‘I hope readers who generously pick up this book will see themselves in my stories.’
FOR OUR COVER STORY THIS WEEK, we welcome back author Lynne Golodner, who has been a colleague of our publishing house since our founding in 2007. Lynne is a multi-talented author, writing coach and marketing expert. She also runs her own hybrid publishing house, which produced Forest Walk on a Friday, her new collection of personal essays. We’re pleased to share this news, because this a book that mirrors many of the themes that we know resonate with our readers.
In keeping with the spirit of her book, we asked Lynne to write a personal column to introduce her new Forest Walk on a Friday. If you find it inspiring, please share that column with friends using the easy-to-click social-media sharing buttons you’ll find on that page. That’s an easy way to spread more good news in our often troubled world, this week.
.
.
From our writers—
Celebrating Howard Brown surpassing 300,000 downloads of his Shining Brightly podcast
In December 2024, we reported that Howard Brown—a nationally known advocate for cancer patients—was himself in the midst of a life-and-death struggle with an aggressive form of leukemia. That’s why we’re celebrating with Howard and his family in this January 2025 Front Edge Publishing column—reporting that he is starting this new year with the most popular weekly podcast produced by any of the writers we have published over the past two decades.
.
Jeffrey Munroe on cherishing ‘Sacred Moments’
AS WE APPROACH THE 1-YEAR ANNIVERSARY of the launch of the Reformed Journal Editor Jeffrey Munroe’s Telling Stories in the Dark—Jeffrey writes this wise, heartfelt column about the sacred nature of sharing such stories with others.
.
U.S. officially corrects the record on the Tulsa Race Massacre
AFTER MORE THAN A CENTURY, federal investigators finally have released an in-depth report forever reframing the history Americans can accurately tell about the tragedy of letting racism run completely out of control. That’s what happened on a massive scale in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the summer of 1921. In this story, Editor David Crumm explains how to find and read this new official report—and how to understand its historic context in American life.
.
.
Holidays & Festivals
On World Religion Day, Baha’is encourage appreciation of other faiths
HOLIDAYS & FESTIVALS EXPERT Stephanie Fenton begins her coverage, this week, with a story about this annual Baha’I festival that promotes peaceful interfaith relationships.
.
Ethiopia’s colorful festival of Timkat
WHILE MOST OF THE CHRISTIAN WORLD already has celebrated the annual festival of Jesus’s baptism, Ethiopia’s ancient Christian church follows a different calendar—so those colorful umbrellas and festive processions that herald that annual Christian holiday are coming this week. Stephanie Fenton has the story about the festival the Ethiopians call Timkat—one of the rare times each year when global TV-news cameras shine a light on good news from that region of Africa.
..
WANT TO SEE ALL OF THE UPCOMING HOLIDAYS & FESTIVALS? It’s easy to find our annual calendar of global observances. Just remember the web address: InterfaithHolidays.com
.
Faith & Film
Highlighting good films you might miss otherwise.
Our online magazine has specialized for many years in covering news about religious and cultural diversity as reflected in new books, holidays & festivals and films. In 2024, our long-time Faith & Film columnist Edward McNulty died and we mourned his passing. As we start 2025, we will be publishing occasional columns in this space contributed by our many writers—as well as links to some of Ed’s past reviews as those films become timely again. This week, we are publishing a movie recommendation by Gail Brookshire, who was involved in the production of George A. Mason’s 2023 book, The Word Made Fresh.
Here’s an indie documentary worth seeking out
LEAP OF FAITH—Gail encourages all of us who care about bridging the chasms in American culture to learn more about the documentary Leap of Faith—no, not that old 1992 comedy by Steve Martin. This is a relative new, indie film by Nicholas Ma and Morgan Neville and it’s well worth the effort to find—or to schedule—a showing.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.