Six New Things – Week of August 1, 2022

It’s August – and we are moving into a new season, in so very many, many ways. As we walk a road out of loss, division, and isolation into opportunity, community, and hope, let’s let loving reflection, compassionate truth-telling, and gracious listening lead the way.

ONE

Find ‘practical solutions’ for those who ‘yearn to love across division, difference, and even death’ in Love without Limits: Jesus’ Radical Vision for Love with No Exceptions (Broadleaf).

TWO

Help Littles walk through grief and death with A Time to Say Goodbye: A Booklet for Kids about Funerals (Fortress); though it centers the Lutheran funeral, other identities will find wisdom and gentle guidance, as well.

THREE

With love leading the way, we can listen more compassionately to Asian American Histories of the United States (Beacon), which joins a powerful list of other historical perspectives that counter the white-Euro historical narrative, which can be found in our History of Race in America lib guide.

FOUR

Grace is often in league with love, so it’s no surprise that Grace Can Lead Us Home: A Christian Call to End Homelessness (Herald).

Find ways your congregation can answer the call through our Poverty, Hunger, and Houselesness lib guide.

And get inspired by others doing the work in this fall’s ConNext Summit – That’s Settled is a workshop led by area leaders who joined together with Settled to build tiny houses for local folx experiencing homelessness. It’s housing, community, and a network of support all in one. Join the Summit for a first-hand account of how it’s going!

FIVE

Be the light that leads the way: The Visual Preacher: Proclaiming an Embodied Word (Fortress) will enhance story-telling skills for preaching fun of love, grace, and the joy of community.

SIX

When the community is ready to grow in breadth and depth, Anantanand Rambachan can lead the way along Pathways to Hindu-Christian Dialogue (Fortress).

Learn to listen in love in our Belonging: Welcome Wellbeing webinar series. Seven sessions will move from self-care and personal wellbeing, to tools for intergenerational connection, through radical presence with God, toward deeper and broader communal bonds through technology and song. Learn more and register (soon) here.