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Practical Spiritual Advice for Older Men and Women

A Perfect Gift in Multi-Generational Families

EVERY YEAR, our online magazine features a Cover Story interview with Missy Buchanan, the nation’s leading author specializing in bringing spiritual solace to men and women who are in their mid-70s or older. This is her 10th book and we’ve been following her work for more than a decade, now. Yes, she is writing for a very specific niche within the genre of inspirational writing—but please read our Cover Story this week to learn why Missy’s work is regarded as a gift in thousands of multi-generational families nationwide. Then, please, share this story with friends. You may be surprised by how many friends will be glad you shared this story with them. In this Cover Story, we also include links to Missy’s very popular Facebook page as well as to some of her other books that are treasured by her readers.

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FROM OUR WRITERS—

Suzy Farbman

Want a dose of inspiration?

This Global Peacemaker Now Is Spreading Awareness of Visual Disabilities—Including Her Own

Our God-Signs columnist Suzy Farbman talks with global peacemaker Wendi Dwyer, whose specialty for many years included helping to successfully resettle refugees and developing educational programs. Then, her own eyesight began to fail. Did that stop Wendi? No. Now, her advocacy includes spreading awareness of the millions of Americans with visual disabilities, including her own.

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Martin Davis

After Defeat—

How Do We Renew Our Energy for Each New Day?

JOURNALIST MARTIN DAVIS is writing some of the most important columns about the everyday challenges we face in living out our values, strengthening our relationships with others and trying our best to build healthy communities. His latest column appears in the Christian Science Monitor and is headlined: After defeat—Lessons learned coaching high school football

To learn more about Martin’s work—and for news about his upcoming book 30 Days with America’s High School Coaches—please visit his new author’s website, as well. While you’re there, click on the convenient button for Martin’s “Email Sign Up.” That way you’ll get occasional updates about his writing, which is touching readers’ lives nationwide in unique and thoughtful ways.

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Holidays & Festivals

Setting out on ‘Las Posadas’

DECEMBER 16 is the first day of a Hispanic Christian tradition that takes the Christmas story into the streets in a traditional procession depicting Mary and Joseph looking for shelter in Bethlehem. Stephanie Fenton has this story for us—and, yes, she includes links to some tasty recipes and songs appropriate for the occasion.

What is the ‘Christmas Story’?

JOURNALIST BILL TAMMEUS, this week, writes a very thoughtful column that he has headlined: Preparing to Hear the Core Power of the Christmas Story. His column begins: “As Christians move through this season of Advent and its culmination, Christmas, it’s a good time to remember that what gives the Bible its power, its resilience, its hold on the hearts and minds of so many people is not the literal history it may record. Rather, its power comes from the stories it tells and the ways it tells them.”

 

LOOKING FOR GREAT GIFT-GIVING IDEAS? Did you know that Americans are reading, and are shopping for books, now more than ever? In a special Holiday Gift Giving column in our Front Edge Publishing website, Susan Stitt describes six new books that may be a perfect choice for a friend or loved one. AND PLEASE NOTE: This photo and Susan’s column includes Bill Tammeus’s newest book, Love, Loss and Endurance. If you have come to enjoy Bill’s wise and thoughtful writing, you’re sure to enjoy that memoir.

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WANT TO SEE ALL THE UPCOMING HOLIDAYS & FESTIVALS?—It’s easy to find our annual calendar of global observances. Just visit  InterfaithHolidays.com

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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:

• ENCANTO—Ed writes, “This time Disney transports us to the mountains of Columbia where the Madrigal family live in an enchanting village called the Encanto. In a flashback that reflects the experience of thousands of Latinos, a large group of people is fleeing from violent forces that threaten them, among them the Madrigal family.”
• HOUSE OF GUCCI—”Director Ridley Scott’s sprawling film based on the sad history of the glamorous Gucci family and their fashion empire features some over the top performances by a gaggle of A-list actors.”
• THE FORGIVEN—“Roland Joffé and co-writer Michael Ashton take us to South Africa where they focus upon the work of Archbishop Desmond Tutu (Forest Whitaker), President of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission shortly after the demise of apartheid.”
• PASSING—Ed writes, “Actress Rebecca Hall steps behind the camera to co-write and direct this adaptation of Nella Larsen’s 1929 Harlem Renaissance novel about two light-skinned black women able to fool a racist society by passing as white.”
• TED LASSO—In this column, Ed does what he does best: He draws parallels between pop culture and our spiritual traditions. In this case, Ed writes about how the popular TV series Ted Lasso could be enjoyed as a series of illustrations of Jesus’ Beatitudes.
• TICK, TICK … BOOM—Lin-Manuel Miranda directs Steven Levenson’s adaptation of the autobiographical one-man stage show by Rent writer Jonathan Larson.
• FINCH—Ed writes, “If Tom Hanks and a volley ball can hold our attention in Castaway, then how much more will this be so when you replace his buddy ‘Wilson’ with a cute dog named Goodyear and a sentient robot? Be prepared to laugh and cry while watching this dystopian film.”
• KING RICHARD—Ed gives 5 stars to this film that focuses on the father behind the Williams sisters’ careers in tennis.
• CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG—Ed writes, “Based on beloved Scholastic book characters, this new adventure films will be enjoyed by families looking for nonviolent but exciting entertainment.”
• BELFAST—”Director/writer Kenneth Branagh joins a long line of filmmakers who find rich treasure in mining their childhood experiences.

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