‘Sanctuary’ is Coming Out this week. Encourage these new friends by ordering their memoir.

October 7, 2024 by Leave a Comment

Thousands of congregations are moving toward inclusion.
Here’s the inspiring story of how one church met that challenge.

OUR PUBLISHING HOUSE team is pleased to see word spreading nationwide about the inspiring value of this memoir from the folks in Iowa who have worked to build a happy, growing—and inclusive—congregation, even when that goal seemed almost impossible.

The book’s official national launch date was scheduled for this week to coincide with National Coming Out Day, an annual tradition started in 1988 to encourage open conversations about inclusion in communities nationwide.

First, enjoy this 2-minute overview of ‘Sanctuary’

Second, share the good news

No kidding! This is good news worthy of sharing widely across your social media. Sanctuary tells a true story that will encourage many more congregations nationwide to continue the process of welcoming LGBTQ+ neighbors. In August 2024, when the book first appeared in online bookstores for “pre-orders” we published an in-depth look at the authors and their congregation, headlined:

‘Sanctuary’ debuts with a timely success story of a church in the American heartland where people dare to be inclusive

Then, don’t just take our word for it—read this review by journalist Bill Tammeus

Veteran journalist and author Bill Tammeus writes about how timely this new book is the thousands of congregations who are wrestling with this long-overdue change in church culture.

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And finally, get your own copy—and one for a friend.

Click the cover to visit the book’s Amazon page. (The book also is available from Barnes & Noble, Walmart and wherever quality books are sold these days.)

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Dr. David Gushee and Jonathan Grimm discuss via video: When do our faith and conscience compel us to speak out?

September 23, 2024 by

We are streaming this timely Gushee-Grimm video below

Why is this Timely? Because bestselling Christian ethicist Dr. David Gushee is writing about the timeless values of Jesus that call into question a lot of the political claims being made in the 2024 election year. Dr. Gushee began addressing these issues in his late-2023 book, Defending Democracy from its Christian Enemies. Now, he is following up on that book with an overview of what Dr. Gushee describes as Jesus’s “radical” teachings about our moral priorities.

Why is he talking with Jonathan Grimm? Because Jonathan Grimm—as you will learn in the video below—is a former student who credits Dr. Gushee with helping to form his moral conscience many years ago. Now, Grimm is a leading financial expert whose upcoming book, The Future Poor, raises many of the same questions about the fairness of our economic and social systems that are described in Dr. Gushee’s book.

What will I learn if I watch this video? First, you will  hear these two remarkable authors talk about how far Jesus’s original moral message has been distorted in our current era.

In Grimm’s own work nationally—trying to help Americans prepare for their retirement years by helping to form compassionate communities—he has found this same confusion about Jesus’s original teachings that Dr. Gushee identifies in his new book.

In the video, below, Grimm says at one point, “I feel like many Christians have very little familiarity with the actual teachings of Jesus about the moral life.”

Then, as the two discuss these issues, you will find useful—and very “quotable”—insights.

For example, at one point, Jonathan argues that one reason millions of self-identified “Christians” seem to be ignoring some of Jesus’s core teachings.

Dr. Gushee agrees and says that’s because: “We don’t want Jesus to set the agenda for our lives. … He is radical. My book’s subtitle is Radical Instruction in the Will of God—and Jesus is very radical and very challenging—which is the reason that we’d rather focus on the story that Jesus came as a baby and he died on the cross for our sins and he rose from the dead so we can go to heaven when we die.”

Dr. Gushee continues: “Jesus came preaching a Kingdom that has never been fulfilled in human life and cannot be reduced to anybody’s political or ideological agenda, left or right.”

In other words, the video below is something that you’ll likely want to share with friends (just use the social-media sharing buttons with this column) and that you may want to “quote from” in coming weeks.

