Jon Swanson

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About Jon Swanson

Jon Swanson helps people and organizations find sense at urgent and important times. Whether sitting at deathbeds with families or sitting over coffee with people needing counsel, Jon's experience allows him to find the words and silence that help meaning come to the surface.

Once upon a time, Jon thought he would use his PhD in Rhetorical Theory and Criticism to teach college students how to analyze speeches. Instead, he has been helping people read the Bible for more than thirty years. In small groups and conversations, he tries to listen to the text, listen to people and connect the two in ways that are practical and often unexpected.

Jon has been a communication prof, college administrator, and an associate pastor. Currently, he's a hospital chaplain and a consultant.

He and Nancy have been married since 1983 and have two married children and a daughter in heaven. Jon and Nancy walk at least two miles a day, conversing the whole time.

Jon has been blogging since 2005. In 2008, he started 300wordsaday.com, where he writes in simple language about following Jesus, 300 words at a time.

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Author Updates

Titles By Jon Swanson

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Giving a Life Meaning: How to Lead Funerals, Memorial Services, and Celebrations of Life (Resources on Faith, Sickness, Grief and Doubt Book 3) Feb 28, 2020

by Jon Swanson

( 21 )

$6.99

I’m sorry you are here. No one buys a book on how to do a funeral service or a memorial service unless someone else died.

You are stepping in front of a group of people who are two days after the hardest moment of their life and are having the saddest day of their life, and you have to summarize someone’s life, give it meaning, and help people take their next step.

If you are in a church tradition that gives you all the words, use those words. But if you are reading this book, all the words weren’t enough. And many books tell us how to do things with great authority. They say, “This is THE way.”

But you aren’t looking for THE way. You are looking for help to figure out YOUR way to do a service to honor someone.

And I want to give you that help.

With more than thirty years of helping people communicate, of helping people think, of helping people sort through hard situations, I can offer you frameworks, options, and samples.

You’ll still have to do the hard work, of course. But this short book will help.

We’ll cover the service itself, starting fifteen minutes before and ending at the cemetery. We’ll talk about how to start, how to decide what goes in the middle, how to build a message, and how to finish the service. We'll talk about the particular challenge of a funeral for an infant.

I'll give you several samples of messages, a few checklists, and as much encouragement as I can fit in a small book for a tough time.

Other Formats: Paperback

This title and over 1 million more available with Kindle Unlimited.

"God. We Need You.": A Year of Prayer in a Hospital Chapel (Resources on Faith, Sickness, Grief and Doubt Book 5) Jun 21, 2020

by Jon Swanson

( 14 )

$0.99

Every Sunday, people listen to readings from the Bible and then listen to someone pray. That happens around the world in a variety of settings. And the prayers respond to the setting and the scripture and the people.

When a hospital chaplain prays in a hospital chapel every Sunday, the prayer represents the conversations with people and God that have happened that week. The words to God on behalf of the people must reflect knowing that people are living and dying, knowing that the listeners are facing good diagnoses and bad, the beginning and ending of life.

This is a collection of a year of those Sunday morning prayers, based on Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.

Other Formats: Paperback

This title and over 1 million more available with Kindle Unlimited.

This Is Hard: What I Say When Loved Ones Die. (Resources on Faith, Sickness, Grief and Doubt Book 6) Apr 23, 2021

by Jon Swanson

( 13 )

$2.99

“This is hard.”

With those words, a hospital chaplain acknowledges the pain we feel after the death of someone we love. And then he slowly reflects on our questions:

“Why can’t I think?”
“Why am I sad when they are at peace?”
"Why do people say stupid things?"
"Is this my fault?"

Formed in hospital rooms and walks down hallways, this short book is like a conversation with someone who understands loss, with words of clarification for our feelings and space to write what is worth remembering in the future.

This book is helpful for people in the hours and days after a loss. It's helpful for pastors, friends, and family members wanting to know what to say and what not to say. It's helpful for anyone who, at some moment needs to hear, "This is hard."

Other Formats: Paperback

Lent for Non-Lent People: 33 Things to Give up for Lent and Other Readings Jan 29, 2013

by Jon Swanson

( 53 )

$0.99

In 2020, we felt like the whole year was Lent, giving up everything. As we try to recover our spiritual and emotional equilibrium, having a guide like Lent for Non-Lent People brings thoughtful and compassionate structure to the Lenten season in 2021.

Lent for Non-Lent People is a daily guide to prayer, fasting, rest and following Jesus for people who want training wheels for Lent.

