Jeffrey Munroe on the power of ‘Telling Stories in the Dark’: ‘When we tell our stories, others find their own healing and hope’

Click on this cover to visit the book’s Amazon page, where it will be available in Kindle, paperback and hardcover after the January 30, 2024, launch date. So, please order now for prompt delivery. The book also is available via Barnes & Noble, Walmart, Bookshop.org and other bookstores nationwide. And there’s even more: Readers also can learn much more about this book—and can download a free discussion guideby visiting the Reformed Journal Books page.

In Recognizing the Harmonies between Our Stories, We May Rediscover God’s Creative Music in Our World

By DAVID CRUMM
Editor of ReadTheSpirit magazine

Healing. Hope.

Don’t those two words sound wondrously powerful? And—don’t those two words seem desperately needed by all of us in our troubled world, today? That’s why I responded so enthusiastically on behalf of our publishing house the moment journalist, author and pastor Jeffrey Munroe proposed his new book to me.

“Telling our stories—that’s where we find healing and hope,” Jeff said to me and instantly I knew I was collaborating with a kindred spirit. Of course, I was already a fan of Jeff’s earlier book-length introduction to the works of our mutual mentor Frederick Buechner, Reading Buechner. I have been a life-long reader of everything Buechner has written and, as a journalist myself, had the opportunity to interview Buechner several times over the decades.

Both Jeff and I credit our mentor with laying out this wisdom about storytelling. Here’s just one of Buechner’s many formulations of this powerful truth:

“My story is important not because it is mine, God knows, but because if I tell it anything like right, the chances are you will recognize that in many ways it is also yours. … It is precisely through these stories in all their particularity, as I have long believed and often said, that God makes himself known to each of us most powerfully and personally.”

This week, our publishing house team is preparing to launch Jeff’s bookTelling Stories in the Dark: Finding healing and hope in sharing our sadness, grief, trauma, and pain. In preparing this news to share with the world, we asked early readers of this book what questions they hope interviewers will ask Jeff as he embarks on a series of public outreach events.

And please stay tuned to our ReadTheSpirit weekly magazine—and to the magazine where Jeff is the Editor, The Reformed Journalfor an ongoing series of news items about the many ways Jeff and his new book will be touching lives around the world in 2024. (By the way: There’s even a “Books” section now in The Reformed Journal’s website for news about this new book and future books we plan to produce with Reformed Journal partners over the next few years.)

Questions Readers Want to Ask Jeffrey Munroe

Jeffrey Munroe with his wife Gretchen in Holland, Michigan. Their mutual story also is a part of this book.

We’re starting our public outreach this week—as we count down to the national release of Jeff’s book on January 30—by asking the questions most folks hoped we would ask him.

Question: How did you come to write Telling Stories in the Dark? What led you to be interested in this topic?

Jeffrey Munroe’s Answer: The pandemic set me on this path. I knew seven people who died in the first year of the COVID pandemic and that made me think: If I know seven people, imagine the multiples of what this means across the general population? How in the world do we even talk about such enormous, widespread loss? I was having trouble reckoning with the loss myself—and I realized we all would need fresh resources, ideas for finding help together.

Also, my book Reading Buechner had launched just a few months before the pandemic hit and I lost opportunities to talk about that book because so many things were cancelled. But, I did find myself talking about the book with people at a church in my hometown—and I mentioned Buechner’s idea of “stewardship of pain”—and a woman asked me if I would talk with her further about that idea. When I began talking with her, I realized that I didn’t have as many answers as she had questions about this. What does it mean to work with our pain in ways that will lead us toward hope and healing? So, that woman’s questions led me to want to know much more about this. And, the fact that she asked me those questions showed me something else: We tend to think about pain or the experience of loss as something that happens to us individually—but talking about these stories opens doors to others.

I kept thinking about that question: What would it mean, after experiencing a loss or trauma, if we took that experience and did something with it that might bring healing to ourselves and to others?

Frederick Buechner flips a parable to explore ‘the stewardship of pain’

Question: How does this new book build on Reading Buechner, your previous book?

Answer: Reading Buechner is not a biography of Frederick Buechner, although I do cover biographical details. He was a prolific memoirist himself, so readers tend to know a lot about his life already, plus there have been academic, critical reflections on his life and work published on several occasions. Instead, I wrote this book for people who may have heard his name and are curious enough to wonder: What should I read? There are so many books out there you could choose—and he was a master of multiple genres, so you could choose novels or memoirs or other kinds of books! So, in Reading Buechner, I took 10 of his 40 books that I consider essentials and helped readers to see why those were good starting points.

If readers are looking for the phrase “the stewardship of pain,” I found it in an essay titled Adolescence and the Stewardship of Pain in the book The Clown in the Belfry. Buechner looks at the parable of the ‘talents’ in Matthew 25 in which Jesus tells about a man going on a journey who gives pieces of his property to be managed by his servants. Usually, in all the sermons I’ve heard about this passage, it’s about how we should manage our resources, our money and property, a pretty literal reading of the parable. But Frederick Buechner totally flips the parable around by asking: What if pain is the thing we’re given in life—and our temptation is to bury that pain and hold it inside of ourselves. The reality is that burying pain doesn’t work. Anything we bury like pain won’t stay buried. So what could it mean if we tried to do something redemptive with that pain?

People are willing to share their stories—if we are prepared to listen

Question: How did you find people to tell their stories in this book?

Answer: That’s the rub here. I did wonder: Are people willing to take the risk of sharing these kinds of stories? I discovered that, yes, people are willing to tell their stories if you ask them—and you are prepared to spend the time to listen carefully.

I’m finding this in discussion groups, too. Even before the book’s launch date, I’ve been able to discuss the book with early readers. I’m hearing some remarkable stories shared in those discussion groups. People are willing to share—even though our culture for many years has told us to hide these kinds of experiences. If we encounter loss and trauma, we’re told by lots of well-meaning people around us that we should just “get over it” as quickly as possible. But it doesn’t work that way. These stories are deep inside of us and can keep affecting us sometimes for many many years.

Instead, when we name our pain and talk about it with others, we find not only healing and hope ourselves—but others can find their own healing and hope. That’s what Frederick Buechner is talking about in that famous quote about telling our stories so others can recognize their own.

An insight shared with the 12 Step movement

Question: And this is an insight that lies at the core of the 12 Step movement, as well. That’s what Bill W discovered and it has helped millions of lives around the world. As recently as November, I was moved by actor Hank Azaria’s tribute in the New York Times to Matthew Perry for taking him to a 12 Step meeting. So, this idea of the transformative power of telling our stories rests on a deep foundation, doesn’t it?

Answer: Even Frederick Buechner once said that the church should look a lot more like an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting than it does.

Question: And, of course in your book, you welcome into each chapter this wide range of experts and scholars to talk about these gripping true stories we’re reading. That makes this book a real page-turner! As each chapter opens, we are immersed in another compelling true story, then in the second half of the chapter, an expert discusses that story with you. I know as I read your book, I began starting each chapter wondering: Will I be able to spot the key moments in the story that the expert will highlight?

Millions of books have been published and it’s possible someone else has used that format, but it seemed unique to me—that chapter-by-chapter pairing of people. How did you come up with that format of matching a different expert with each story?

Answer: I’m proud to say that I thought of that format myself. And part of that idea may have been because I’m a journalist. As journalists, we’re not setting ourselves up as The Expert; our role is to find people to interview who are the real experts.