Here’s one more example of a key exchange:

In Grimm’s research on the looming American retirement crisis, which forms the core of his upcoming book The Future Poor, he found that one reason so many American families are likely to wind up below the poverty level in the future is that our priorities have become so aggressively competitive, focused on individual success.

Dr. Gushee agrees. In the middle of this video, he says:

Ours is a culture that’s about branding oneself—making a name, building a following—all the things one must do to be competitive in the marketplace. But Jesus was remarkably uninterested in any status games whatsoever—and that challenges everybody. We like wealth and ostentatious displays of wealth all across our culture—and Jesus warns against wealth in a way that should make either liberal or conservative wealthy enclaves uncomfortable.

So, please, sit down for a bit with your favorite beverage and listen to these two prophetic authors explore the moral values that Jesus taught as an alternative to the troubled world in which we find ourselves in 2024 …

Care to learn more?

If you have read this far, then you’ll definitely be interested in two of Dr. Gushee’s classics:

Plus, you’ll want to sign up for Jonathan Grimm’s free, newsy updates, which he describes in this week’s Front Edge Publishing column, headlined: Care about your financial future and that of your loved ones?

The Rev. Dr. Ryan Burge, an expert in ‘The Great Dechurching’ of America, closes down his own church

September 8, 2024 by

By JOE GRIMM
Director of the Bias Busters project at MSU School of Journalism

As Ryan Burge tells his story: It wasn’t supposed to go this way!

Want to learn more about those folks who are leaving churches? Click on this cover to visit the book’s Amazon page.

Burge is a nationally recognized expert on why people are leaving church—and he also was supposed to be an expert on what churches could do to bring people back into the fold. That’s the pitch for his new Zondervan book, The Great Dechurching: Who’s Leaving, Why Are They Going, and What Will It Take to Bring Them Back

However, that cultural, social and religious tidal wave was just too powerful for Burge and his small circle of members to save their aging, shrinking congregation knocking around in a big old building that once housed a thriving community.

When Burge announced publicly that he was helping to close down his own church—the news of their dilemma went viral.

In a version of his story that was published by the Utah-based Deseret News—Burge admitted:

I researched the decline of organized religion while having a front-row view of the change in my own life. What’s happened at my own church is especially poignant since in my day job I research trends in American religion. And when I first became a pastor, right out of college, there were ominous signs, but I did not foresee how quickly the end would come, hastened by a pandemic.

Who is Ryan Burge?

One of his online bios explains: “Ryan Burge is an associate professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University, where also serves as the graduate coordinator. He has authored over 30 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters alongside four books about religion and politics in the United States. He written for the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. 60 Minutes has called him, “one of the country’s leading data analysts on religion and politics.”

And here’s another twist in this tale:

There is a lot of good news in this story, despite its ironic conclusion.

On balance, the many years that Burge and these families devoted to their First Baptist Church of Mount Vernon, Illinois, were a powerful, inspirational force in their lives that continues to shape the world.

Bob Smietana, a reporter for Religion News Service, attended Burge’s last sermon and wrote a column titled In Small-Town Illinois, a Little Church Says Goodbye. Smietana reported that the congregation’s embrace of a Brown Bag Program in 2008 had renewed Burge’s faith. Over 15 years, the church’s small number of elderly members packed nearly 55,000 lunches.

Over the years, Burge worked hard at shoring up the congregation. At one point, Burge tried to find a buyer for the church. In 2017, the church was transferred to a Christian school as a last-ditch move to preserve the building’s Christ-centered mission. The deal meant the congregation could continue worshiping there on weekends, but it was no longer their building.

However—transferring the church to the school was never more than a short-term fix. Burge wrote, “every six or eight months, we would lose a key member, then another, then another. That two dozen became 15, then 12, then 10.”

On July 21, 2024, Burge wrote, “I stood behind the pulpit of First Baptist Church for the last time.” He walked out the doors, uncertain what the future holds for him and pessimistic about the future for organized religion.

Pessimistic about religious change?

