For the fifth and final Sunday of Lent, I’ve updated my nondenominational worship service video on grace. I love meditating on the nearly unfathomable gift of God’s grace — given freely because God is love.

As always, this service is suitable for older adults with Alzheimer’s and other dementias.

Watch the 44-minute church service on grace here.

And here’s the updated written agenda.

Next Week is Holy Week!

Stay tuned for my next post, which includes all of the resources I’ve created for Holy Week, from Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday — a beautiful and rich time of reflection and worship.

This time of year always reminds me of …

March 2020. Ring any bells?

In March 2020, I had been doing in-person chaplain work for a few years at local long-term care homes and was posting my written content for anyone else to use. It had never occurred to me to create videos of my church services (or anything else) … nor did I have any idea how to do such a thing.

But then COVID-19 hit … and I could no longer visit care homes in person.

Easter was coming up fast, and I remember thinking, “There’s no way I’m going to let Easter come and go without some way for elders to worship and celebrate!” So I simply sat down in front of my computer camera, opened iMovie, and started recording what I would normally have done in person.

I had no fancy lighting or microphones (actually I still don’t), no production background, no idea how to edit videos, no manager or social media intelligence … just a determination to get something online so that elders with dementia wouldn’t “miss” Easter.

Thank God I did have the audio-only hymn recordings, which I had made over the span of 18 months in 2018-19. So I quickly figured out how to create video versions with lyrics, and I put those and the rough-and-ready church services on YouTube.

Now here we are six years later … with more than 10K YouTube subscribers and countless more watching the services all over the world. Not to mention the many subscribers to this site, who download the written materials for their own in-person ministry.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: YOU ALL are my heroes your loving service to elders, especially those with dementia. I’m honored and humbled to partner with you with these materials, and I’m excited to do more.

Peace be with you,

Photo by Rustam Mussabekov on Unsplash