The first seven chapters are each divided into seven readings, allowing for daily readings, starting the week of Ash Wednesday (2/17/21) and going through Easter (4/4/21). The final chapter provides several strategies to take Lent into the rest of the year.

Topics include Lent as an experiment in habit, Lent as finding living food, the forty day fasts of Elijah and Jesus, the conversations Jesus had with several women, having a cup of tea with Jesus, 7 lessons to learn from sleepy disciples, and the difference between routine and ritual.

Other Formats: Paperback

This title and over 1 million more available with Kindle Unlimited.

A Great Work: A Conversation With Nehemiah For People (Who Want To Be) Doing Great Works Nov 29, 2013

by Jon Swanson

( 21 )

$0.99

Nehemiah is a brief book in the Bible. Nehemiah is also a man steeped in religious tradition and working for a foreign government. When bad news arrives, he finds an impossible purpose for his life: rebuild Jerusalem. This book is a series of conversations with Nehemiah exploring how he followed God and led people.In these conversations, Jon Swanson explores prayer, opposition, distraction, injustice, and staying faithful to the end of life. The conversational style reaches beyond the book of Nehemiah and teaches us a way to explore the Bible. A Great Work is not a typical commentary on the Bible, it’s a conversation with the Bible.

Other Formats: Paperback

This title and over 1 million more available with Kindle Unlimited.

God. We Still Need You.: A Year of Pandemic Prayer and Practice From a Hospital Chaplain Mar 23, 2021

by Jon Swanson

( 2 )

$5.99

Sometimes we need prayers to help us reflect on the pain we've lived through. In the euphoria of a vaccine and the freedom that people will feel, the work of those who lived through the worst will be forgotten. Tragically, the effects of that work will linger for the rest of the lives of those nurses. And respiratory therapists. And intensivists and patient care techs and EVS workers and child life specialists and radiologists and pharmacy techs. And chaplains. We will all carry with us the pictures of families on the other end of Zoom calls, watching mom as she is taking her last breaths. We will remember the fastidious, almost paranoid attention to donning and doffing protective gear. We will remember the IV poles in the hallways outside rooms with COVID-19 patients. Or we will forget those moments and be surprised when we suddenly start crying. We will all carry with us the tension in our bodies we felt as we read our social media feeds talking about a made-up virus as we think about its actual cost on the people we took care of inside the hospital. Into this grief come the words of a hospital chaplain who worked through this year. Starting with Advent 2019 and going through Thanksgiving 2020, these essays and prayers reflect one hospital chaplain’s conversations with God and others during a challenging year. The framework is the church calendar: Advent, Epiphany, Lent, Eastertide, Ordinary Time. Each section starts with orientation to the season, to what was happening outside the hospital, and what was happening inside. The heartbeat is the Sunday prayers. Essays from the author's blogs, 300wordsaday.com and SocialMediaChaplain.com, are placed into that framework at the time they were written. The death and uncertainty aren’t always in the foreground of these prayers and reflections. There are stories that I can’t tell, moments that must be protected. But those stories and moments are always informing the writing. And this isn’t a memoir, not in the kind that reviews the past and provides meaning. Instead, it is a journal, written in public, offering glimpses of a difficult year.

Other Formats: Paperback

This title and over 1 million more available with Kindle Unlimited.

Giving the Year Meaning: A Healing Journal for Advent Oct 15, 2021

by Jon Swanson, Hope Smith

( 3 )

$2.99

It's been a challenging year. We could use Advent to help us recover.

Advent is a season to help us get ready for Christmas. By spending time slowing down our busy schedules, we can prepare our hearts and minds to remember Christ's first coming and to anticipate the second. Or we can open calendar boxes with chocolate.

That's in a usual year.

Since 2020, all our routines have been disrupted. We could use some help with making sense of the year. And Advent is a perfect season for looking back and looking forward.

Giving the Year Meaning: A Healing Journal for Advent walks you through this Advent with reflections and activities designed to help you find meaning and healing. Rather than wise sayings or interesting stories this is a journal that will invite you to reflect on things we may have missed during the year and then take steps to remember and recover those things.

For example, some of us have forgotten to smile. Some of us have missed out on comforting others in their pain because of our own distraction. Some of us have gotten pretty upset with others. Some of us have forgotten what did work.

Developed by a hospital chaplain, this journal gives us all the experiences that can help. The journal runs from November 28 through December 31, one entry every day. To allow the same journal to be used for several years, there are Sunday readings separate from the daily activities.

It can be completed alone or as part of a family or other group conversation.