Well, one place to start lifting your spirits in a practical way is with the Michigan State University School of Journalism Bias Busters book series.

For more than a decade, the guiding force behind this project has been helping Americans understand each other—especially those “others” who somehow seem different than “us.” We do this in our MSU team by “answering questions everybody’s asking but nobody’s answering.” We want our readers not to fear their neighbors.

That includes those millions of “religiously unaffiliated” Americans living all around us—in our families, our places of work, schools and communities.

Burge’s news story “went viral” because of its ironic hook—a nationally known expert seeming to fail in his own area of expertise—but that’s not a complete summary of this story, as Bob Smietana indicated in his reporting. Burge and his friends in Illinois found themselves caught up in a historic tidal wave—which should prompt our curiosity about how those same waters are moving through our communities.

That’s really the message summed up in the little quote from a church member that closes Bob Smietana’s story: “We are not done with each other.”

And, frankly, that’s also a pretty good tagline for our MSU Bias Busters series.

Instead of walking away from our neighbors in fear, anger and exhaustion—our students who produce these books keep rolling up their sleeves each year, ready to explore yet another corner of our communities.

Why do they do this?

Because, in our vision of America: We’re not done with each other.

 

Where can we find St. Nicholas this December? Try the Virginia Theological Seminary

November 20, 2023 by

World’s Largest St. Nicholas Database Is Moving

Virginia Theological Seminary’s exhibit is ready for the December 6 Feast of St. Nicholas …

… followed by a December 17 dedication

By DAVID CRUMM
Editor of ReadTheSpirit Magazine

Because our Front Edge Publishing is based in Michigan, we have enjoyed a bit of home-state pride in Carol Myers’ creation of the world’s largest St. Nicholas database, operating out of her home in Holland, Michigan. So, each year, it’s a ReadTheSpirit tradition to publish a story—well before St. Nicholas Day on December 6—reminding readers to visit the online resources Carol has compiled at the St. Nicholas Center website. Her Center is packed with fun for history buffs, church leaders, teachers, parents—and anyone who wants to learn more about the global impact of the saint behind our pop-culture Santa Claus.

Her Center even shares tasty recipes—and we know that our readers love a good recipe!

This year, we are joining with the Myers—both Carol and also her husband, the best-selling author of psychology textbooks David Myers—as they are celebrating their historic effort to move all of these St. Nicholas resources to a permanent, endowed home at the Virginia Theological Seminary.

St. Nicholas: ‘A Subversive Saint … of Justice’

This is a project as big as the database itself and it contains many moving parts that have been unfolding over the years.

And, first, to reassure our readers who know Carol personally and have interacted with her over the decades: Don’t worry! Carol isn’t leaving her role at the helm of the website immediately. She and the Virginia Theological Seminary team are planning a multi-year transition.

This week, Carol explained some of those moving parts for us. In a Q&A interview about this momentous move, she said:

The partnership with VTS has three parts: 1) the website, 2) the “Who Is St. Nicholas?” Exhibit, and 3) the St. Nicholas Faith & Justice Center.

The Faith & Justice Center is still in the formative stage. The director will be the soon-to-be-appointed Professor of Ethics. St. Nicholas, I always say, is a subversive saint. Folks think he’s about sentimental gift-giving. He’s actually about justice—particularly for the vulnerable and oppressed. His stories and legends relate to contemporary justice issues: human trafficking, hunger, mass incarceration, death penalty, inequality. The center will help form students and others for advocacy, familiarize students with Episcopal Church resources (such as Episcopal Relief & Development, the Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, Episcopal Public Policy Network) and beyond (such as Bread for the World), and take advantage of the seminary’s proximity to our nation’s capital.

The website has grown beyond anything I could have imagined back when it launched in 2002. Each year, I get correspondence from many of the million-plus visitors to our website. People ask all kinds of questions! St. Nicholas experts in Europe tell me my site is where they send people to learn about St. Nicholas. So many artists, writers, photographers, and others have shared their material, making the site as rich as it is.