When I started working on this book, I did try to read as much as I could in these fields of pain, loss and trauma—but I realized that the best use of my skills was to act as a reporter and interview people who know a lot about these issues. So, then, my challenge became: Can I match each person telling their story with someone who has real wisdom and insight into that kind of experience? I think that matching of people in each chapter really is a unique strength of this book.

For people of all ages

Question: Is this book intended solely for people who have gone through tragedy? Who is your target
audience?

Answer: No, this isn’t just for people who have gone through tragedy. This is a book for all of us, because we all will go through some kind of tragedy or a loved one will—even if we have not experienced that already.

Question: I’m thinking of Queen Elizabeth’s comment after the attacks on 9/11: “Grief is the price we pay for love.” Just as Buechner wrote about it, pain is something that happens in life—it’s something we all can expect to receive. And that makes this book appropriate for a very wide age range, doesn’t it? Can’t you imagine how different a discussion among college students might be from a discussion among older adults?

Answer: I’ve already heard that, yes. I shared this with an adult education class at a church and I asked: “Who do you see as the audience for this book?”

One woman said, “It ought to be a text in a senior seminar at every college. This is the kind of thing they should be talking about at that age. It’s equipment they need for living as they walk out into their lives.”

So, yes, I’m already hearing that this can be a good book for many different age groups.

Connecting with Jeffrey Munroe

Question: You mentioned that you’re available to lead discussions about Telling Stories in the Dark. How would someone go about reaching out to you?

Answer: Visit my website, JeffreyMunroe.com, then click on the “Contact” link.

If people visit my book’s page at ReformedJournal.com, they also will find a free Study Guide they can download to help with individual reflection or group discussions.

Ordering your own copy

Question: And where can readers purchase your book?

Answer: The book is available via Amazon, where readers can choose Kindle, paperback or hardcover editions. The book also is available via Barnes & Noble, Walmart, Bookshop.org and other bookstores nationwide.

Greg Garrett amplifies James Baldwin’s prophetic call from ‘Go Tell It on the Mountain’ to ‘The Welcome Table’

Click on this cover to visit the book’s Kindle and paperback page on Amazon.

‘Any Myth that Denies a Person’s Humanity Has to be Excavated and Repented’

By DAVID CRUMM
Editor of ReadTheSpirit magazine

The author and educator Greg Garrett has been teaching the works of James Baldwin for many years in his courses at Baylor—and it took those decades of reflection and dialogue with students before Greg could finally give birth to his newest book, The Gospel According to James Baldwin.

One milestone that helped Greg was a major grant from the Baugh Foundation to study how American media has shaped popular racial attitudes—what Greg calls “racial mythologies.” The foundation’s financial support helped to fuel his wide-ranging research on related issues in the U.S. and around the world.

“Racial mythologies have been deeply embedded in American life, from film to legal codes to theology to popular and material culture,” Greg said at the time the Baugh grant was announced. “Any myth that denies a person her or his humanity has to be excavated, examined and repented. So often, we are unconscious of the degree to which those mythologies are operating and even defining us.”

Another milestone that refreshed Greg’s life-long interest in Baldwin’s life and work was the 2017 acquisition of “30 linear feet” of Baldwin’s papers, manuscripts, notes and artifacts by the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at The New York Public Library.

“This collection at the Schomburg is incredible!” Greg said in our interview about his Baldwin book. “I want to keep learning about—and from—James Baldwin for the rest of my life. So, looking at these manuscripts—especially those about the play, The Welcome Table, that he was working on at the end of his life—allowed me to see how Baldwin kept working on this idea over time. As an Episcopalian, I believe that some relics are holy and, when I was holding a manuscript of The Welcome Table that included the author’s hand-written corrections—well that’s a holy moment, a holy relic.”

“I have to credit the archives with letting me move the closest to Baldwin that I have felt in my life,” Greg said. “And, that was just one of destinations where I got closer to Baldwin. I start and end this new book with descriptions of trips I made to the same Swiss village where Baldwin went at least three times—and I think I’ve uncovered a fourth visit he made later in his life. Walking the same streets in Switzerland that he walked, I felt a deep connection with him—seeing what he saw and looking out across the same valleys he saw as he wrote there.”

‘The Welcome Table’—A Good Reason to Order This Book

Greg ranks the papers concerning The Welcome Table among the greatest treasures in the Baldwin archive. Baldwin still was working on the play when he died in 1987 at age 63. To Garrett’s knowledge, no one has yet secured the rights to produce a version of that nearly finished draft. And, reading Garrett’s book, perhaps someone will feel moved to do so.

To put it simply: That section in Greg’s book about The Welcome Table is a good reason to buy a copy of his new book, even if you have other works by and about Baldwin on your shelf.

This play, in Garrett’s words, “brought together many of his greatest themes” and “would have been a fitting end to a monumental life. … In most of Baldwin’s work, failures to love sacrificially, failures to love with courage, failures to love in the face of whatever others might say about love, doom characters.” Nevertheless, “even in The Welcome Table, where Baldwin was wrestling with his late-life inclinations about the necessity of love and the irrelevance of labels, we find characters trying to live into the importance of love.”

Greg said, “Throughout his life, he loved the Blues, hymns and spirituals and The Welcome Table connects us all the way back to the era of slavery—and the hope that there is a kingdom we all are working toward.”

Acknowledging the Primacy of Love

In the book itself, Greg writes:

Baldwin had been taught early in his life in the church that we are called to love everybody. “Whoever else did not believe this,” he remembers, “I did.” And, thus, to talk about a faith community—about any community—one has to acknowledge the primacy of love, “our endless connection with, and responsibility for, each other.”

To the end of his life, Baldwin spoke of the concept of the Welcome Table, a place where this brotherhood and sisterhood, this kind of love, this kind of unity, might be possible. The concept comes from a spiritual that was also sung in the civil rights era. Its first verse proclaims, “I’m going to sit at the Welcome Table one of these days.” Perhaps just now, I am alone, hungry, sad, lost. But someday, somewhere, there will be a place where I belong. Where I will be seen and known. Where I will be accepted. Where I will be welcome at the feast alongside all my brothers and sisters. One of these days, I’m going to sit at the Welcome Table.

This was an article of faith for Baldwin. If we did not succumb to fear and hatred, if we did not implode from our own divisions, such a thing was attainable.

What Else Is in This New Book?

If you have read this far, you probably are familiar with Baldwin in some way. Perhaps you were assigned to read his books in school—as Professor Garrett does each year with at least one Baldwin book for his classes at Baylor. Perhaps you enjoyed Barry Jenkins’ Oscar-winning 2018 version of Baldwin’s 1974 novel, If Beale Street Could TalkPerhaps you are old enough that, like me, you followed Baldwin’s provocative literary and film criticism as it flowed through major American media during his prime.

So, you may be asking: Do I need another Baldwin book?

This column is arguing: You do. But let’s be clear on what Greg is offering here to both individual readers who want to reflect on faith and race and culture in America—and to small groups who may want to engage in that kind of timely discussion in their communities.

What he is not attempting in this new book is another exhaustive biography of Baldwin. If that’s what you are seeking, I can recommend the three volumes of Baldwin’s own works collected by Library of America, since Baldwin publicly explored his own life and wisdom across his published works. In effect, he wrote his own autobiography. If you want a substantial biography of Baldwin by a scholar, I can recommend David Leemings’ 1994 biography of Baldwin that’s more than twice the length of Greg’s book. Or, you might consider Princeton scholar Eddie S. Glaude Jr.’s 2020 Begin Again, which also is a lot longer than Greg’s book.

