Out and About Sacramento
A hearty congratulations to our own Norris Burkes, author of Inside’s “Spirit Matters” and the self-syndicated column “Spirituality in Everyday Life,” which appears in 35 papers nationwide. The retired military chaplain is the recipient of the 2019 Will Rogers Humanitarian Award sponsored by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.
In his columns, Burkes has written extensively about the humanitarian project Chispa, which sponsors children’s libraries in Honduras and equips them with quality books in Spanish.
Out and About: The Grid
A hearty congratulations to our own Norris Burkes, author of Inside’s “Spirit Matters” and the self-syndicated column “Spirituality in Everyday Life,” which appears in 35 papers nationwide. The retired military chaplain is the recipient of the 2019 Will Rogers Humanitarian Award sponsored by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.In his columns, Burkes has written extensively about the humanitarian project Chispa, which sponsors children’s libraries in Honduras and equips them with quality books in Spanish.
Bad Breaths
Preaching to a sparse crowd, pastors often begin by quoting Matthew 18:20. They remove the verse from its context to passively express disappointment in the low turnout.
They say, “This reminds me of what Jesus said. ‘For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.’”
During my years as a hospital chaplain, I paraphrased this verse to convey my frustration at yet another staff meeting.
Listen Up
Some of my most rewarding years in chaplain work were spent as chaplain for women and children at Sutter Medical Center from 2002 to 2008.
My rounds often took me onto the high-risk maternity unit. Rooms were filled with scared, pregnant women whose doctors confined them to bed in hopes of avoiding a miscarriage.
One afternoon, our unit secretary, Jeannette, told me about a patient expecting twins. Her 23-week pregnancy was threatened by severe complications.
“Her husband is a youth minister, so she has a lot of church friends in her room now,” Jeannette told me.