I would have run out of new ideas years ago. I’ve worked hard to provide appropriate material for people across the Christian spectrum; the site serves Catholics, both Roman and Eastern Rite, Orthodox, Anglicans and other Main-line Protestants, and more conservative Evangelicals, too. It’s been an amazing and rewarding journey.

Finding a ‘middle way’ to bring our world’s people together

I asked Carol why she and David chose Virginia Theological Seminary for this generous, endowed gift and she replied that this was a relationship that had grown over time—and seemed especially fitting because the seminary already has an extensive digital outreach.

Carol said:

Virginia Theological Seminary does, I believe, more with digital formation of this kind than anyone else, anywhere.

We chose VTS also because the Episcopal Church offers a “middle way” that is accessible to Christians across a broad spectrum. That’s important to me as the site’s visitors come from across the whole Christian spectrum. Plus, I’m also an Episcopalian so it is a place that’s “home” to me, too. Most importantly, their warm embrace of this idea was an enormous joy and relief.

I also know these resources are in stable hands. VTS, unlike so many seminaries today, is secure financially, focused on the future, not on survival. It has just completed celebrating its bicentenary with a completely renovated campus, positioned to lead in the future.

The way the Dean and President Ian Markham has embraced St. Nicholas for the seminary is beyond anything I could have ever hoped or dreamed. My St. Nicholas has found a home there that goes way beyond just the website itself. I can’t say enough how significant and wonderful this is.

The exhibit answers the question: ‘Who is St. Nicholas?’

Carol described the exhibit this way:

Our St. Nicholas Exhibit opened at St. James Cathedral, Chicago, in 2008. The museum-quality exhibit was meant to be traveling, though due to size and expense it didn’t travel very much. VTS hosted the traveling exhibit in 2019 to kick-off our partnership for the website. When the exhibit was there, they fell in love with it and decided to find a way to have it permanently installed at the seminary. It is now in the completely renovated Welcome Center.

Dean Ian Markham said, “Unlike a generic Welcome Center found at other graduate schools, this one seeks to reflect the distinctive values of VTS. As one admires the extraordinary exhibits, the guest learns that this is a place focused on the Incarnation. Both exhibits are linked with Christmas. We are a Christmas people trusting that God is made manifest in the babe from Bethlehem.” The Welcome Center also has a creche gallery.

The exhibit, “Who Is St. Nicholas?” tells the St. Nicholas story with text and artifacts from all over the world. It shows him as a saint, introduces his stories and legends, shows how he’s celebrated around the world through faith traditions and folk customs.

It also illustrates Santa’s development. There are hands-on activities for all ages—rubbings, miter-folding and St. Nicholas symbol puzzle pieces for younger visitors. An interactive panel identifies the 32 stories depicted in a large story icon painting. The exhibit is fun, festive and educational for all ages.

Here’s another webpage where your readers can see a few more of the items in the exhibit.

Why did the Myers decide St. Nicholas should make this major move?

Carol said:

When we reach a certain age it’s necessary to make plans for the future. I really wanted the resources that make up St. Nicholas Center to continue to be available for families, churches, and schools.

I’m 80 now and it was important to try to find a home for the site that would give it an ongoing, secure future. The site launched in 2002 and I figured I’d do it through my 60s, not sure I’d want to continue in my 70s. Well, as I was approaching the end of my 70s I knew it wouldn’t be wise to assume that I’d want or be able to keep on in my 80s. That said, I’m not yet ready to give up the site—there’s still so much to do! Recipes to make and photograph, crafts to add, churches to find, code to clean up before handing it over, and more.

December 17 VTS Dedication in Alexandria, Virginia

Finally, Carol explained:

Sunday, December 17, 2023, is the dedication and blessing date—and, yes, David and I will be there along with a number of folks that have been instrumental, helpful, and supportive over the years.