What Greg Garrett has accomplished is what I would describe as a very compelling “magazine-style overview” of crucial themes that Baldwin was trying to convey across the decades that we had him with us on the planet. In other words, Greg has given us a book that everyday readers can jump into without a lot of background reading—and glean some very timely insights.

In chapters on Culture, Faith, Race, Justice, Identity and New Beginnings, Garrett takes us through the broad sweep of Baldwin’s wisdom about how the world desperately needs to confront our collective, selfish and destructive biases—if we hope to have any chance at reconciliation. And, as Baldwin always emphasized: That sentence contains a huge “if.”

Baldwin never was certain that we could collectively attain what he yearned was possible.

James Baldwin as a Prophet for Our Times

Greg Garrett is not the first writer to refer to Baldwin as prophetic, but he does argue this case in a fresh and persuasive way in this new book.

“This is something he thought about himself,” Greg said in our interview. “At various points in his life, he wrote that he saw himself as a sort of Jeremiah—and I think that’s a perfect characterization of him. I think of that passage as Jeremiah stands at the temple saying to the people: ‘God will not reward your worship and faithfulness until you treat the marginalized with justice.’

“When we encounter Baldwin today, that’s sort of what it feels like: Being there when a Jeremiah calls out to all of us. And Baldwin’s voice still moves people, if we only listen, if we only read. We are now more than 70 years from Go Tell It on the Mountain and 60 years from The Fire Next Time—and, those books still are read and are moving readers toward the kingdom that Baldwin always was seeking. This is not wisdom lost on a dusty library shelf. This is wisdom people still are encountering today and can wind up living every day of their lives as a result.”

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Care to Read More?

GREG GARRETT is a long-time friend and regular visitor in our weekly online magazine. Two other ReadTheSpirit Cover Stories featuring Greg that you may find relevant to this new book on Baldwin are:

From June 2023, headlined: Greg Garrett’s new novel, ‘Bastille Day,’ asks: Can we find spiritual resilience to face the dangers in our world?

From June 2020: Greg Garrett Helps Us Understand Hollywood’s Role in Systemic Racism

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Not Just Black and White, by scholar Anni Reinking, also is a very helpful book focused on the growing number of mixed-race families trying to navigate racial attitudes. Her book is available in Kindle, paperback and hardcover from Amazon as well as other booksellers.

Reinking has spent years as a researcher, scholar and educator. Her roles as mother and researcher come together in this important book. She shares her family’s life in the hope that these stories will foster learning, discussion and new places for reflection and growth.

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PLUS, thousands of Americans now are using volumes from the nearly two dozen produced by Michigan State University School of Journalism’s long-running Bias Busters series. Among the volumes in this award-winning series—prepared with the oversight of blue-ribbon, national panels of experts and scholars—are:

100 Questions & Answers about African Americans

100 Questions & Answers about Hispanics and Latinos

100 Questions & Answers about Arab Americans

And, of course, many, many more.

 

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Toast New Year 2024 with 10 Resolutions Guaranteed to Light Up This Dark Winter

In 2023, Laura Elizabeth participated in an author event at a winery in her part of the U.S. We thought this photograph from that event was a perfect way to illustrate both the New Year’s spirit—and the bright spirits our authors spark through their books. (Curious about that winery event? Here’s that news story from August.)


In 2024, start reading and you’ll find your spirits lifting!

Consider these 10 Resolutions from our Authors

For our 2024 New Year’s issue of ReadTheSpirit online magazine, we are sharing some New Year’s Resolutions from our nationwide community of authors. We did not have to ask these writers to send us “new” resolutions—because virtually all of our authors hope their books will make our world—and our lives—just a little better. That means—in the pages of their books—they’re offering readers wisdom about everything from finding happiness to peacemaking.

And, you’re right. That natural instinct to help readers makes these authors’ books very valuable. All you have to do is get a copy—and start reading—to find your spirits lifting. AND, as you read the following Resolutions—consider how timely these suggestions are today in 2024, even though some of them were expressed years ago.

If you agree, please share this column with friends this week via social media or email. That simple act of sharing this column might surprise you with the appreciation you’ll receive in response!

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1.) Befriend a stranger.

The Story: In 2023, Laura Elizabeth proved that the heart of a popular cozy mystery is not the crime itself—it’s the circle of friends who come together to help their community get through that crisis. That’s why there’s not a dry eye among Laura’s readers when a little boy named Jacob says in her novel’s final pages: “I don’t usually have a lot of friends, but I really hoped it might be true here.”

The New Year’s Resolution: In 2024, reach out to someone who might otherwise remain a stranger in your workplace or community—and make a new friend.

To read more about Jacob—and the entire creative, lovable circle of friends on Mongin Island, get a copy of Laura’s All Is Now Lost: A cozy mystery rooted in the South Carolina Lowcountry


2.) Look for beauty in our differences.

The Story: For decades, interfaith peacemaker, educator and peace activist Brenda Rosenberg has been building bridges across some of the world’s widest and deepest chasms—including those that often separate Jews, Muslims and Christians.

The New Year’s Resolution: In 2024, pray that our senses will be attuned to look for beauty, not in the sameness of the people and cultures we already know—but in the differences we discover among our new friends.

To read more about how Brenda brings people together across these chasms—and to find Brenda’s entire page-length Prayer for Peace—get a copy of her Reuniting the Children of Abraham.

 


3.) Listen more than we talk.

The story: Throughout his long life as a pastor, counselor, teacher and author, Benjamin Pratt has emphasized that we discover far more when we listen carefully to others, before sharing our own stories. In fact, in his popular Guide for Caregivers, Ben writes an entire chapter titled Talking Honestly; Listening Intently, which includes this sage advice: “The number one attribute and gift of a good listener is not the ear—it is the heart. A good listener has a loving, hospitable heart.”

The New Year’s Resolution: May we listen with an open heart more often than we rush to speak.

To read more about Benjamin Pratt’s inspiring ideas for our nation’s millions of caregivers, get a copy of his Guide for Caregivers, a book full of interactive wisdom for those of us who serve our families and communities each day.


4.) Watch out online this year!

The story: The “Dean of Jewish preachers” Rabbi Jack Riemer has preached scores of “new year” sermons at Rosh Hashanah throughout his long career leading congregations and teaching other Jewish leaders the craft of preaching and creative writing. In one of his most popular New Year’s sermons, Jack reminds people that we all too often abandon our best hospitable instincts when we log into our computers. He offers a prayer that says in part: “May we live as human beings who are created in the image of God, and not as creatures that are made in the image of the machine.” Wow! That’s a pretty insightful prayer, isn’t it?

The Resolution: As Jack himself puts it—in 2024, “may we guard our tongues—and guard our mice!”

To read more about Jack’s best holiday sermons—including the entire prayer for guarding our lives online—get a copy of his Finding God in Unexpected Places: Wisdom for Everyone from the Jewish Tradition.


5.) Try Writing Poetry

The story: Lucille Sider, the clinical psychologist and clergywoman who wrote a memoir about coping with deep-seated trauma, advises readers to turn to poetry to pour out some of our deepest pain, yearning and hope. “After writing a poem, a deep peace settles over me,” she writes.

The Resolution: Write a poem this year. (You may discover you like the feeling, whether anyone reads your poetry or not, and wind up writing many.)

To read more about Lucille’s remarkable resilience in living with trauma and resulting mental illness, get a copy of her memoir Light Shines in the Darkness.


6.) Pay attention to our ‘better angels’

The story: Many of our readers will recognize that phrase as one of Abraham Lincoln’s most enduring words of advice from his first inaugural address. That’s also one of the most powerful phrases stressed in Lincoln-scholar Duncan Newcomer’s book 30 Days with Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln believed that pausing to remember thankfully all that we have received in our lives is one of the surest ways to hear those “better angels” calling.

