Six New Things: Week of October 5

One

Indigenous Peoples’ Day is October 12: change perspectives by engaging more honest narratives about Native Peoples’ experiences with resources suggested by the UUA, including We Are Water Protectors (Roaring Brook), We Are Grateful (Charlesbridge) and Fry Bread: A Native American Story (Roaring Brook); check out The Ministry Lab’s Indigenous Voices lib guide for adult resources.

Two

Rev. Jim Bear Jacobs, leads the first LeaderWise Response for Community Healing Conversations on Race, “Changing Self” (Oct. 5). Jacobs is followed by Rev. Kelly Chatman (Nov. 2) and Rev. Alicia Forde (Dec. 7) speaking on “Changing Community” and “Changing Systems“, respectively. The three-month series is free.

Three

Change the discourse on diversity by encouraging curiosity, compassion and critical thinking with You Can’t Ask That!: 50 Taboo Questions about the Bible, Jesus, and Christianity (Chalice; great youth group or intergenerational conversation prompts!) and/or Jamie & Bubbie: A Book about Peoples’ Pronouns (FreeSpirit).

Feel more equipped to encourage and engage their big questions – and big questions about constant change – with MennoMedia’s Adaptive Church Webinar, Children, Faith, and the Church: Faith Formation with Kids and Families Now and into the Future.

Four

Change the future by uplifting future leaders with Songs for Our Sons (Eerdmans; companion to Dreams for Our Daughters, highlighted last week!); encouraging creation care with 111 Trees (CitizenKid); getting out the vote, bolstered by Brian McLaren‘s The Five Electorates of 2020, Clergy – Please Don’t Be Silent! (but be non-silent wisely and legally!), and see Three Short Sermons on Politics, Democracy, and Voting – for inspiration and to share (accept a freebie!!); and/or joining the Poor Peoples’ Campaign in doing M.O.R.E. (Mobilizing, Organizing, Registering and Educating; every weekend through October).

Five

If the thought of doing more makes you wonder, “How?”, rekindle hope for your finances listening to Faith+Finance’s Church Economics: Remembering Our Mission, to hear stories from a community of innovators who’ll help you re-imagine what’s possible in your context.

Six

And, if the thought of doing more makes you wonder, “How?”, change your own tune through The Center for Action and Contemplation‘s new podcast, Learning How to See, (featuring Brian McLaren, Fr. Richard Rohr and Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis); Shalem Institute‘s Heart Longings: An Invitation to the Contemplative Path – with free info session on Zoom; or the ELCA’s, Ambiguous Loss in the Time of Covid, which offers innovative approaches to care of self and the other.