Episcopal Presiding Bishop Michael Curry is giving a lecture on The Way of Love, the Bishop of Virginia, Mark Stevenson, will do the dedication and blessing in the Welcome Center, followed by a service of Lessons and Carols in Immanuel Chapel.

Guest Writer Cindy La Ferle on “Why I Still Love Halloween”

October 29, 2017 by

TODAY, guest writer Cindy LaFerle visits ReadTheSpirit again with a delightful, new, holiday-themed story:

WHY I STILL LOVE HALLOWEEN

By CINDY LaFERLE

From ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties,
And things that go bump in the night,
Good lord, deliver us!
A Scottish saying

Halloween always stirs a delicious caldron of memories.
Baby boomers are a nostalgic bunch, and most of us can recall at least one costume we wore in grade school. Wearing yards of pink tulle and a homemade foil crown, I dressed up as Miss America when I was in the first grade in 1960. And who could forget trick-or-treating in packs until our pillowcases were too heavy to lug around the block?

While the holiday suffered a lull in the 1970s, the “season of the witch” now competes with Christmastime as the biggest party season of the year. And with all due respect to religious groups refusing to celebrate it, I never thought of Halloween as inherently evil.

In fact, I always felt a little sad for one of my son’s grade-school pals, whose born-again Christian parents refused to let him wear a costume, attend Halloween parties, or go trick-or-treating
with the neighborhood kids on Halloween night. While I respected the family’s religious devotion, I disagreed with their conviction that the holiday’s pre-Christian history was a threat to their faith. (I wanted to remind them that Christmas trees and Easter baskets also boasted pre-Christian, pagan origins. But I kept my mouth shut.)

British and Irish historians are also quick to remind us that “All Hallows Eve” did not originate as a gruesome night of devil worship—though I’ll be the first to admit that American retailers, film producers, and merchants who cash in on Halloween are guilty of adding their own mythology—and gore. Regardless, in my view, what most of us seem to enjoy about the holiday is the creativity factor.

Stepping over age limits, Halloween extends an open invitation to play dress-up. It inspires us to raid attics and local thrift shops for the most outlandish outfits we can jumble together. If only for one magical night, it gives us permission to drop the dull disguise of conformity.

For flea-market junkies like me, Halloween is reason enough to hoard pieces of vintage clothing and jewelry that, by all rights, should have been donated to charity ages ago. My husband now refers to our attic as “the clothing museum,” and with good reason. Friends who have trouble rustling up an outfit will often call for help during dress-up emergencies. (“Can I borrow one of your medieval jester hats for a clown costume?” is not an unusual request.)

Over the years, in fact, I’ve collected so many crazy hats that we have to store them in a large steamer trunk behind the living room couch. Those hats get the most wear near Halloween, when even the most reserved engineer who visits will try on a pith helmet or a plumed pirate hat and wear it to the dinner table.

And why not? Historically speaking, the holiday has always been a celebration of the harvest, a madcap prelude to the more dignified ceremonials of Thanksgiving.

Halloween’s deep roots weave back more than 2,000 years to the early Celts of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. It was originally known as the festival of Samhain, according to Caitlin Matthews, a Celtic scholar and author of The Celtic Book of Days (Destiny Books). The festival, she explains, marked the end of the farming season and the beginning of the Celtic new year. Lavish banquet tables were prepared for the ancestors, who were believed to pierce the veil between the living and the dead on the eve of Samhain. It was also time to rekindle the bonfires that would sustain the clans in winter.

“In the Christian era,” Matthews writes, “the festival was reassigned to the Feast of All Saints; however, many of the customs surrounding modern Halloween still concern this ancient understanding of the accessibility of the dead.”

And we can thank our Irish immigrants for the jack-o’-lantern, which reputedly wards off evil spirits. This custom evolved from the old practice of carving out large turnips and squash, then illuminating them with candles. The term jack-o’-lantern was derived from a folk tale involving a crafty Irishman named Jack, who outwitted the Devil.