The Resolution: In 2024, pause before responding to a challenging situation—especially one that involves conflict—and listen carefully to those “better angels” who continue to speak to us, Lincoln said, through “the mystic chords of memory.”

To read more about the relevance of Lincoln’s wisdom for us today, get a copy of Duncan Newcomer’s 30 Days with Abraham Lincoln—and you may want to find inspiration this year with our entire array of “30 Days” books.


7.) Confront racism

The story: There’s no way to avoid racism in America, writes scholar and educator Anni K. Reinking in her memoir. That’s true, even though political leaders in some regions are trying to erase the subject from our public schools and other institutions. In her wise, personal account of navigating racial attitudes, Annie challenges readers to realize that there is no way to avoid these complex issues. So, she wisely asks: Why not make a positive commitment this year to learn more about what each of us can do to overcome racism?

The Resolution: Welcome opportunities to learn about race and racism in America.

To read more about Reinking’s story—and her helpful research about racial attitudes—get a copy of Not Just Black and White.


8.) Share hope with others

The story: Sharing love and hope “is not an option. It’s not a hobby. It’s our purpose here as we walk the earth.” That’s how Howard Brown closes his inspiring memoir, Shining Brightly, which shares true stories about everything from overcoming stage IV cancer—not once, but twice—and finding success as a Silicon Valley entrepreneur as well. “While it may sound like a burden, that call to spread love and happiness turns out to be the key to our own happiness as well,” Howard writes.

The Resolution: Each day, find a way to share hope in a loving way with someone you encounter.

To read more about Howard’s wisdom for resilience in the face of cancer, overcoming the huge challenges of entrepreneurship and building bridges of peace in our world today, visit Howard’s Shining Brightly website. There you’ll find a link to buy his book and—you’ll find links to his weekly podcast that has attracted an audience of thousands around the world.

 


9.) Connect with a congregation

The Story: As surprising as this sounds to many people, a quarter of a century of research around the world shows that connecting with a congregation on a regular basis is a powerful predictor of health and wellbeing. That’s due to four influences explained in the 10th chapter of our book Now What? A Guide to the Gifts and Challenges of Aging. Chapter 10 is simply titled “Connecting with a Congregation” and has turned out to be the most-shared chapter of that book, which was written through the collaborative efforts of more than a dozen experts from around the world.

The Resolution: Connect with a congregation of your choice.

To read more about these remarkable “gifts and challenges,” get a copy of Now What? A Guide to the Gifts and Challenges of AgingOf course, that includes the very popular Chapter 10 and the details on those four influences that make most congregations centers of health and wellbeing.


10.) Remember—We’re ‘Always Arriving’

The story: This final, wise Resolution comes from the late Dr. Cheryl El-Amin, Ph.D., LMSW, who died in 2019. For many years, she and her husband Imam Abdullah El-Amin were two of the most important Muslim leaders based in Detroit. Beyond their beloved Muslim Center congregation in Detroit, the El-Amins both were involved in many interfaith organizations. This year, we also mourned the loss of Imam El-Amin, who followed his wife in death in March 2023. But, to remind us of their tireless commitment to peace, we still have some of Cheryl El-Amin’s wisdom in a collection of inspiring stories published under the title Friendship & Faith.

The Resolution: Never stop doing good work, even when we think we’ve done enough! (Cheryl El-Amin taught from the Quran that God wants us to: “Keep working hard, because … you never really arrive in life. You’re always arriving—G’d willing.”)

To read more about WISDOM’s remarkable collection of true stories about unexpected friendships, get a copy of the group’s book Friendship & Faith, subtitled: The WISDOM of women creating alliances for peace.


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The Top 10 Stories You Told Us You Enjoyed—and Shared with Friends—in 2023

‘You’ve got to read this!’

When readers share our stories with others, we know we’re touching lives far and wide.

AS WE DO ON THE LAST MONDAY OF EACH YEAR, we look back across our previous 51 issues and we highlight 10 stories that really got our readers talking in 2023! Please, enjoy this year’s annual Top 10 list—and remember to keep sharing these inspiring and thought-provoking stories with friends as we move into the New Year 2024. Through such sharing, we increase the hope, wisdom and good news that flows across social media and circles our globe.

(And, if you read to the end, you’ll find a bonus story that you won’t want to miss!)

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Click on any of these images to jump to the original stories.

A Call to Remember the Most Vulnerable

On the first day of 2023, we touched on a major theme of our publishing house: The need to spread awareness and encourage compassion for the most vulnerable families living among us. Author Henry Brinton contributed our New Year’s Day 2023 column, headlined: Marking the Centennial of the Rosewood Massacre: Remembering our past prepares us to build a healthier future

After Henry’s story appeared, we received an ongoing series of emails from readers who appreciated knowing about this important centennial observance. We also heard from a number of pastors who told us they followed up by highlighting the Rosewood centennial for their congregations either in prayers, in sermons or in columns they wrote for their local newsletters. Thanks, Henry, for starting 2023 with this stirring story!

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And a Call to Resilience in Our Challenging World

Our online magazine also is trying to revive awareness of another valuable, historic story—the resilient and hope-filled life of entrepreneur Roger Babson. Largely forgotten in today’s media culture, Roger Babson once had a global following for his newspaper columns, public lectures and books.

The main reason people remember him today is that the college Babson founded continues to rank No. 1 in the U.S. for entrepreneurial education—and because author Howard Brown’s memoir Shining Brightly adds a fresh spotlight on Babson’s truly unique approach to coping with the world’s many problems. In early 2023—shortly after we published the somber story about the legacy of Rosewood—we published this cheery story about Roger Babson, headlined: Try carrying ‘Hope’ with you, each day—Roger Babson built a ‘Good Cheer Library’ on that principle. Many readers enthusiastically shared that story with friends. The late Mr. Babson surely was smiling down on all of us!

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Healing Wisdom of Gustavo Parajón

And speaking of coping with global challenges, in early 2023 we published a new biography, Healing the World—Gustavo Parajón, Public Health and Peacemaking PioneerThe story we published at the launch of this inspiring book began with these words:

In an era when a Russian dictator can declare a war that kills thousands—and when angry political factions around the world routinely touch off deadly violence—millions of us are wondering: Is there a better way to live? Indeed, there is: We can look to the life of Gustavo Parajón (1935-2011), a Nicaraguan doctor and pastor who became so well known around the world for his peacemaking efforts that U2’s Bono once disguised himself so that he could quietly slip into a gathering of people listening to one of Parajón’s talks in the UK.

We were especially proud of the way the production of this book brought together peacemakers from Central America, the U.S. and the United Kingdom—who contributed in various ways to creating and promoting this book.

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Reading the Bible with ‘Fresh’ Eyes

The Rev. George A. Mason’s new book The Word Made Fresh landed in our world with a considerable impact—spurred along by George’s tireless work as a now-semi-retired pastor and full-time writer, teacher, media personality and interfaith peace activist.

This “story” of George’s ongoing work unfolded across more than a dozen feature stories, columns, videos and news items that we published in 2023. Here are several examples of the many ways George’s overall “story” touched our readers’ lives:

Clearly, George’s thought-provoking approach to Good News will continue into 2024. While it is obvious that “the Bible” can divide people—George A. Mason continues to preach that the Bible still can bring people together in life-giving ways.

