Six New Things – Week of May 18, 2026

It’s National Mental Health Awareness Month. How is your mental health? How about the people you serve?

Let’s tend to our broken and hurting parts so we can embrace the beauty and joy emerging within and around us.

ONE

Start with The Healing Pulpit: Sermons and Strategies for Mental Wellness (Judson), an illumination of ‘historic injustices that exacerbate reluctance to seek professional help’ that ‘provides actionable steps for supporting mental well-being‘.

 

TWO

If injustice is part of your mental health struggle, Weathering the Storm: Navigating the Anti-Social Justice Wave (Broadleaf), ‘is for anyone who has ever felt worn down by injustice, disillusioned by regression, or isolated in their advocacy’, offering, ‘strategies like self-care as resistance, spiritual grounding, collective action, and effective allyship’.

Introduce children and youth to ‘Extraordinary Youth‘ in the Tell Me about the Bible: Vol. 2 curriculum (Illustrated Ministry), which empowers youth to ‘notice, respond, and use their voices and gifts to address the injustices they see around them’.

THREE

Get out of your own way, guided by Mind Drama: The Science of Rumination and How to Outwit Your Inner Defeatist (Harmony), a ‘roadmap to the anatomy of self-criticism and unproductive worry‘ that helps us, ‘access our mind’s higher potential for creativity, ingenuity, and insight’.

Set your Littles on their own inner quest with the 9-Week Fruit of the Spirit Curriculum from The Belonging Workshop (i.e., Book of Belonging author & illustrator, Mariko Clark and Rachel Eleanor), which invites Pre-K and Elementary kids to ‘explore the fruits of the Spirit through wonder, play, and spiral-learning techniques’.

FOUR

Follow that map right outside with Following Jesus Beyond Church Walls: A Catalyst for Your Spiritual Growth (Contemporary Mystics), which draws on ‘Christian mysticism, the Divine Feminine, contemplative practice, immersion in the natural world, and …pastoral formation’ to ‘reimagine what faith can look like when institutions fail’.

FIVE

Lift spirits with On the Rise, Joe Davis and The Poetic Diaspora’s album of 15 Songs  + Live Concert Recordings. An album born in community – including pre-orders that directly fund mixing, mastering, live production, and independent artistry.

Learn more and pre-order here.

And watch for the release and Live Listening Experience, June 20!!

SIX

The Ministry Lab proudly hosts two banners created in community:

  • The Love Never Fails Banner, created on ISAIAH’s Palm Sunday Path includes a beautiful Love Never Fails blessing, perfect for graduation celebrations, honoring caring adults (Mother’s, Father’s, and Grandparent’s Days), Creation Tide, and Election Season observances.
  • The Hearts on Fire Banner is perfect for Pentecost Sunday or Season, Election Season, or recognizing the wildfires already ablaze in the Northwoods.

To borrow (or rent, if a non-member congregation) the banners, simply drop me an email: ministrylab@uccmn.org.