Six New Things – Week of September 16, 2024

As we approach the Autumnal Equinox (September 22), the angle of the sun and falling leaves speak to us of looming darkness, change, and death. Yet this is a rich season of abundance, harvest, and the promise of life through the winter. The changing seasons invite a change in perspectives: from fear to wonder; from marginalized to welcome; from grief to healing; from difference to community. Transformed perspectives can be the difference between despair and hope!!

ONE

Little crows live in fear of every sight and sound until ‘the smallest crow questions the world beneath the treetops’. What the Crow Saw Below (Flyaway) encourages Littles’ curiosity and inspires us all to turn from dread to wonder.

As your kids wonder about the world around them, Traci Smith’s, Faithful Conversations on Tough Topics, provides ‘a tool to engage with life’s big questions… [with] vulnerability and hope, showing… that God’s love is present, even in the most challenging times’.

Help kids establish Healthy Boundaries and facilitate difficult conversations – at home and communally – with more from our Courageous Spaces  toolkit.

TWO

Hospitality is a congregational given, yet youth struggle to find a place of belonging – especially youth who identify as ‘other’ than the accepted ‘norm’ (however that is defined in your context).

Personal and communal empathy beget radical hospitality. Please read:

• Human Difference: Reflections on a Life in Proximity to Disability (Cascade)
  • an invitation to ‘a new approach to difference’ in which we, ‘”put out into the deep water” and… actively seek out an intimate and open closeness with difference and disability’.
• Hurting Kids: What Incarcerated Youth Are Teaching Me about Whiteness, Compassion, Accountability, and Healing (Cascade)
  • an exploration of ‘religion’s impact on Americans’ beliefs about justice and on teenagers who get in trouble with the law’, which ‘challenges common assumptions about “guilt” and “innocence,” while advocating for [youth] justice… that promotes equity, compassion, accountability, and healing for all’.
• God, Gospel, and Gender: A Queer Bible Study for Teens (Church)
  • in which prayer, action, and Bible reflection, ‘call youth to affirm the dignity in every person’.

Dig into the Bible’s witness of inclusion and welcome, embrace young people with Special Needs & Neurodiversity, become familiar with systems of Policing, Public Safety, & Prisons…

THREE

THEN: …develop your own action plan for radical inclusion at ConNext Summit 2024: Beloved Community – Sharing the Stories of All God’s Children: it’s all about building diversity-aware and diversity-affirming ministries for all ages.  This is a transformative gathering for ecumenical CYF leaders from across Minnesota – October 13-15 at Dunrovin Retreat Center. Learn more and register here.

FOUR

Transform your perspective on personal healing and well-being – and that of others – with A Midwinter God: Encountering the Divine in Seasons of Darkness (Ave Maria), which invites us to ‘view darkness as a place where seeds of holiness begin to germinate’ through reflections on loss and acceptance, scriptural insights, guided meditations, expressive arts practices, and reflection questions – for an individual or group setting.

Littles can lead the way in this with, Popi’s All Souls Song (Beaming), ‘a poignant, timeless story with luminous art, drawing readers into the realization that no person’s loss or grief is bigger or more important than anyone else’s. And when we bring comfort to others, we experience comfort ourselves’.

Find more support for leader well-being in our Spiritual Practices: Celtic & Creation-Oriented and Contemplative Arts and Pastoral Care: Grief, Death, & Dying lib guides.

FIVE

Deeply transformational spiritual practices can be found in, The Mystics Would Like a Word: Six Women Who Met God and Found a Spirituality for Today (Convergent) which introduces us to, ‘audacious women who forged a spirituality that is more inclusive, surprising, and empowering than we ever imagined’.

‘Habits for Healing; Reclaim Your Purpose, Peace, and Power (Convergent) encourages readers to ‘heal your past, start fresh, and create a life that honors the truth of who you are today’ through boundaries- and self-care-based ‘practical rituals with the power to transform your life’.

Let these spiritual practices inspire and empower systemic and cultural shifts with The New Science of Social Change: A Modern Handbook for Activists (Beacon), an ‘accessible guide for activists’ with ‘cutting-edge empirical research on effective protest to show how to make movements really matter’.

Let the Mystics & Saints further inspire your Discernment/Vocation and Adaptive Leadership with resources from our lib guides.

SIX

The work of social activism and change can be taxing. Resilience requires hope. Find some in, Mi Tierra (Reycraft), the ‘heartfelt journey of Amaya Nuñez’ who:

• embraces her own uniqueness and individuality;
• cherishes multigenerational relationships;
• explores new states and her own rich culture;
• discovers her own identity as she navigates belonging and finding her own place in the world;
• celebrates diversity – recognizing the beauty of her ‘land’ (NYC) and the richness of her Puerto Rican and Spanish heritage

Broaden this appreciation for community – and deepen the resonance of diverse beauty – with What If We Get It Right? Visions of Climate Futures (One World), an inspiring, hopeful invitation to ‘picture a transformed and replenished world’ and ‘to see yourself, your loved ones, and your community in it’ as you ‘find your role in shaping this new world’. Full of ‘grace, humor, and humanity’, author Ayana Elizabeth Johnson ‘invites readers to ask and answer this ultimate question together: What if we get it right?

Both can be found in our Eco-Anxiety Toolkit: Intersectional Justice as Antidotes.

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How might a shift in perspective transform your outlook, emotional and spiritual well-being, and communal vision?

Contact Emily Meyer at The Ministry Lab for information about ConNext Summit 2024: Beloved Community – Sharing the Stories of All God’s Children, the Innovation Culture Index, Ministry Transformation Labs, and Community Discovery Packages – and let The Ministry Lab walk with you through a season of introspection, innovation, transformation and growth!