Benjamin Pratt is our 1st guide …

… IN THIS WEEK’S SPIRITUAL JOURNEY

COVER STORY—At ReadTheSpirit magazine, since our founding in 2007, we have asked writers of various faiths to describe for us the experience of traveling through their holy seasons. This week, our longtime columnist and author Benjamin Pratt invites us on a journey through Christian Holy Week—including a visit with the famous Holy Twins. Along the way, whatever your faith, he lays spiritual breadcrumbs that follow ancient practices on a journey of restoration and transformation. (And, to our Orthodox friends in the eastern branches of Christianity: We know your calendar places Holy Week in the final days of April this year. May this column be an inspiring preview for you.) Please, enjoy Benjamin Pratt’s column and share it with friends.

.

Doug Yunker Invites us to …

… Explore Tastes and Mysteries of Holy Week

WHAT DO ‘CORN SCHOOL,’ ‘The Jesus Cabinet of Curiosities’ and a rich Ecuadorian bean soup have in common? They’re all part of the Holy Week journey Doug Yunker invites us to take with him, complete with photos—and, yes, recipes, too!

.

Luncille Sider Reminds Us …

… of the Freedom of Forgiveness

HOLY WEEK is a call to spiritual reflection for millions of Christians around the world. Much like the Jewish call during the High Holy Days, Holy Week calls Christians to reflect on our relationships with God and with other people. This moving column about forgiveness by author Lucille Sider relates to the larger story she tells in her book, Light Shines in the Darkness.

.

Stephanie Fenton Describes …

… the joy (and adaptations) of Easter 2021

OUR HOLIDAYS & FESTIVALS columnist Stephanie Fenton reports on Easter 2021, including the ongoing pandemic restrictions. This year, most families will have the option of streaming masses and services again this year—or, as many churches have begun holding “parking lot” services, gathering outdoors in a socially distant environment. And, as she always does, Stephanie adds helpful links to Easter recipes, DIY crafts and even kid-friendly activities.

.

Continuing to Wish Jewish Friends …

… an inspiring Passover

LAST WEEK IN ReadTheSpirit, we devoted our Cover Story to Passover, which began March 27 this year with the first seders. Passover runs through most of this week, so we continue to wish our Jewish friends around the world an inspiring season. This story celebrates the Jewish authors who are part of our publishing house—and highlights the Passover themes of freedom, diversity and compassion.

.

Concerned about tragic violence?

We are, as well, and recommend …

MINDY CORPORON is one of the wisest and most compassionate voices we know in the national conversation about reducing hate crimes and gun violence. That’s why we’re just weeks away from officially launching her helpful new book, Healing a Shattered Soul: My Faithful Journey of Courageous Kindness after the Grief of Domestic Terrorism. In this timely new book, Mindy Corporon invites readers to join her search for inspiration and hope after domestic terrorism took the lives of her father and son. With a wealth of compassion and professional expertise, Mindy’s vocation now focuses on reaching out to audiences around the world, encouraging people to overcome life’s challenges, one day at a time. This week, because such violence continues to erupt nationwide, we are sharing this video dialogue between Mindy Corporon and the Kansas City Star staff about how to respond to such tragic news—transforming our horror and anger in positive directions.

.

.

Faith & Film

ED McNULTY, for decades, has published reviews, magazine articles and books exploring connections between faith and film. Most of his work is freely published. Ed supports his work by selling the Visual Parables Journal, a monthly magazine packed with discussion guides to films. This resource is used coast-to-coast by individuals who love the movies and by educators, clergy and small-group leaders.

Among Ed’s free reviews and columns:

1. CRIP CAMP—Ed writes, “Directors Nicole Newnham and Jim LeBrecht have given us an inspiring stand up and cheer film about outsiders knocking and kicking at the door of society until at last it is opened.”
2. THE SOUND OF METAL—”Deserving of its Best Picture Oscar nomination, this is an immersive film centering on a musician going deaf.”
3. DOLLY PARTON: HERE I AM—”You don’t have to be a Dolly Parton fan to appreciate Francis Whately’s heart-felt documentary about the singer/song writer. The music alone should make it enjoyable, and the comments of a stage full of friends and admirers will add to your knowledge of the singer.” Related to this documentary film, which is streaming on Netflix right now, Ed also recommends a book about Dolly Parton. Here is his review of Unlikely Angel by Lydia Hamesseley.
4. THE DIG—“Director Simon Stone and writer Moira Buffini’s adaptation of John Preston’s fact-based novel deals with classism as well as archaeological excavation, friendship, and romance. Beautifully photographed, it could serve well as family entertainment in that one of the characters is a winsome boy eager to explore the world and who finds a substitute father in the main male character.”
5. MANGROVE—”Americans have Aaron Sorkin’s social justice film The Trial of the Chicago 7 and now our British cousins have Steve McQueen’s masterful Mangrove, the true story of The Mangrove Nine. Just as Selma led to the passage of major voting legislation by exposing the depth and violence of racism, so the trial of West African-Brits brought about similar exposure and passage of anti-racist legislation in the UK.” The film is streaming now for free on Amazon Prime in the Small Axe series of films.
6. VIA AMAZON: SEE THE ENTIRE ‘SMALL AXE’ SERIES—Ed also reviews and recommends other films in Steve McQueen’s series of films, which are clustered under the series title Small Axe on Amazon Prime. After Mangrove, Ed’s other Small Axe reviews are Lovers Rock, Red, White and Blue, Alex Wheatle and Education.
7. COME BEFORE WINTER—”There have been numerous films about the martyred German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, but Kevin Ekvall’s  2017 docudrama gives us an unusual take on him by pairing his story with that of a British team commissioned to broadcast anti-Hitler views and false stories to deceive the enemy.” The film also is streaming on Amazon.
8. BOOGIE—”Director/writer Eddie Huang comes up with a new twist for a basketball film—a Chinese-American player. Alfred ‘Boogie’ Chin (Taylor Takahashi) is the player living in Queens, New York.”
9. BOBBY JO: UNDER THE INFLUENCE—This is a thrilling documentary, well produced by Brent L. Jones, his wife Donna, and a skilled team of local cinematographers. It’s about the real-life hero Bobby Jo Reed, who moved from homeless to helper of hundreds.
10. BLACK EARTH RISING—”NetflixWriter/director Hugo Blick’s suspenseful eight-part political thriller is set in the aftermath of the horrible Rwandan genocide of the 90s.“

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.