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Dr. David Gushee Shifting Focus

Our publishing house team is proud of our collective work with a wide range of prophetic peacemakers like Gustavo Parajón and George A. Mason—and like our long-time friend and author Dr. David Gushee. Over the past decade, Dr. Gushee has become the leading Christian scholar arguing for the full inclusion of LGBTQ Christians in churches around the world. Then, in 2023, Gushee shifted his focus slightly to take aim at the rising tide of what often is referred to as “Christian Nationalism.” The “story” of Gushee’s activism extends far beyond our publications. Now, Dr. Gushee’s efforts are regularly featured in columns, podcasts and news stories around the world. Here are two of the stories we published in 2023 about his ongoing work:

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A Different Kind of Community

In 2023, our first cozy mystery author, Laura Elizabeth, showed the world that readers love “cozy mysteries” because these novels often focus on entire communities coming together to help solve crises.

Just read some of the dozens of glowing reviews on Laura’s Amazon page to see how personally readers enjoy becoming part of Laura’s island community: “Laura Elizabeth made every character come alive for me. Can’t wait to visit them again in future books. I loved the bookstore and the delightful smell of the pies,” wrote one 5-star reviewer. In fact, some readers actually visited the real-life island on which Laura’s novel is based. One of them writes, “I started reading this in paperback form while staying at Daufuskie Island, SC, at a BnB. I got drawn in so quickly I needed an electronic copy so I wouldn’t have to put the book down.”

Here are several of the many columns, news items and updates we’ve published about Laura’s world in 2023:

From June: Laura Elizabeth’s first cozy mystery, ‘All Is Now Lost,’ finds hope and home on a famous little island in the Atlantic

From July: As Babson College tells us, Laura Elizabeth’s cozy mystery is about much more than suspenseful fun (Yes, like Howard Brown, Laura is a Babson graduate.)

From September: Come to a beautiful island with Laura Elizabeth’s new cozy mystery, ‘All Is Now Lost’

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And, welcoming another community!

A major news story in November was our  collaboration with the popular online magazine The Reformed Journal in establishing a new Reformed Journal Books imprint.  Our headline on that story aptly captures the theme: Our publishing house welcomes Reformed Journal Books, compassionate Christian voices of resilience and hope

As we broke that news, we reported: “To put it simply: This book and this new imprint represent the collective good work of a host of professionals who truly want to share hopeful stories in these troubling times. This is an exciting group of people to get to know through their upcoming books—and who want to actively engage with groups and congregations nationwide.”

In fact, even though Jeffrey’s book does not officially launch until late January 2024, he already is scheduling public appearances, discussion groups and a whole array of outreach with readers. Thanks to everyone who is sharing this news with friends in an ongoing way!

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Spiritual Renewal in the Natural World

Over the past decade, there’s no author we’ve featured in ReadTheSpirit who inspires more reader sharing than Barbara Mahany. We were pleased to feature her again in 2023 in an interview about her new The Book of Nature: The Astonishing Beauty of God’s First Sacred Text.

Barbara’s latest book is truly “remarkable,” because her aim is nothing short of “bedazzlement”—trying to summon all of our senses to a fresh appreciation of, quite literally, the natural world in our own back yards from gardens, trees and birds to wind, snow, dawn, dusk and the stars at night. Down through the millennia, she explains, great writers and spiritual sages have “read” this “book of nature” as a revelatory gift from God.

Here’s a link to that story, headlined: In ‘The Book of Nature,’ Barbara Mahany bedazzles us with the spiritual wonders in our own back yards.

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Steven Charleston’s Native American perspective on saving our planet

Not long after our publishing house was founded in 2007, we began publishing the voices of Native American leaders. Among those landmarks was the 2009 publication of Warren Petoskey’s memoir, Dancing My Dream. Many readers follow our online magazine to find our ongoing coverage of related issues, including: investigations into the legacy of prison-like “Indian boarding schools,” questions about “land acknowledgment,” and reporting on the ongoing efforts of Native American leaders to help us all preserve our planet.

In 2023, we were honored to welcome Steven Charleston twice into the pages of our online magazine. Here are those two stories, which were shared far and wide by our readers this year:

From August: Native American elder Steven Charleston’s ‘Spirit Wheel’ weaves spirituality from ‘common threads of hope and mercy’

From September: In ‘We Survived the End of the World,’ Native American author Steven Charleston urges readers to become prophets of hope

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And, finally: ‘Excelsior!’

One of the great pleasures as editor of this online magazine each year is that I occasionally collaborate on contributions from writers on stories that touch my own life in powerful ways. That certainly was true in February 2023, when best-selling author and Day1 radio host Peter Wallace sent me his story about Marvel Comics’ Stan Lee.

The story was headlined: ‘Excelsior!’ (Higher!) The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee’s Dream of a New Kind of Christian Comics. Both Peter and I are lifelong fans of comic books and comic strips—which is why one of our publishing house’s gems is a collection of anti-bullying comics we produce, called Bullying Is No Laughing Matter

In the weeks after we published Peter Wallace’s column about Stan Lee, I heard from comic fans nationwide who were surprised that Lee ever considered producing a line of Christian comics.

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BONUS: A delicious story that continues to circle our world

To demonstrate the ongoing positive power of sharing such Good News, we only have to summon the example of a 2020 story written by two of our longtime friends: Martin Davis and Elisa Di Benedetto. The year their story about family traditions involving minestrone soup was first published, it ranked as one of the Top 10 with our readers.

And that story continues to be shared!

Here’s our original version in 2020: Across Thousands of Miles, Friends Still Connect to Feed Our Families and Our World

And here is the version that appeared in The Advance online newspaper on December 23, 2023: Warm Bellies, Warm Hearts, Warm Season

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May we all continue to do good in the New Year 2024!

So, now, please take a moment to share one of these stories with friends.

You’ve just done so?

Then, blessings on you for that simple, powerful mitzvah!

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Give the gift of Faith & Film for the new year, and become a friend of the remarkably prophetic Edward McNulty

MY MENTOR ED McNULTY IN A HISTORIC SUMMER—This is a rare photograph of the prophetic faith-and-film critic, the Rev. Edward McNulty, taken way back in 1964 when he was part of the life-and-death campaign known as Freedom Summer. That summer at the height of the Civil Rights movement, Ed was assigned to work at the Shaw Freedom Center in a tiny town in Mississippi. While in Shaw, one day, someone convinced him to pose for this photo with some of the young friends who attended that center’s educational programs.

Why should you subscribe to Ed’s Visual Parables Journal for 2024?

By DAVID CRUMM
Editor of ReadTheSpirit magazine

Among all the journalists I have known over my half a century of reporting on religious and cultural diversity, the Rev. Edward McNulty holds a record: He is the single least-photographed journalist I have ever known.

That’s appropriate because what Ed wants us to look at is not himself. He wants us to look at the movie screens we all share, these days, and he also wants us to look deeply into the Hebrew and Christian scriptures to discover inspiring and thought-provoking connections.

At this point in his long life as a pastor, peace activist, journalist and author, Ed stands alone as the venerable dean of faith-based film critics. Back in the mid-20th Century, many major denominations had film critics—including the Catholic church. Some of those denominationally based critics had broad influence in that earlier era—but that official role faded in the ’80s, ’90s and now is largely forgotten.

But not Ed. He has been officially anointed and remains the film critic of the Presbyterian Church USA, a still-influential hold-over to that earlier era.

This is a vocation—a true calling—for Ed. In each weekly issue of our ReadTheSpirit magazine, Ed freely gives away faith-and-film reviews of new releases from Hollywood and production houses around the world. He reviews dramas, comedies, musicals, super-hero epics, animated films, bio-pics as well as indie productions, documentaries and sometimes streaming TV series. When he writes, his knowledge of both scriptures and film history is vast.

