Six New Things: Week of August 24

One

Ralph De La Rosa’s timely Don’t Tell Me to Relax: Emotional Resilience in the Age of Rage, Feels & Freak-Outs (Penguin Random House) offers “warm, funny, streetwise… tools for coping in contentious times”. Offer a little levity to your younger crowd.

Two

For a little deeper look at resilience, you might consider Beautiful and Terrible Things: A Christian Struggle with Suffering, Grief and Hope (WJK); or, for more active resilience-building, enjoy Michel Gribble-Dates’ latest offering, Work It Out, which uses Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse to “align …Matthew 18:15-20 [Sunday’s RCL Gospel reading] with the healing practice of yoga… to guide people of all ages to experience a deeper embodiment of Christ’s teachings”.

Three

To improve your own alignment (among other things), consider LeaderWise’s Renewing Leadership: A cohort-based group facilitated by certified coaches which includes a 360 assessment and a 1-on-1 coaching session.

Four

Further nurture spirits with The Beatitudes: An Illustrated Curriculum, a highly adaptable, twelve-session, verse-by-verse study of the Beatitudes from the Gospel of Matthew for your entire Sunday school program and the whole family. Also available: The Beatitudes Coloring Posters and The Beatitudes Coloring Pages. AND their Fall Worship Materials are now available:Illustrated Worship Children’s Bundle: Fall 2020; Illustrated Worship Children’s Bulletins: Fall 2020; and/or Bible Story Coloring Pages: Fall 2020.

Five

And if the Beatitudes inspire outreach and hospitality: Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century (Vintage) might open some eyes; Held: Showing up for Each Other’s Mental Health (Skinner) might empower empathy; and Your Hospitality Personality: How to Confidently Create Connection and Community (Revell) might inspire connection-building.

Six

Lest anyone is resting on their laurels, a slough of activist-inspiring books are out, including two from MennoMedia: Who Will Be a Witness?: Igniting Activism for God’s Justice, Love, and Deliverance and Might from the Margins: The Gospel’s Power to Turn the Tables on Injustice and Penguin offers River of Fire: On Becoming an Activist.