Six New Things – Week of July 31, 2023
From Littles to leaders – we all need new skills to navigate BIG feelings – stemming from BIG issues. Engage the work and develop hope around BIG topics like religion, race, rest, post-pandemic church, policing, and punitive ‘justice’.
ONE
There is a lot going on in the world – and we all are learning new skills for emotional and spiritual balance and well-being. Help your Littles ‘identify, regulate, and cope’ with BIG feelings – like anger, sadness, jealous, embarrassment, and fear – through drawing, writing, exercising, singing, and breathing – with The Big, Big Feelings Activity Book (Beaming).
Download a free sample pack here.
Find additional resources in our Mindfulness lib guide.
TWO
It’s no wonder big feelings are on the rise in all age groups – there are a lot of big things happening in the world. Gain some perspective – and hope – in A Master Class on Being Human: A Black Christian and a Black Secular Humanist on Religion, Race, and Justice (Beacon) – two eminent Black thinkers (Brad Braxton and Anthony Pine) discussing ‘how to work together to make the world a better place despite deep religious differences’.
Discover additional Interreligious Dialogue resources in our lib guide.
THREE
Leaders looking for new tools to support personal and professional well-being are encouraged to ‘organize their lives to thrive as high-capacity leaders without falling into exhaustion and burnout’ in Don’t Burn Out, Burn Bright: How to Thrive in Ministry for the Long Haul (Baker).
FOUR
Leaders planning mission trips and intergenerational events get a boost with Building Faith’s, Top Picks for Intergenerational Curriculum (find our list here, including our WaterThreads Toolkit for full-congregational engagement) and their ‘Way of Wonder’: A Mission Trip and Pilgrimage Curriculum; a sample lesson is available here.
FIVE
You might follow reading the book with the similarly-themed video series and reflection guides of Restoration Bible Study, which ‘features three church leaders from diverse backgrounds, contexts, and theological lenses’ exploring sabbath, environmental justice, inequities around rest, racial justice, post-pandemic church life, and the tension between tradition and vision’.
SIX
Get more specific in your awareness-building with In Spite of the Consequences: Prison Letters on Exoneration, Abolition, and Freedom (Broadleaf), ‘an incisive critique of our criminal justice system’ and ‘hope for a reimagining of our systems [with] a humanity-affirming model of justice’. The available discussion guide can be found here.