The one way Ed tries to support his ongoing travels to preview films and continue with his vocation is through selling annual subscriptions to Visual Parables Journal.

Please, right now, if you are a film lover who also cares about the roots of Abrahamic faith traditions, click here to visit Ed’s Visual Parables Journal page in our online magazine and consider subscribing. You’ll enjoy the next 12 issues, each one packed with the latest reviews as well as Ed’s widely used discussion guides for those movies—and you’ll be doing a small part in continuing Ed’s work.

One reason I am writing such an enthusiastic endorsement of Ed’s work is that he is one of my personal mentors—or, in the language of faith, a true guiding saint in my life. At this point, he now has a uniquely influential, inspirational and thought-provoking career in American journalism. I hope that I can continue writing such inspiring and prophetic columns as long as Ed has done—and continues to do.

There are many stories I could summarize here to illustrate my deep respect for Ed.

First, he was baptized by fire in his long-time support for civil rights. In the late 1950s, when he still was an undergraduate at Butler University in Indianapolis, Ed also worked part-time running an after-school program for children at a Presbyterian church. Because he felt moved by his faith to join an early civil rights protest in Indianapolis—aimed at breaking down racial barriers in hiring at a local chain of grocery stores—Ed was punished by church leaders. He was called up on charges in his denomination and was grilled by a Presbyterian panel of white church leaders who did not want their employees publicly siding with the city’s Black residents. You can read his column about that experience here.

Ed survived that psychologically abusive ordeal—ultimately strengthened in his own resolve to support Civil Rights. I admire his courage in 1964 in heading South to serve in the historic Freedom Summer. I was only 9 years old that year, but in my family I read about the courage of those Freedom Summer workers, who risked life and limb to help register Black voters. Today, I am honored to know and work with someone who served in that life-and-death campaign.

In 2014, Ed marked the 50th anniversary of that historic Freedom Summer with a column denouncing the movie Mississippi Burning, because of that film’s diminishment of local Black leaders’ courageous role in the civil rights movement. In that column, Ed shared some of his own experiences in Mississippi—and he agreed to publish the rare 1964 photograph I am sharing (above) today.

To this day, I am astonished at his courage—more than 1,000 people were arrested that summer, 80 of the volunteers were beaten and, most infamously, some were murdered. I also admire and take courage myself from Ed’s stories about that summer, including one of singing civil rights anthems in a small crowd led by Pete Seeger in a little church so hot that everyone’s shirts hung from their shoulders, soaked with sweat. He wrote a bit about that experience when Pete died at age 94.

That’s why my personal appeal, as the founding Editor of this online magazine and publishing house, is: Please, consider supporting the ongoing work of this remarkably prophetic journalist by subscribing to Visual Parables Journal.

Click the cover to visit the book’s Amazon page.

If you care to read more, the book we publish with Ed is also a great choice for holiday gift giving: Jesus Christ—Movie Staravailable from Amazon.

What’s in that book?

You’ll find complete discussion guides, including tips on selecting short film clips to show to your group, on 12 films. Some are straight-forward depictions of Jesus: The Gospel According to St. Matthew, Jesus, The Miracle Maker, The Visual Bible: The Gospel of John, The Passion of the Christ, Son of God, and Jesus Christ Superstar. Some feature inspiring and thought-provoking stories that have made many moviegoers think of Jesus’s life, including: Jesus of Montreal, Cool Hand Luke, Bagdad Café, Broadway Danny Rose and Babette’s Feast. In addition, the book has shorter overviews of dozens other Jesus-themed movies.

Please, whatever your faith tradition may be—consider meeting Ed McNulty through his Visual Parables Journal or through Jesus Christ—Movie Star.

Make that a New Year’s Resolution for 2024 to kick-start your own engagement with peace and justice—through faith and film in our world today.

Consider the Courage of Celebrating Hanukkah with Jewish Families This Year

(Photo used with permission.)

With a worldwide rise in antisemitism,
the Hanukkah lights can become community affirmations

THIS WEEK, WE ARE WELCOMING TEN OF OUR MANY JEWISH WRITERSwho are sharing personal reflections on celebrating Hanukkah in 2023.

Of course, Jewish families know that Hanukkah is a relatively minor festival each year, heightened across the U.S. because of its proximity with Christmas. “It’s not the Jewish Christmas,” Jews tell non-Jewish friends each December. “Hanukkah is a celebration of religious freedom.”

And that’s why, this year, many non-Jews are adding—in the face of a horrifying rise in hate crimes: “Community affirmations of our Jewish neighbors are important, especially as we begin to see the lights of Hanukkah appear in windows.”

Since our founding in 2007, our publishing house has been proud to produce books with men and women from many different faith traditions, including two dozen Jewish writers. Over the past week, 10 of those Jewish writers sent us personal notes about the deep resonance of Hanukkah this year. Please, read this cover story and share it with friends as a way to spread a little peace and hope and affirmation of our religious diversity, this week. If you want to take a further step, we have added links to these authors’ books. Consider expressing your own affirmation of our religious diversity by giving a friend or loved one a book by one of these authors—or by purchasing one of their books for your own enjoyment.

Note: Spellings vary as writers refer to the holiday.

Rabbi Jack Riemer

Where is the miracle in the Hanukkah story? That the Jewish people have held onto the Hanukkah story for 2,100 years, transmitting it from generation to generation, in one country after another, when they had so many opportunities to abandon it; when they were offered both the carrot and the stick, rewards if they gave it up and threats if they did not; that the Jewish people held onto this holiday for 2,100 years—that is the miracle. And that we still have it now, that we are right now about to transmit it to the next generation, to those who will come after us—that is the miracle.

It is a miracle that more 20 centuries after the Hanukkah story happened, we are still here, still telling the tale, still transmitting it to a new generation which, in turn and with God’s help, will tell the tale to those who will come after them. Therefore, let us celebrate Hanukkah together this year, with a whole and a happy heart.

Rabbi Jack Riemer often is referred to as a “dean of preachers” among Jewish clergy, because he has taught and mentored so many of his colleagues. You can enjoy his most memorable holiday messages in his book, Finding God in Unexpected Places: Wisdom for Everyone from the Jewish TraditionHis newest book is Duets on Psalms.


Lynne Golodner

I agree that publicizing the miracle aspect of Hanukkah is even more important this year. In response to the catastrophic rise in antisemitism, especially since the Oct. 7th attack on Israel, I have pulled my Jewish star necklaces out of my jewelry box and started wearing them again. I’ve also gotten more involved in my synagogue and Jewish community. I believe the best way to combat senseless Jew-hatred is to be the proudest Jewish person I can be, publicly and privately—to infuse my life with Jewish practice and ritual.

And I am even more committed than ever to my author brand, which focuses on creating compelling Jewish characters. I’ve always lit a bunch of menorahs in the window every night of Hanukkah, and this year will be no different. What is different is that being Jewish is incredibly special, handed down over generations, a long legacy of prioritizing life, celebration and love. I am very proud to be Jewish!

Lynne Golodner is a leading journalist, author and educator who coaches other writers and creative professionals. Learn more at her website LynneGolodner.com—and enjoy an example of her “compelling Jewish characters” in her new novel, Woman of ValorAmong her many books is an exploration of interfaith food traditions in The Flavors of Faith: Holy Breads.


