Six New Things – Week of October 23, 2023
Empowerment: whether following a program and/or lectionary calendar or veering off to address pressing concerns and needs of these days, let these resources build you and yours up in peace, courage, and joy.
ONE
Empower peacemakers:
There’s no escaping the personal, interpersonal, and communal emotions, challenges, and needs generated by recent violence abroad and on American soil. Daneen Akers created a resource kit drawing on peacemakers featured in Holy Troublemakers & Unconventional Saints (WatchFire) and including spiritual/contemplative practices to encourage young ones to develop their own internal peacemaking tools.
Invite adults into peacemaking with Troubling the Water: The Urgent Work of Radical Belonging (Broadleaf), which ‘reminds us that wading into conflict and stirring up truth is the only way to find real healing’.
Find resources particular to the Israel/Palestine conflict in our lib guide.
TWO
Empower people living in marginalized identities:
‘For girls bearing melanin of all kinds, Brown Girls Rule (Beaming) centers and uplifts girls of color in an inspiring poem that is one part love letter, two parts battle anthem.’
Radiant Rebellion: Reclaim Aging, Practice Joy, and Raise a Little Hell (Broadleaf), asks if aging might be ‘something to aspire to rather than dread’ and if we might ‘forge a radiant rebellion against the idea of aging as a season of decline’.
THREE
Empower Indigenous peoples this Indigenous Heritage Month (November):
Discover ‘concrete actions for joining with Indigenous Peoples to …[follow] Jesus …confront climate change and choose life for our children and the future of our planet’ in So We and Our Children May Live: Following Jesus in Confronting the Climate Crisis (Herald).
Support Indigenous artists with holiday gift purchases from – or a larger donation to – Creator’s Place, ‘a place of work and welcome where people can enjoy earning supplemental income, use and improve skills and get support in creating their own business or obtaining full-time employment elsewhere’.
Find additional resources for joining with Indigenous peoples in the work of creation care in our WaterThreads Toolkit.
FOUR
Empower transformational joy:
‘Discover how rooting our beliefs and practices in relationship–with each other, the natural world, and the Source of All Life–leads us to transform ourselves and the world.’ in The Spirituality of Transformation, Joy, and Justice: The Ignition Way for Everyone (Broadleaf).
Empower the whole congregation to discover God in Transformation with practicable, research-based, facilitated tools shared in The Ministry Lab’s November 7 hybrid webinar. Learn more and register here.
FIVE
Empower exploration and wonder:
Encourage children to explore, wonder – and ‘[accept] a bit of mystery [as] part of what it means to have faith’ with What If I Can’t Explain God? (Beaming)
Inform future resources from Illustrated Ministry by completing their 10-minute Youth Ministry Survey – and maybe win a little gift.
SIX
Empower Holy Time observances:
Invite your Littles into the imaginative Lullaby for a King (Beaming): ‘glittering poetry’ and ‘stunning watercolor artwork’ to ‘usher readers into the awe and wonder of the Christmas story’.
Invite Adults into the Ordinary Blessings of the Christmas Season: Prayers, Poems, and Meditations (Broadleaf), a ‘beautiful collection of prayers, poems, and meditations to help us recognize the holy beneath the hustle and liberation of the season’.
We’ll keep updating our Advent & Christmas lib guide with Children’s Books, Devotionals, Intergenerational Activities and more – including our own new Christmas Pageant – ready by November 27 – for small Readers Theaters, all ages, or children and youth and including a full worship outline.
