Six New Things – Week of March 17, 2025

Maybe it’s the impending Triduum, but lots of things are appearing in ‘threes’. Maybe it’s also that so many of us need connection, meaningful action, and courage. Whatever the reason, here are 2×3 New Things.

ONE

Center kid’s lived experience around climate change – and empower them as leaders without putting the weight of the world on their shoulders – with three takes on The Tide Is Rising:

Find further messages of ‘radical empowerment, devotion, and active hope’ in our Creation Care and EcoAnxiety Toolkit: Worship & Prayer lib guides.

TWO

Further empower kids in climate care with Creation Care Mini Camp, ‘created specifically for youth…around confirmation age‘, kids discuss creation and creation care, celebrate God’s love and care in creating all things, and discover that, ‘they have a purpose, a place, and the power to make the world better’.

Support mental and emotional well-being with Grief Camp for Kids, which acknowledges that ‘grieving can be a lonely, confusing, and overwhelming experience’, especially for children. This 3-day camp will, ‘engage the senses, inspire creativity and imagination, incorporate movement, and create space for stories to unfold organically’.

Both are from Sparkhouse and are available only via their digital subscription.

Find more in our Camps, Retreat, Summer, & VBC, and our Grief & Trauma: Children & Families

THREE

Support adults in supporting anxious or grieving children and one another with Appreciate These Things: Ways of Cultivating Compassion (WJK), an invitation to, ‘preserve our sense of well-being and inject a little more kindness into daily interactions’.

Similarly, Your Brain on Altruism: The Power of Connection and Community During Times of Crisis (University of California), ‘delves into …the sociology and psychology of altruism’ to reveal ‘how acts of kindness during crises – such as COVID-19, natural disasters, and wars – inspire people to set aside differences and help one another’.

In the same vein, How to Love Better: The Path to Deeper Connection through Growth, Kindness, and Compassion (Penguin), ‘offers a blueprint for deepening your compassion, kindness, and gratitude so you can truly… build stronger connections in all your relationships’.

Find more on cultivating kindness and connection in our Mindfulness, Conflict/Division & Reconciliation, and Faith, Love, Compassion, & Forgiveness lib guides.

FOUR

To get a better handle on the opposite end of the kindness spectrum, read Careless People – A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism (Flatiron), ‘a front-row seat to Facebook, the decisions that have shaped world events in recent decades, and the people who made them’.

And if that gets you fired up to do something to counter power, greed, and lost idealism, thank the UCC for their trifecta:

  • Getting to the Root of It
    • monthly dialogue with experts who unpack complex justice issues, (for example: when our checks and balances break down) and what we can do about it
  • Countering Project 2025 with Love
    • watch the webinar recording, outlining how the Trump Administration is implementing the Project 2025 Agenda and how we can build a comprehensive, faith-based response
  • Building Up a New World: Congregational Organizing for Transformative Impact (Pilgrim)
    • What if every local church became a hub of justice-making in its community?
    • What if Protestant congregations united in a leader-full movement of movements making a transformative impact in every sector of society?
    • What if these weren’t pie-in-the-sky dreams, but possible visions of a new reality?
    • This 6-week curriculum, based on the book, has everything you’ll need to engage the book as an individual or congregation
    • Our Open Up! Great Idea has additional ways congregations can become part of the Anti-Project 2025 movement.

For more, see our Social Justice: Social Media/Tech and Anti-Project 2025 and Visions of Hope guides in The Web.

FIVE

If folx are wondering why the church isn’t about making them comfortable, right now, share Life in Three Dimensions: How Curiosity, Exploration, and Experience Make a Fuller, Better Life (Penguin), which wonders, ‘For many people, a good life is a stable life, a comfortable life that follows a well-trodden path… But is a happy life, or even a meaningful life, the only path to a good life?’

Inspire Littles to a life of curiosity and adventure with two Easter options:

  • Peg Gets Crackin’ (Beaming): Littles will resonate with the antics of this spirited chick as she conquers her fears;
  • Peg Gets Plucky (Beaming): the hilarious, adorable chick will inspire any kid wondering if they can see their adventure through.

Find more for adults and kids in our Meaning & True Self, Hope & Resilience, Healthy Boundaries and our Lent & Easter with Children & Families lib guides.

SIX

And finally, one more for Easter (which makes three!):

Invite Littles into curiosity about growing throughout our lives – and find a powerful Easter read – with Papilio (Viking), which is, ‘told in three parts’ – by three friends (each taking a part of the book), includes back matter about butterflies, and shares an ‘expressive character who exudes all of the emotions that accompany life’s big firsts and the experiences that help us to discover our inner strength’.

Find more in our Holy Week & Easter lib guide.