Other Formats: Hardcover , Paperback

Saint John of the Mall: Reflections for the Advent Season Nov 16, 2017

by Jon Swanson, Char Binkley

( 17 )

$2.99

Are you feeling disillusioned this Christmas? Do you need help to focus on what really matters? What if you could talk with a friend of Jesus and ask how he feels about Christmas?

In Saint John of the Mall you will experience 26 conversations with Saint John, a white-bearded man at a shopping mall, that will lead you to peace and ease your frustration.

Like you, Dr. Jon Swanson, a pastor and professor, has often been frustrated by Christmas. Let him (and Saint John) help you find hope and rest this Christmas. Click Add to Cart for this Advent devotional like none you have read before.

Other Formats: Paperback

This title and over 1 million more available with Kindle Unlimited.

Learning a new routine. Reading the Sermon on the Mount a little bit at a time Dec 21, 2012

by Jon Swanson

( 8 )

$0.99

From the introduction:
The way we live is a routine. When we get up, which path we take to work, what we do at work, how we spend our time when we have a choice, how we react when we don't have a choice. A routine is simply a set of thoughts and behaviors performed consistently. Gymnasts have routines. Parents create bed-time routines for their children.

We often find our routines to be routine, unexciting. We want to change them, to find excitement. And change is exciting. It throws everything off. But eventually, even the novelty becomes a routine and becomes routine.

Unless we find a template, a proven technique. Someone else’s routine. I’ve done this often, looking at time management tools, attention management tools, life management tools. So have you. When we’re done, we have built a collection of techniques. And we live our routine better, but sometimes we still wonder why we are doing this.

That’s because routines are about how to live. They need to have a why.
There are lots of whys available as well. And rather that look at all the options, I want to pick one and look at it.
Matthew 5-7 is known as "the Sermon on the Mount." I invite you to spend some time with me looking at this sermon, this teaching, where Jesus describes learning a new routine. Jesus answers a simple question: What does the routine of the kingdom of heaven look like?

What others are saying:
"I started reading this out loud. There were pages that made me smile, laugh and cry. I have to finish this and see how it ends. And then read it again. And share with others. And I heard voices as I was reading out loud:
Mine, which I am familiar with.
Yours, which I have heard before when I read 300 words a day as my morning devotion.
And God's voice too."
-Scott Howard

"Jon makes Jesus real. A real person, with real friends, doing real work. Jon understands the disciples as people, human in all their struggles and failings, continuing to miss the point of their Friend's guidance, support, advice and comfort. In so doing, he connects us not just with words or sermons or commands, but a framework for following Jesus and permission to get it wrong while working to get it right."
-Rob Hatch

This title and over 1 million more available with Kindle Unlimited.

Anticipation: An Advent Reader Dec 4, 2012

by Jon Swanson

( 6 )

$0.99

When people think of the Christmas story, they often go to the book of Luke in the Bible. Years of hearing Linus recite the story of the shepherds put the words of Luke in people’s hearts. And for some people, it isn’t Christmas until they hear Linus.

And they wait with great anticipation. They check the TV listings. They clear their schedules. Even though they can watch the recording over and over again, they wait eagerly for the coming of the “Charlie Brown Christmas.”

If you are like those people, then Luke wrote about you. He wrote about that kind of anticipation, that kind of looking forward, that kind of longing.

For the 25 days of Advent, this collection of reflections will remind us of people who were anticipating, some even craving, the arrival of the Christ.

This title and over 1 million more available with Kindle Unlimited.

Giving a Year Meaning: A Healing Journal for Advent 2020 Oct 26, 2020

by Jon Swanson

( 9 )

$2.99

It's been a challenging year. We could use Advent to help us recover.

Advent is a season to help us get ready for Christmas. By spending time slowing down our busy schedules, we can prepare our hearts and minds to remember Christ's first coming and to anticipate the second. Or we can open calendar boxes with chocolate.

That's in a usual year.

In 2020, all our routines have been disrupted. We could use some help with making sense of the year. And Advent is a perfect season for looking back and looking forward.

Giving a Year Meaning: A Healing Journal for Advent 2020 walks you through this Advent with reflections and activities designed to help you find meaning and healing. Rather than wise sayings or interesting stories this is a journal that will invite you to reflect on things we may have missed during the year and then take steps to remember and recover those things.

For example, some of us have forgotten to smile. Some of us have missed out on comforting others in their pain because of our own distraction. Some of us have gotten pretty upset with others. Some of us have forgotten what did work.

Developed by a hospital chaplain, this journal gives us all the experiences that can help.The journal runs from November 29 (the first Sunday of Advent) through December 31, one entry every day. It can be completed alone or as part of a family or other group conversation.

Other Formats: Paperback

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