Rabbi Lenore Bohm

In my decades of celebrating Chanukah, I have never felt such a great need to see and relish the glowing lights of the Chanukah menorah. With deep longing, I seek to be reminded that we can create light in darkness and that we can increase light over time by lighting one additional candle for each of Chanukah’s eight nights.

It will certainly be a more solemn Chanukah celebration this year for many in the Jewish community. We remain shattered by the events of October 7 and anguished by violence that continues in and around our beloved Israel. We give thanks for the released hostages and pray that each one remaining in captivity will be reunited with family and friends before or during Chanukah. May Israel know true peace and security and may the Palestinian people gain freedom to choose worthy leaders who prioritize their people’s flourishing.

Rabbi Lenore Bohm is known as a pioneering Jewish leader, among the first women to be ordained. Today, she says, “I am thrilled that now there are over 1,500 women rabbis including almost 50 ordained under Orthodox auspices.” She also is known as a Jewish educator, including her book, Torah Tutor: A Contemporary Torah Study Guide.


Rabbi Joseph Krakoff

In the Chanukah story, a small group of individuals known as the Maccabees rose up to resist the Greek culture that was forcefully imposed on the Jews by Antiochus Epiphanes during the 2nd century BCE. While some Jews willingly assimilated so they could more comfortably co-exist within the majority culture, a battle was waged by Jewish traditionalists to preserve the beautiful rituals and distinctive traditions that were the heart and soul of Jewish living. At the crux of the Chanukah narrative is the lesson that defending the right to practice Judaism freely and proudly is at the core of our ability to survive as a people. The eight-day holiday encourages and empowers each of us to do everything in our power to celebrate our differences while affirming the joy associated with being uniquely Jewish.

In this time of overwhelming challenge and struggle against growing antisemitism and the evil perpetuated on October 7 and every day since, we need to even more vigorously support and defend the Jewish right to practice freely in this country, in Israel and across the globe. May the brilliant lights of the Hanukkah menorah, this year more than ever before, remind us of our human responsibility to bring increased light into the world especially during our darkest days and when we all need to see and feel it the most.

Rabbi Joseph H. Krakoff is CEO of the Jewish Hospice and Chaplaincy Network. He also is co-creator of Never Long Enough, a unique book about the end of life, along with artist Dr. Michelle Y. Sider. This “picture book” invites families to reflect on the milestones of life either before or after the death of a loved one.


Howard Brown

We are not alone. That’s the affirmation that runs throughout Jewish history and is a key part of the Hanukkah story that has been preserved and handed down to us through the millennia. This also is a central truth understood by survivors around the world—certainly by survivors of stage IV cancer like me as well as survivors of traumas in so many forms, especially now.

We are not alone.

As a lifelong volunteer in Jewish leadership, I have never seen our community so alarmed by the hundreds of antisemitic threats documented by law-enforcement officials—and the thousands more that pass without such official notice in communities across the U.S. and around the world. The alarming rise in antisemitism makes us especially aware and thankful for friends, neighbors and co-workers who express their support. As Jewish families set out our candles this year—and shine our light into the darkness of this world—it takes courage and commitment as we affirm religious freedom for all. Perhaps, this year, you can encourage a friend or neighbor by reminding them:

We are not alone.

Howard Brown is a two-time stage IV cancer survivor, an early Silicon Valley entrepreneur and an active interfaith peacemaker. Visit ShiningBrightly.comto join the thousands of listeners to his weekly podcast. And order a copy of his memoir, Shining Brightlyfor friends who may need a bit of inspiration in this holiday season.


Suzy Farbman

Lighting candles on Chanukah is a way to celebrate and express gratitude for my ancestors and for 3,000-plus years of Judaism. With the amount of antisemitism currently being demonstrated worldwide, observing Chanukah this year is also a personal expression of solidarity for Jewish people everywhere.

Suzy Farbman is a nationally known journalist who is one of the most popular columnists in ReadTheSpirit magazine. She shares the inspiring and often funny story of her successful battle with cancer in GodSignsand celebrates her love of the fine arts in Detroit’s Cass Corridor and Beyond: Adventures of an Art Collector.


Bobbie Lewis

For me, Chanukah has a more poignant meaning this year, because the original Chanukah marked the victory of the Jews in Judea (an area that later came to be called Palestine) to be free from domination by the larger surrounding culture (the Assyrian Greeks). And so it is today. Israel is battling for the right to exist as a Jewish state—the only one in the world.

Bobbie Lewis—a past president of WISDOM and contributor to the Friendship & Faith collection (with a piece about Chanukah!)—is a retired public relations professional and a contributing writer for the Detroit Jewish News.


Joe Lewis

When I was young (in England) Chanukah wasn’t an orgy of presents to compete with Christmas. Instead, we kids would pay a visit to aunts and uncles and get a few coins as “Chanukah gelt”—Chanukah cash. Coins represent the independence of a sovereign nation, and the Maccabees minted their own currency, so coins are a reminder of our people’s independence long ago and—since the establishment of the State of Israel—the recovery of that independence.

Do today’s children know what coins are, I wonder? My schoolmates and I used to discuss the superiority of the twelve-penny shilling, so easy to divide by 2, 3, 4 and 6, over currency of other countries; we’d collect pennies from bygone kings and queens, every coin a history lesson; and a sixpenny bit or a threepenny bit in the hand conjured images of a spree at the sweet shop (candy store).

Joe Lewis is Bobbie Lewis’s husband and, among his many professional pursuits, taught generations of non-Hebrew-speaking men and women to enjoy a deeper participation in Jewish rituals, like the Passover seder, through his Singlish adaptations that he created and published. We thank Joe especially for his many years of support for our interfaith community of writers.


Rabbi Bob Alper

Our festival of lights comes at a time when we feel enveloped by the darkness of fear and overwhelming sadness. This year’s celebration of Chanukah reminds me of Rilke’s words: Even in the worst of times would you not still then have your childhood, that precious, kingly possession, that treasure house of memories? Turn your attention thither. Try to raise the submerged sensations of that ample past.”

And so, for eight nights, as we light our menorah, for a few sweet moments I will once again be little Bobby Alper, standing in the dining room of our home at 89 University Avenue in Providence, our faded Chanukah banner hung across the door and warm orange candle wax dripping on my hand. For a few moments I’ll return to that chamber of happy expectation.

For a few precious moments.

Rabbi Bob Alper is the only practicing rabbi who tours nationally as a standup comic, famous for organizing interfaith comedy revues. You can enjoy more of Bob Alper’s wit and wisdom in his memoirs, Life Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This and Thanks. I Needed That.


Brenda Rosenberg

Celebrating Hanukkah, the Jewish festival commemorating the recovery of Jerusalem by the Maccabees (a group of Jewish rebel warriors) and the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem is always a bittersweet time for me. My brother died on the first night of Hanukkah, 2020. My mother died on the last night of Hanukkah,1968. This year it will be even more emotionally challenging. October 7 in Israel was the most brutal attack on Jews since the Holocaust has left me shaken and fearful to be a Jew in America.

As I light the candles on the family menorah, the same Menorah I lit as a child, I will be praying for another miracle, a miracle of replacing hate with hope, and to creating healing. I pray my efforts with my friends from multiple backgrounds, religions and ethnic groups will bring a new level of understanding, to move from the ghosts and shadows from the past and heal our traumas, working together to create a new and viable future together.

Brenda Rosenberg is a peace activist and educator after a long career in retail marketing. Ironically, she is the creator of the original “Santa Bear” that swept the nation in the 1980s. Her commitment to interfaith peacemaking includes books, such as Reuniting the Children of Abraham and Harnessing the Power of Tension.

