binds or blinds?

In my skeptical moments, of which there are far too many in recent times, I ask myself and others: Is my/your religion a tie that binds or blinds? Human history shows, time and again, that religion’s rhythm too easily flows between binding ties and blinding ties.
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When the ordinary becomes art

There is no single definition or even description of art, is there. But in a broad sense, art is a significant form of communication.
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Prophetic Grace in a Manger

Try to imagine what Joseph and Mary felt as he laid the baby Jesus into the manger. They both knew what angels had told them about this newborn child. Their joy could have been overwhelmed with panic -- at the very least, bewilderment.
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Making Friends With Grief

Do you find yourself dreading holiday seasons like Christmas because you don’t want your grieving memories to “ruin” the holiday? If I may be so bold: consider an alternative way of dealing with your grief this Christmas.
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