On cool October nights, when the moon is bright and leaves scatter nervously across the sidewalk, a bittersweet chill runs up and down my spine. I like to recall a favorite quote from Ray Bradbury, whose affection for Halloween surpasses even mine: “If you enjoy living, it is not difficult to keep the sense of mystery and wonder.”

And I think of my beloved Scottish grandparents, who left their exhausted farms in the Orkney Islands to begin new lives in United States in the 1920s. I recall the knee-cracking highland folk dances they taught me, and the silly lyrics to their rural old-country tunes. I remember their hard-won wisdom, and how much I still miss their love.

Like my Celtic ancestors, I’m moved to take stock of my own “harvest”—how much I’ve accomplished throughout the year, and how many things I’ve left undone. My to-do list is yards long. There are parts of the world I haven’t seen; stories I haven’t written; debts and favors to repay. I marvel at the mellow beauty of the season, which has always been my favorite, but also feel a little sad that one more year is drawing to its close.

All said and done, I like to think of Halloween as the big good-bye party we throw for autumn’s final weeks. And a toast to the year ahead. All in good fun.

CARE TO READ MORE?

Cindy La Ferle is a nationally published essayist and author of Writing Home, an award-winning collection of essays. Her writing has been published in The Christian Science Monitor, Catholic Digest, The Detroit Free Press, Michigan BLUE, Reader’s Digest, Victoria, and many other publications. She enjoys posting inspirational quotes with her photography on her blog, “Things that Make Me Happy” Cindy visited ReadTheSpirit earlier with a story about her appreciation for Anne Morrow Lindbergh.

Meet Reasa Currier of the HSUS—a different kind of interfaith activist

July 26, 2015 by

By DAVID CRUMM, ReadTheSpirit Editor

What’s the mission of an interfaith activist?

Often, the vocation involves bridging religious barriers in our communities, combating bigotry, defending human rights, and courageously promoting peace in global hotspots (see InterfaithPeacemakers.com for more).

This week, we’re introducing a different kind of interfaith activist who is crisscrossing the nation on behalf of animals: the Humane Society of the United States’ Reasa Currier. Her title is long: Strategic Initiatives Manager for Faith Outreach, a division of the HSUS.

FAITH & PUBLIC POLICY UNITE

Reasa Currier’s mission is clear: She connects with religious leaders and activists who are motivated by their faith to join in widespread efforts on behalf of animals.

She’s relatively new to the job, yet her potential impact also is clear: In June 2015, Tennessee enacted tougher penalties for animal fighting, a campaign in which the Southern Baptist Convention played a key role thanks to Reasa’s work on behalf of HSUS with Russell Moore, president of the influential Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

“It’s not just a step away from the cruelty and savagery of animal fighting; it is a move away from the exploitation of the poor through expanded gambling,” said Moore, who attended the June 11 signing of the legislation in Tennessee.

The anti-animal-fighting campaign is aimed at more than owners and promoters of animal fights. Reasa reminds faith leaders that this business represents a dangerous lure for poor Americans, often drawing them into ever-deeper cycles of gambling and also bringing their children into the bloody world of animal fighting.

Fighting rings are dangerous environments for vulnerable men and women, Moore and other religious leaders argue. In a public letter endorsing the Tennessee law earlier this spring, Moore warned that a “relationship between animal fighting, gambling and organized crime continues to grow.”

Are you surprised that kids are involved? One Tennessee newspaper featured a photo of a small boy proudly showing off his fighting bird.

Reasa says, “We’ve been involved in opposing dog fighting and cock fighting rings all across the country and we often find that children are present. We’ve found playpens set up near the fighting for small children. We’ve even seen children exchanging money as they gamble on the fights. That’s why we’re focusing on keeping children away—and we also support making it illegal for anyone to attend an animal fight. All too often, police raid a fight and nearly everyone walks away with no consequences.”

Many religious leaders find such a cause is in perfect alignment with their values. (Here is Baptist Press coverage of the Tennessee effort.)

