‘Love should be the Guiding Principle’

COVER STORY: Americans are experiencing more trauma after three years of the pandemic than ever before and that means our communities—and, in particular, our congregations within those communities—are facing challenges that many religious leaders are not equipped to meet.

And now the good news: There’s help out there. And more is coming! This week, our Cover Story is an interview with Charles Kiser and Elaine A. Heath about their new book, Trauma-Informed Evangelism: Cultivating Communities of Wounded Healers. Think of this new book as a manifesto, a well-stocked toolbox and a seminar-series all packed neatly between the covers of a book.

IF YOU FIND THIS ARTICLE HELPFUL, please share it with friends and colleagues via social media and email.
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From our authors

Suzy Farbman—

Remembering Some of Detroit’s Most Amazing Women

THIS WEEK, SUZY FARBMAN devotes her GodSigns column to remembering some of the amazing Detroit women who she has known—and has covered as a lifelong journalist.

David Gushee—

‘A Dangerous War of Reaction’

CHRISTIAN ETHICIST Dr. David Gushee writes to his worldwide audience about the dangers of right-wing “Christian” extremism in his latest column for the Baptist News Global wire service.

Dr. Gushee is an internationally respected educator, scholar and Christian ethicist. Care to learn more about how he teaches about this complex and very timely subject? Get a copy of his Introducing Christian Ethics from Amazon, a multimedia book that offers text, audio and video of Dr. Gushee’s talks.

Howard Brown—

Go Babson!

No. 1 for 30 years!

PARDON OUR CHEERING, this week, but we had to take a moment to stand up and cheer along with author and resiliency coach Howard Brown as his alma mater, Babson College, hit the 30-year mark of No. 1 rankings as a center for entrepreneurial education. Babson stories are among the highlights in Howard’s memoir, Shining Brightly. This is a purely good-news story that’s fun to read and share with friends..

Holidays & Festivals

Cinco de Mayo

Celebrating Mexican Culture

HOLIDAYS & FESTIVALS columnist Stephanie Fenton reports this week on the upcoming festival of Cinco de Mayo. She explains the historical milestone that touched off the American custom of celebrating May 5 each year—and she shares links to delicious Cinco de Mayo recipes!

Vesak

Celebrating the Buddha

STEPHANIE FENTON also reports, this week, about the global celebration of the Buddha, known as Vesak or Visakha Puja or Wesak as spellings vary around the world.
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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

Click on this image to learn about the latest issue of Visual Parables Journal, which includes reviews and discussion guides for many current films.

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.

Here are some of Ed’s most recent free reviews and columns:

BILL W—(Streaming) Ed writes, “This is a respectful portrait of the man whose work saved millions of lives, but not a whitewash of his faults.”
HIS ONLY SON—(In theaters)”Writer/director David Helling tackles one of the most difficult stories in his first feature film, the Genesis story of God’s command to Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac.”
THE BLUE CAFTAN—(In theaters) “Moroccan writer-director Maryam Touzani handles as difficult a question for Muslims in his new film as it is for Christians—the love between members of the same sex that their culture condemns.”
AIR—(In theaters) “In director Ben Afleck’s fifth film, the race is a heated one—a commercial race between three sneaker shoe companies: Converse, Adidas, and Nike.”
LET ME HAVE MY SON—(In theaters) “Writer/director Cristobal Kruson’s newest film is a fictionalized story of his own spiritual journey that centers on his son’s descent into mental illness.”
ON A WING AND A PRAYER—(Streaming on Amazon) “Sean McNamara’s film is based on a true story in which a seasoned pilot of a private twin-engined plane suffers a fatal heart attack.”
THE LOST KING—(In theaters) “That truth is sometimes more bizarre than fiction is well demonstrated in Director Stephen Frears latest film, a historical detective story.”
OPERATION MINCEMEAT—(Streaming on Netflix) “For those of us who missed 1956’s The Man Who Never Was, Netflix’s current film will introduce us to one of the great deceptions of WWII.”