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Sunday, March 23, 2025

Paul Graves

Paul Graves is a retired and re-focused United Methodist pastor and a long-time resident of Sandpoint, Idaho, where he formerly served on city council and mayor. His second career is in geriatric social work, and since 2005 he's been the Lead Geezer-in-Training of Elder Advocates, a consulting and teaching ministry on aging issues. Since 1992, Graves has been a volunteer chaplain for Bonner Community Hospice. His columns regularly appear in The Spokesman-Review's Faith and Values section, and he also writes the Dear Geezer column for the Bonner County Daily Bee and is the host of the bi-weekly Geezer Forum on aging issues in Sandpoint.

Is Violence a Christian Value? Again, I Say No.

Apparently there are many people who identify themselves as Christians who are very okay with violence being an option when they don’t get their way. I’m gobsmacked — but not shocked anymore.

Truth Doesn’t Care. Or Does It?

How would we deal with the realities of our daily lives if we admitted another brazen statement: Truth doesn’t care?

Do Language Barriers Begin with Attitudes?

We too quickly let language stand in our way of what we want to say. And I’m not just talking about the languages from cultural or ethnic backgrounds. We who speak English as our primary language too quickly subvert communication with each other when our personal attitude reveals we don’t really want to communicate with “certain other people.”

The Un-Wokeness of Christian Nationalism

Perhaps many persons who think something is “woke” are feigning – pretending – to be ignorant. They may actually know their use of “woke” means the opposite of what it actually means.        

Drop Your Fig Leaves and Leave Shame Behind

I see the whole Creation story as a metaphor. It’s an ancient story that wonderfully tells how the world began and how humanity was introduced into that creation. In this garment-sewing detail, God’s first post-creation act is to love the creatures who seem overwhelmed with a primal shame that never seems to go away.

Being Awake to the Distortions of Being ‘Woke’

Being woke was popularized in 1962 as African-American street slang by black novelist William Sloan Kelly. His explanation of woke spoke clearly that history, black history especially, needed to be identified and affirmed. His description is reflected in how the Oxford English Dictionary defines woke.

Like Carla Peperzak, Let’s Sacrifice Our Comfort to Talk about Past and Present Injustices

When we grow up, we want to be like Carla Peperzak. That was how my wife and I felt after our three-hour lunch and visit with Peperzak in her home at Rockwood Retirement Communities. At 99 years old, she is mentally and physically much younger. Her passion for teaching children about the horrors of the Holocaust is keen and always eager.

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