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Tuesday, April 1, 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.

Shame and Blame are Each a Cruel Game

I hope this read for you contributes to a wake-up call to better understand the power of “shame” and “blame.”

But Where Is Home?

As I thought about your many transitions, I couldn’t help but reflect on our 2019 Sandpoint transition from our former house to our new house.

Take a Risk: Live a Great Story

Great stories free us! Great stories move us to imagine beyond our petty self-preoccupations, beyond our living circumstances, beyond our destructive biases.

A drought of our spirits

I believe we’re also wallowing in a cultural drought our country hasn’t seen in many decades. ​The drought shows itself in the aridness of social imagination and distorting selfishness that has settled in our souls.

In Praise of Healthy Lament

I found myself consoling him by saying something like, “Your tears help your pain come out.” Never an easy cry-er myself, I rarely took my own advice.

Can Peace-Making Include Protests?

People of faith, particularly Christians, seem to be conflicted about whether protests do any good, or even if protests are “Christian.”

Gratitude: A Transformation, Not a Transaction

Did you ever consider that “gratitude” and “grace” come from the same root word? Gratia in Latin and Kharis in Greek.

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