In 1955, Brenda Rosenberg (right) watches along with her brother Sanford Allen Cohen as their mother Belle Cohen lights the family menorah in their Detroit home.

 

Two good deeds in one: Please, give the gift of reading this holiday season.

Support Our Community of Authors while Shining Your Light in Our World

WHETHER YOU CELEBRATE HANUKKAH or CHRISTMAS—we know you’re looking for gifts for family and friends. This year, please consider a “double gift.” By that we mean: Giving “our books” not only will light up the lives of your loved ones, as they read, but your purchases also will help support our community of writers, whose creative energies flow through these books.

A Cozy Mystery that Celebrates Community

Since her cozy mystery debuted in September, Laura Elizabeth has been experiencing a community of love and creativity with her readers. In a series of public events this fall, readers have welcomed Laura with hospitality gifts, including—at one deliciously creative book event—cookies individually decorated with themes related to the famous island in her novel.

How can a cozy mystery spark such creative affection? As you can read in more depth in this earlier column, millions of Americans enjoy cozies for their focus on ordinary men and women coming together to solve mysteries that threaten the peace and safety of their hometowns. Yes, these are crime novels, but these tales are told in a way that invites readers to meet a circle of memorable friends.

In Laura’s case, that welcoming “hometown” is the real-life, historic Daufuskie Island off the Atlantic coast of South Carolina. In a news story published by Laura’s alma matter, Babson College, readers learned that Laura’s love of Daufuskie involves more than her fondness for a lovely island. As the Babson news story explains: “She would like her readers to fall in love with this island, visit the real Daufuskie and help in the overall effort to keep the island community alive and well.”

But don’t simply take our word for it that her novel is a “great read.” Laura already has 20 reviews on her novel’s Amazon book page that collectively average a glowing 4.2 out of 5 stars.

One reviewer writes: It’s a “great little mystery that keeps you engaged and wanting to know more about such a magical place.”

Another reviewer says: “When I read the opening pages, I was suddenly standing outside of Books & Brew, a new bookshop on the island. And with that—an ocean breeze and a bookshop on a lazy, laid-back island—I was hooked. The inspiration for this fictional island comes from the author’s many visits to Daufuskie Island, off the coast of South Carolina. I’ve heard of it and seen the signs for the ferry on my visits to Hilton Head, but never made it across the water to visit. Now I finally have, thanks to this Book No. 1 in Laura Elizabeth’s new mystery series.”

So, considering ordering Laura Elizabeth’s novel from Amazon in paperback or hardcover, right now.


Lessons in Resiliency that are More Timely than Ever

Click on these delicious cookies made to look like the cover of Howard Brown’s Shining Brightly to visit the book’s Amazon page.

There’s something very “tasty” about our newer books! We say that because Laura Elizabeth is not alone in discovering cookie-shaped representations of her book. Howard Brown also connected with a fan who created book-cover cookies to celebrate his inspiring memoir, Shining BrightlyWe shared that delicious story earlier.

But this book has an even more substantial set of lessons to share—especially as we approach Hanukkah, the festival of lights and religious freedom. Right now, readers around the world are discovering the very timely appeal of Howard’s book as war in the Middle East is driving the level of hate crimes—especially antisemitic crimes—to an all-time high. Howard’s role as a Jewish peacemaker—and as a veteran in grassroots organizing to build healthy interfaith relationships—is a practical model for all of us, whatever our faith may be.

In fact, his book comes with links to download free guides for individual reflection and group discussion on “Interfaith Bridge Building: Why do this work?” and “Mentorship: Why should we become mentors?” Given the level of violence and the rising tide of hate crimes against Jews as well as Arabs and Muslims, community leaders are searching for fresh resources to spark community conversations.

Of course, as our regular readers know: Rediscovering our resilience comes in many forms. Howard also is internationally known as a two-time stage IV cancer survivor so his memoir is a burst of bright light for any friend or family member facing those fears right now.

Once again, don’t simply take our word for it! Since his book was published, Howard has been welcoming what he calls “raving fans” who express their enthusiasm by sending him photographs of themselves holding the book that has inspired them. Here’s an earlier story we published about that.

So, please consider ordering Shining Brightly from Amazon in paperback or hardcover, right now.


Click on this photo of George A. Mason enjoying ‘The Word Made Fresh’ to visit the book’s Walmart page.

A Year of Inspirational Reading

When a Child is born—a ray of hope flickers across the sky.” So begins one of the first chapters in George A. Mason’s inspiring new The Word Made Fresh: Preaching God’s Love for Every Bodyavailable in paperback and hardcover from Barnes & Noble, Walmart, Amazon and other retailers as well.

For the world’s more than 2 billion Christians, each “year” begins not in January but with Advent, the season of Christmas—so it is appropriate that one of the Rev. George A. Mason’s most memorable Christmas Eve sermons appears in the opening pages of this collection.

For three decades, Mason’s weekly messages have inspired those who attend Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, as well as George’s followers nationwide. Now, this unique multimedia book collects 80 of George’s most memorable and thought-provoking sermons along with links to videos of many of them. This collection covers timely themes ranging from the welcoming love of God and the basics of the Christian faith to such vital issues as the stewardship of our planet, the importance of interfaith relationships, the need to include the most vulnerable in our community life, and the importance of peacemaking.

Greg Garrett, another best-selling Christian author, writes in his preface, “George Mason is one of the Christian world’s most accomplished preachers and pastors. A writer, teacher, activist, and media figure, during thirty-plus years as senior pastor at Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, he modeled a Christian love of and advocacy for the marginalized, the disdained, the set aside, that feels absolutely like the Jesus I know, love, and serve.”

Care to learn more? In June, we published this story about the many friends of George A. Mason who contributed to organizing and publishing this book.

So, please consider ordering The Word Made Fresh: Preaching God’s Love for Every Body in paperback or hardcover, right now.


Welcoming a Saint into our Midst

That’s what it feels like to read the story of the courageous Dr. Gustavo Parajón, whose life story is told in Healing the World.

We often refer to the global reach of our community of authors—and their inspiring books. That’s certainly true of Healing the World. Confirmation of that worldwide impact came earlier this year when we received a salute from the esteemed 160-year-old Church Times in London.

We have known—since co-authors Daniel Buttry and Dámaris Albuquerque approached us about this project—that a major biography of international peacemaker and public-health pioneer Gustavo Parajón would bring much-needed good news in our troubled world.

“This long-awaited biography charts his achievements … and has real value in bringing his life of selfless dedication to public notice,” the Rev. Malcolm Doney wrote in his Church Times review of the book. Downey is well known in the UK as an author and a contributor to BBC Radio 2’s Pause for Thought and Radio 4’s Something Understood. He also has been involved in helping with the Greenbelt Festival, where Parajón spoke. In his review, Doney noted: “Parajón’s enhanced international profile brought visits from celebrities such as the singers Kris Kristoffersen, Bruce Cockburn, and Bono. Former-President Carter came, too. Parajón became a popular speaker at the Greenbelt Festival.”

In a world ravaged by crises, this inspiring biography of Nicaraguan public health pioneer and peacemaker Gustavo Parajón encourages readers to courageously reach out to the world’s neediest people. From his family, Parajón inherited a deep Christian faith that made him a fearless example of how to navigate dangerous conflicts and public health crises. Gustavo described his mission as simply following the example of Jesus, but he did so in a unique, tireless and effective way.

Care to learn more? We published this story about the many friends of Gustavo Parajón who contributed to organizing and publishing this book.

So, finally, please consider ordering Healing the World in paperback or hardcover, right now.