Six New Things – Week of July 29, 2024

The vast expanse and diversity of creation affords us endless opportunities for amazement. Intentionality helps us nestle into wonder, rest in awe, and reconnect with nature to find our true humanity.

ONE

Sink into a World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments (Milkweed), ‘a collection of essays about the natural world, and the way its inhabitants can teach, support, and inspire us’.

Inspire intergenerational conversations with Kaleidoscope Animal Sticker Puzzler Poster – a fun, meditative activity for all ages, ‘with all the great aspects of a puzzle and working together’ that you can also, pick up and move when necessary.

Further resources to Cultivate Gratitude & Joy and inspire Intergenerational Activities can be found in our lib guides.

TWO

For ‘faith-formation experiences that are tangible, applicable, and meaningful to children’s everyday lives’, Big Faith’s fall theme, Masterpiece, promises to explore God’s Creation in ‘fun, child-friendly’ ways. Find the full Big Faith Scope & Sequence here.

Discover additional Sunday School Curricula in our lib guide.

THREE

For fall planning for all ages, check out Building Faith’s Fall Program Planning Toolkit 2024 – most of their suggestions are in our age-related lib guides (! – it’s nice when others agree with one’s decisions!!), including:

Feel free to browse! If you don’t find what you’re looking for, if you want to bounce ideas off of someone, or if you’d like to confer about anything – let me know!! Member congregations have unlimited consultations! [ministrylab@unitedseminary.edu]

FOUR

Artificial Intelligence, in so many ways, is antithetical to wonder and awe and AI challenges are exploding within the church and within the lives and work of many of our members. Get ahead of the curve with The AI Mirror: How to Reclaim Our Humanity in an Age of Machine Thinking (Oxford). The book ‘offers a way to think about AI that can reinvigorate the reader’s sense of human agency and possibility’. So, there is hope…

Further develop your sense of agency and possibility with reads from our Technology lib guide.

FIVE

For many of us, the topic of ‘finances’ can deplete our sense of wonder, especially when we start talking about investments. The Social Justice Investor: Advance Your Values While Building Wealth, Whether a Few Dollars or Millions (Broadleaf), reminds us that ‘our investments can… be a powerful extension of our values, intentions, and commitments’, through which ‘we can help change the world for the better’.

Find additional tools for talking with and about Adult Stewardship in our lib guide.

SIX

Clergy who are losing – or have already lost – their sense of awe and wonder might find solace in Pastoral Pause: A Practical Guide to Renewal Leave (Upper Room). If you are one of the many clergy, ‘facing the challenges of strained relationships, waning creativity, and diminishing spiritual reserves’, I hope you will ‘take a break before you shatter’.

For additional support along the ‘journey to self-renewal’, see our Care for Caregivers and Sabbath & Rest lib guides.