From delight to despair: the holy seasons of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany are full of opportunities to experience the full, wide range of human feelings. Emotional awareness can help us appreciate the joy and navigate the challenges. Resources for all ages help make the most of these days. ONE As we move toward Christmas, Littles […]
Thanks to Traci Smith for sharing this Great Idea she got from ‘Kathy M’, who ‘took the idea from a UCC webinar’: Make your sanctuary a “Gift of Presence” to your community. Open your church and share your decorated sanctuary. Make this a place of “Presence” where others can come and be, think, or meditate […]
Let’s play with our heads: in a fun, community-building, intergenerational-relationship-creating kind of way. Embrace grief, develop mental and spiritual strengths, and create belonging with lament and liturgy, puzzles and games – and pageantry. ONE Big Brain Bible Games: Fun Puzzles, Quizzes, and Trivia to Test Your Bible Knowledge (Baker) purports to be, ‘the ultimate collection […]
Thanks to the St Paul Area Synod, ELCA, for sharing this Great Idea from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Inver Grove Heights, in a recent newsletter. Good Shepherd Lutheran began ‘Meet an Older Friend’ about eight years ago. The intent, ‘has always been to help connect young Confirmation students with older members of the congregation – […]
Thanks to Jodi Belcher and Sarah Bentley Allred for sharing their Two Points of View on Christmas Pageants in Building Faith’s recent newsletter. Since we just completed our original Prepare: The Northwoods Get Ready (a Christmas Pageant shaped by three Minnesota congregations), this article felt familiar and important. Jodi and Sarah began with two opposing […]
As we enter our varied understandings of the ‘Holiday Season’, we are mindful that the world is full of people who find gratitude, peace, joy, hope, and love difficult to come by. Growing in awareness and stepping alongside goes a long way to repairing relationships and creating belonging and well-being. ONE Advent is just around […]
This Great Idea was inspired by varying responses to the movie Killers of the Flower Moon. The Great Idea is to read a variety of Indigenous responses together, share the ELCA’s Truth & Healing Study Guide, discuss, and discern together what action God is calling from your community in response to how you feel and […]
Belonging and community are the antidote to war and fear. Churches are called to be the safe place people need to live in peace and thrive. ONE UN High Commissioner for Refugees Goodwill Ambassador Neil Gaiman – along with a thirteen extraordinary artists – share memories and visions reflective of What You Need to Be […]
Thanks to Brian Meyer, public high school teacher in Minneapolis, for sharing this resource and Great Idea. Disclaimer: the website Solutions Not Sides has not been thoroughly vetted. Some Muslim organizations are calling for a strong critique of it, citing affiliations with Israeli government and/or Zionist groups. See here. The world desperately needs people to […]
It’s Election Day – and even with ‘only’ local ballots, the vision Jesus embodied of God’s Beloved Community opens our eyes to new perspectives on leadership, personal action, and global engagement. ONE The best place to start with social transformation is hope! Hope Is Here! Spiritual Practices for Pursuing Justice and Beloved Community (WJK) offers […]