Six New Things – Week of February 06, 2023

Faith, well-being, and resilience – especially for Black leaders, but for all who look toward a more just future: here is call, wisdom, and sustenance for the pursuit of racial, social, and climate liberation and reconciliation.

ONE

Howard Thurman said, “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.’ Wake up and join the journey: What Makes You Come Alive: A Spiritual Walk with Howard Thurman (Broadleaf).

Affirm young ones who are waking up with Nila’s Perfect Coat (Beaming), a story about ‘having enough and helping others in need’, which includes a downloadable educator’s guide.

TWO

For folx already on the road in need of sustenance and renewal: it’s nearly the one-year anniversary of The Enneagram for Black Liberation: Return to Who You Are Beneath the Armor You Carry (Broadleaf) and In My Grandmother’s House: Black Women, Faith, and the Stories We Inherit (Broadleaf) has just been released in paperback.

THREE

If the journey is taking a toll, Navigating Injustice: A Closer Look at Race, Faith & Mental Health (Springtide Research) explores ‘how religious and racial identities impact mental health for young Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC)’. It’s a ‘rich, reflective guide for creating empowerment, belonging, justice, and hope in… young BIPOC’ in our communities.

Find additional resources on Mindfulness, Compassion, & Healing for Tweens & Teens in our lib guide.

FOUR

Pair it with We Hold Medicine for Each Other – A Conversation about Race (Abundant Community) for an exploration of ‘the dimensions of race, including how the wounds of colonization live on in all of us, how to own your work while compassionately allowing others to do theirs, and the promise that this deeper path can hold for true freedom’.

Find additional resources on Mindfulness & Personal Healing for Adults in our lib guide.

FIVE

For those desirous of a wider lens, consider Jesus, Jubilee, and the Politics of God’s Reign (Eerdmans) or The Revolutionary Gospel: Paul Lehmann and the Direction of Theology Today (Lexington/Fortress Academic).

SIX

Build social action into Lent with Rev. Michael Mulberry’s (UCC) Ash Wednesday to Earth Day resources. Based on Katherine Hayhoe’s Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Call for Hope and Healing in a Divided World (Simon & Schuster; 2022), offerings include Baptism and Communion Liturgies for Lent, Ash Wednesday to Earth Day Action Source Book, and Third Act Working Group Toolkit – all freely downloadable here.

Find additional resources in our Lenten Small Group lib guide; and join us for our Lenten Pop-Up Planning conversation Wednesday, February 8, to  explore balancing tradition and transformation, the ‘old favorites’ with emerging theologies, and how-we’ve-always-done-it with innovative approaches to worship and study this Lent.