WHY FAITH GROUPS CARE

Animal welfare and creation care may not be high priorities in your congregation—but they could be, Reasa argues. She can show teaching documents that span centuries and, in some cases, millennia.

“Many Americans are aware of the ancient tradition of  compassion toward living things in the Dharmic faiths,” which include Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and Sikh traditions, Reasa says. “But, all of the world’s faiths have some teaching on animal stewardship—so I’m not trying to convince people to accept something new. It’s right there in their religious traditions. A lot of my work is connecting with faith leaders to lift up the teachings that they already have in their communities.”

The majority of Americans are Christians, although they may not often explore their teachings on animal welfare. The Christian connection draws on ancient roots of compassionate stewardship of land and animals in Judaism—a message of care for life that also extends into the other “Abrahamic” faith: Islam.

Many iconic Christian leaders—from St. Francis to the founder of United Methodism John Wesley—were famous for advocating animal welfare. ReadTheSpirit magazine has one of Wesley’s sermons on the topic. During his lifetime, some of Wesley’s harshest critics poked fun at his soft heart for animals and joked that they could spot a Methodist farmer’s barnyard by the kinder ways he treated his animals.

“Christians have a great and ancient history in understanding there is a sacred relationship between the farmer and the land, the land and the community and that includes the welfare of animals,” Reasa says. “There are so many scriptures that speak to this relationship.”

Given this deep consensus, Reasa says, “The easy part of my work is getting endorsements from faith leaders for issues the Humane Society is supporting. Sometimes it only takes a call or an email to tell them about an issue we’re working on—and they’ll want to be part of it. The hard part of my job is building community among the individuals we reach. We need to establish ongoing connections around animal stewardship.”

While Reasa’s work is in the U.S., she points out to religious leaders that efforts on behalf of animals and the environment can build relationships in the burgeoning Southern Hemisphere, where Catholics, Protestants and Muslims all have been experiencing growth. Uniting North and South is a message championed this year by Pope Francis.

REFUSING TO SLIDE INTO DESPAIR

As she travels, Reasa writes and speaks about signs of hope she sees nationwide.

“The news about climate change and the challenges of creation care can quickly turn to conversation about hurricanes and poverty and tragedies—and that can lead to a kind of helplessness,” she says. “The problems can seem to be of such magnitude that it’s just hopeless to try to make a difference as an individual.”

HSUS is well aware of that danger. That’s why the organization promotes lots of individual initiatives like The Humane Backyard, which people can work on wherever they live. Here’s how HSUS describes the idea:

In addition to providing food, water, and cover, a Humane Backyard gives wildlife a safe haven from harmful pesticides and chemicals, free-roaming pets, inhumane practices (such as wildlife trapping), and other dangers in our human-dominated world. Whether you have an apartment balcony, suburban yard, corporate property, place of worship, or community park, you can turn it into a habitat for wildlife, people, and pets.

For her part, Reasa lifts up small but significant examples she spots, while on the road. Recently, she published a column about a seminary that has established a community garden that is changing the way people think about the food they eat.

“I was impressed with their garden,” Reasa says. “They aren’t sinking into helplessness. They are doing something—planting a garden, harvesting vegetables and making a commitment that all their food is sourced in a sustainable and humane manner. They get their meat and dairy from local farms that have high animal-welfare standards. And the vegetables they grow are letting them cut back on the amount of food they’re buying that has to be transported thousands of miles.”

Want to get involved?

Learn about the Faith Outreach division of HSUS.

This week, ReadTheSpirit is publishing several columns packed with ideas you can use with friends. If you found this story about Reasa Currier interesting, then you’ll also want to read our story about the importance of Pope Francis’s campaign on creation care—and you’re sure to enjoy the OurValues series exploring the historic release of a new Dr. Seuss book: What Pet Should I Get?

