Six New Things – Week of May 19, 2025
It’s the end of the world as we know it. This much is true. What must be saved? What can we let go? Do we have the moral will for future flourishing?
ONE
Rev. Cameron Trimble’s, When Sacred Ground Is Treated Like Spoil (Piloting Faith Blog) is essential reading.
Let’s reorient our relationship with soil, water, and air.
- They Poisoned the World: Life and Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals (Penguin Random) puts a spotlight on ‘the chemical industry’s decades-long campaign to hide the dangers of forever chemicals’.
- Truth Demands: A Memoir of Murder, Oil Wars, and the Rise of Climate Justice (North Atlantic) clarifies the decades-long battle for ‘community-owned just transition solutions’ – a battle we must win for the well-being of the planet and human life.
Find more in our Faith Formation: Creation Care – Books and Multi-Media lib guides and see our Great Idea: Moms + Dads + Grandparents = Creation Change Group.
TWO
Trimble’s prophetic witness provides a gut-wrenching reality check to the awfulness of our extractive economy. I am sickened and fearful.
But that is only one story about the future of the planet.
- Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell about the End of the World (Penguin Random), provides a ‘darkly humorous look into the evolution of apocalyptic thought, exploring how film and literature interact with developments in science, politics, and culture, and what factors drive our perennial obsession with the end of the world’.
One such factor is: we are living through the end of the world as we know it.
The question is: What will we do after the end?
- Apocalypse: How Catastrophe Transformed Our World and Can Forge New Futures (Harper), ‘defies conventional wisdom and long-held stories about our deep past to reveal how cataclysmic events are not irrevocable endings, but transformations.’
Find more in our Social Justice: Politics & Social Structure
THREE
WONDER bolsters resilience, deepens climate compassion, and creates courage. Creation longs to be in relationship with us and offers us abundance, spiritual and emotional nurture, and so much more as enticement.
Develop younger reader’s wonder with the ‘amazing animal facts and stunning full-color illustrations’ of, An Immense World: (Young Reader’s Edition) How Animals Sense Earth’s Amazing Secrets (Penguin Random), which is, ‘perfect for curious kids and their families’.
Curious kids will appreciate Oliver’s unique friendship in, Wish in a Tree (Penguin Random), with artwork that reveals ‘things going on in Oliver’s astonishing brain’ in a celebration of ‘out-of-the-box thinking, the power of creativity, and the importance of being proud of the things that set us apart’.
Being in and with nature is especially poignant for kids living on the spectrum [see Nature-Based Interventions for Autistic Children: A Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis (National Library of Medicine)].
Could interacting with and in nature become:
- a regular part of worship?
- central to this summer’s VBS/VCS?
- a regular, daily practice for the staff and members of the congregation?
Bring a group for a facilitated Forest Bath with Wild Path Forest Therapy and let nature restore your soul.
FOUR
Mindfulness and spiritual practices of all sorts are more essential than ever – for everyone – these days.
Sacred Practices: How Ancient Practices Can Restore Modern Minds (Chalice), ‘provides a clear path, drawing from scripture and Christian heritage… [that] equips you with the tools to find rest, grounding, and activation in God’s presence‘.
Avoid casual appropriation of practices such as yoga, tai chi, qigong, and mindfulness meditations, with A Lamp unto Yourself: A Beginner’s Guide to Asian Spiritual Practices, from Advaita and Buddhism to Yoga and Zen (Beacon).
Invite Littles into mindful awareness with Next to Me (Rocky Pond), ‘a joyful and soothing read-aloud bed-time gem about noticing all the wonderful things around you’.
Find more in our Personal Practices, Interreligious Dialogue, and Spiritual Practices: Family, Small Group, & Congregation lib guides.
FIVE
Spiritual practices ground and develop powerful [new?] leaders to move us into God’s preferred future.
Inspire Courage, Every Day (Tillbury), by wondering ‘what exactly is courage?‘ and discovering that ‘young readers can be courageous every single day’. Includes backmatter for parents.
Empower Grads – high school or secondary:
- Moral Ambition: Stop Wasting Your Talent and Start Making a Difference (Little, Brown, & Co.), ‘reveals how our conventional definitions of success are harming us and the planet, and shows how we can shift the focus from personal gain to societal benefit’;
- When We’re in Charge: The Next Generation’s Guide to Leadership (Zando-Crooked), offers ‘a vision for a future where leaders… are compassionate, genuine, and effective’.
Adults might learn from:
- The Afterlife of Malcolm X: An Outcast Turned Icon’s Enduring Impact on America (Simon & Schuster) – which traces his ‘enduring impact on culture, politics, and civil rights’;
- A Frontline Worker’s Manifesto: Lessons Learned in Good Company (Cascade) – which acknowledges burn-out, identifies oppression, and reflects on twenty-five years of sustaining praxis.
[Faith+Lead’s Leading Faith Formation for Children and Youth Training incorporates, ‘practical, theologically grounded’ guidance to ‘develop the core skills and confidence’ volunteer leaders need.]
Find more in our Family Faith: Raising Confident Kids, Graduation & Post-High School, and Leadership: Discernment/Vocation and Young Leaders lib guides.
SIX
May is Heritage Month for numerous groups!
Here are just a few sample lists of great reads to explore diverse histories and heritages, including:
- Haitian Heritage
- Jewish Identity & History
- See also here.
- Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Month:
~~~
It’s a lot – but the world is a lot.
Use what you need. I hope you find inspiration and sustenance in here somewhere.
