Beauty Will Save the World

I’ve been hatching a plan to create resources to support congregations and leaders through the upcoming observances of the 250th Anniversary of the USA’s Declaration of Independence. There’s a lot that will be ugly.

We who follow Jesus can opt for beauty, instead.

[*The image of the skull of butterflies is from Tino Rodriguez.]

~~~

It appears I’m not the only one with this Great Idea: I’ll pair compact but powerful reads with resources from others.

The crumbling of empire, particularly SCOTUS’s demolition of democracy and access to the polls for Black communities and other communities of color – which will also impact poorer neighborhoods, rural communities, and immigrant communities – is the reality in which we live. These are historical times. These are biblical times.

Let’s read from both of these perspectives to gain insight and ground ourselves for necessary action:

  • Unsurprisingly, Heather Cox Richardson grants us two posts with historical context:
    • ‘May 16, 2026‘ traces the blood, sweat, and tears from Brown v. Board of Education (May 17, 1954) through the Selma-Montgomery March (March 7-25, 1965), to the Civil Rights Act (August 6, 1965), to its dismantling by SPOTUS (April 29, 2026).
    • ‘May 17, 2026‘ considers the Christian nationalist work of Rededicate 250, its reliance on 2 Chronicles 7:11-22, and the intentions and wording of our founding documents, within the scope of America’s entanglement – or intentional lack thereof – with Christianity.
      • Read this with elders and youth together.
      • Wonder how Christians can vocally and publicly respond to the misappropriation of our faith.
  • Diana Butler Bass provides a specifically Christian-faith-based historical scope in her May 15, 2026: Integrity in History: Hiding the Past.
    • She questions the scriptural, theological, and historical assumptions of the May 17 nine-hour festival of ‘prayer, praise and thanksgiving’.
    • Consider using the photos and paintings within her post as a contemplative practice: compare and contrast, as Bass suggests, and wonder about the truth of our history, our present, and the future we are creating.
    • Share Thomas Merton’s ‘At This Precise Moment of History’ and W.E.B. DuBois’ rewording of ‘My Country ‘Tis of Thee’ in worship on Memorial Day and/or 4th of July.
  • In When They Move the Goalposts: A Candidate’s Witness to Gerrymandering – and Why the Church Must Respond, Rev. Anna Golladay offers a first-person account of how redistricting in southern states is hampering her campaign – and her potential constituents’ abilities to get to the polls.
    • She calls out the deeply pastoral and human rights concerns involved with gerrymandering.
    • She declares emphatically that ‘The Church’s Call Is Not Neutrality – It is Harm Reduction’ – and fills out what this might look like in different contexts.
  • In We Are Crashing Into the Future (Or It Is Crashing Into Us) (Meditations in an Emergency; May 13, 2026), Rebecca Solnit uses the image of a caterpillar’s ‘instar’ and ‘imaginal cells’ to illustrate:
    • the voracious fossil fuel and AI-driven appetites of the ‘broligarchs’, splitting apart the skin of America – ‘The Autumn of the Patriarchs’…
    • …and the transformational power of autonomous women and our communal imaginations to create a more beautiful future – ‘The Spring of the Matriarchs’.

There’s a lot of talk in all of these posts about the speed at which we are hurtling toward the future. It is ‘dizzying’, ‘overwhelming’, ‘terrifying’…

And several mentions of bending the arc of justice together.

Step into the whirlwind with these short reads.

Let one reading a week shape your next five weekly gatherings.

Share them with youth and adults together: history, present, and future need to be in conversation with one another.

Incorporate Illustrated Ministry’s Pastoral Care Package – which includes:

  • Pastoral letters to pastors, children & family church leaders, and youth leaders
  • Short lectionary reflections on the RCL texts for July 5
  • Worship liturgy elements
  • Hymn recommendations & worship considerations
  • Children’s Bulletin
  • Children’s Moment
  • Coloring Pages
  • Social Media Graphics

Click here to express interest in IM’s Pastoral Care Package.

IM’s Pastoral Care Package enables you to expand the conversation in worship and other weekly gatherings, including among children.

With bold imaginations, congregations become the chrysalis where God’s preferred future will take shape and fly.

Ground in history and social context so your congregation can begin imagining what else is possible!