(Originally published at readthespirit.com, an online magazine covering religion, spirituality, values and interfaith and cross-cultural issues.)

Iona meets Interfaith Peacemakers in John Philip Newell’s ‘Rebirthing of God’

July 3, 2015 by

WE at ReadTheSpirit magazine sometimes overlook great new books, until colleagues reach out to us and urge us to recommend them. Such is the case with John Philip Newell’s new The Rebirthing of God: Christianity’s Struggle for New Beginnings, which was released some months ago.

Of course we can heartily recommend this book! ReadTheSpirit Editor David Crumm and Publisher John Hile have made multiple pilgrimages to the centuries-old Christian community on the island of Iona, which defines John Philip’s life and is a cornerstone of the stories in this slim new volume. And, we have recommended his other books in recent years, including A New Harmony as well as Praying with the Earth.

This new book inspires us especially, because John Philip includes inspirational profiles of men and women who we also celebrate in Interfaith Peacemakers, including Aung San Suu Kyi, Thomas Merton, Mahatma Gandhi and Simone Weil. (If you’ve enjoyed our stories about these heroic saints, then you’ll definitely want to read John Philip’s stories about them in this new book, as well.)

DUNCAN NEWCOMER’S PERSPECTIVE

Long-time contributing writer, scholar and author Duncan Newcomer prompted today’s column, recommending The Rebirthing of God. Last week, Duncan wrote to our home office that he had just used an illustration from the new book in a sermon he preached. Duncan wrote:

I read John Philip’s book and was so astonished that I read it a second time. Then, I outlined the book, because I know I’m going to be discussing it as I travel and speak to groups around the country.

Recently, I told John Philip: “While I will always most highly favor your 2003 book, Shakespeare and the Human Mystery, this new one may be your best in that it has such an intense and clear focus, incredibly condensed and urgent. It’s a unique and remarkable collection of sources and resources all dramatically presented in their essence. What seems most remarkable is that you have collected a cohort of strong, originally and courageously involved people to quote—and you give us cameo images of their lives.”

As I read the book, I thought: Imagine a round-table discussion of all the people we meet in these pages!

JOHN PHILIP NEWELL’S PERSPECTIVE

Then, here’s a page from John Philip’s new book to give you a feeling for his style in these inspirational stories. Many passages are, indeed, about the lives of interfaith heroes. But, again and again, John Philip brings these ideas home to his native Scotland and frequently tells us about experiences on Iona itself. After describing the compassion that defines the life of Aung San Suu Kyi, he writes:

Many years ago when my wife and I were hiking in the Cairngorm Mountains of Scotland we had just reached one of the highest peaks, Sgoran Dubh, when a thick cloud descended on s. It covered the mountain. The mist was so thick that we could barely see our outstretched hands. Climbing in the Cairngorms can be dangerous. Every year hikers die in such circumstances, slipping off precipitous cliffs. Sgoran Dubh can be particularly treacherous because a few yards from its summit there is a sheer drop of over 2,000 feet to the next glen.

We knew where we were and we had a compass and a map. So we took a reading and, one step at a time, followed our readings of the map and compass down the mountain. There were moments when we could barely believe the compass was right. At times our senses were telling us something entirely different. But we knew that we had to place our faith in the compass. In the end we emerged safely from the cloud down the mountainside.

Notice the similarity between the word “compass” and the word “compassion.” They share an etymological root.

The earliest use of the word compass does not, of course, refer to the modern hiking compass as we know it, the one I had in hand as we descended the mountain. The word is first used to refer to the mathematical compass, that simple two-pronged device that many of us remember  using in grade school to measure the distance between two points and to draw arcs and circles.

A compass, then, is used to determine the relationship between two points. The related word compassion is about honoring the relationship between two people or between one group and another, and remembering those who suffer. It is about making the connection between the heart of my being and the heart of yours, and following that connection—just as we followed the compass in descending the mist-covered mountain—even when we are filled with doubts as to whether we are moving in the right direction.

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