Outreach to our imprisoned neighbors is central to our religious traditions

COVER STORY: Author Tina Welling does not represent any particular religious tradition, but she has spent years demonstrating the spiritual power of writing—specifically writing in journals—to unlock souls who feel trapped within a maze of trauma, addictions and violence.

Many of our Read The Spirit readers, in recent years, have expressed their concern with America’s crisis of “mass incarceration.” We imprison more people than any other country in the world and make little effort to figure out how these millions of men and women can find a healthy way to reintegrate into our communities, when they are released. Tina’s grassroots program to address that problem sprang from her own long experience as a writer—and is a wonderful example of what is possible in outreach to our imprisoned neighbors. Please, read this Cover Story and share it with friends via social medial, email or in your congregation’s small groups to spark discussion.

Want one more good reason to read this story? Because, toward the end, we describe a workbook that Tina provides within her book—a very helpful resource that can inspire anyone to get started with journaling.

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Remembrance of Things Past—

From the journals of Benjamin Pratt

IF YOU’RE THINKING ABOUT JOURNALING, you’ll definitely enjoy the journal entry sent to us this week by Benjamin Pratt, the author of many books and a popular columnist for our online magazine. Here’s the story we are unfolding for you: Above, we have just shared a Cover Story with Tina Welling, who has developed life-changing “journaling” workshops with inmates. And, below, we are sharing Howard Brown’s story of honoring a friend who died last year by planting trees. In this part of our “triptych of memory” is Benjamin Pratt’s story about a pilgrimage with friends back to the campus where they met.

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Remembering while Planting the Future

Here’s another bright idea for building healthy communities

HOWARD BROWN IS ALWAYS SHARING GREAT IDEAS. This week, he writes: “I live every day as an affirmation of my own resilience—something I take very seriously after two near-fatal bouts with cancer—and as an opportunity to give back gratefully to my community and our larger world. There are lots and lots of ways you can do this from simply mowing the lawn of a neighbor who’s having trouble getting around—to organizing larger efforts with friends.” Please enjoy this column—and a mini-gallery of photos—about the Greening of Detroit. It’s such an inspiring idea that you’ll want to share this one with friends.

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Holidays & Festivals

Happy Halloween!

And Allhallowtide, Samhain, Dia de los Muertos

Holidays columnist Stephanie Fenton writes, “From Samhain to Mexico’s Day of the Dead, world cultures celebrate the belief that at this time of year, the veil between this world and the next is particularly thin and ancestors are held close.”

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LOOKING AHEAD TO NEXT WEEK, Stephanie reports: “Deeply rooted in a centuries-old Gaelic and Irish seasonal festival known as Samhain, ‘Halloween’ is considered by many to be the only time of year that spirits can roam the earth. From Samhain to Mexico’s Day of the Dead, world cultures celebrate the belief that at this time of year, the veil between this world and the next is particularly thin and ancestors are held close.”

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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

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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.

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

• THE STORIED LIFE OF AJ FIKRY—“Based on a New York Times best seller, the book’s author Gabrielle Zevin also wrote the screenplay.”
• TÁR—Director Todd Field’s latest film, acclaimed by many as “a masterpiece,” filled with a vast knowledge of classical music and those who compose and conduct it!
• BROS—(Streaming on Amazon) “Directed by Nicholas Stoller and written by Nicholas Stoller and Billy Eichner, Bros is the first gay romantic comedy from a major studio featuring an entirely LGBTQ principal cast to be released widely.”
• TILL—”The story of Emmett Till and his mother Mamie Till Bradley, though it unfolded 67 years ago, is still urgent because the hate-filled racism that poisoned his murderers is undergoing a resurgence in our nation today.”
• THEN, BACKGROUND—As context for seeing the new movie Till, which currently is only in theaters, Ed recommends that movie goers watch this 2003 documentary about his murder, which is streaming now on PBS. If you are interested in films about the Civil Rights movement, Ed also recommends you reach back to 1996 and watch Ghosts of Mississippi, which can be rented for streaming on Amazon.
• FANNIE LOU HAMER’S AMERICA—(Streaming on Amazon) “There have been numerous films on Fannie Lou Hamer, but what makes director Joy Elaine Davenport’s film different is that a major part of it is the civil rights icon telling her own story.”
• BECOMING HARRIET BEECHER STOWE—”This is a welcome documentary on a woman who prior to the Civil War might be called the most famous female in America—Southerners would change that to infamous.”
• RINGS OF POWER—(Streaming on Amazon) This week, Amazon posted the final part of its epic series The Rings of Power. Ed McNulty writes, “Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne have set out to perform a nearly impossible task—to sort out and stitch together a coherent story from Tolkien’s pre-Lord of the Rings era, and to please the die hard fans of Peter Jackson’s masterful adaptations.”
• THE RAILWAY CHILDREN—(Streaming on Amazon) “Director Morgan Matthews’ remake of E. Nesbit’s 1905 classic children’s novel and the 1970 film based on it updates the plot from Edwardian times to  1944 when the Brits are evacuating their children from their cities to save them from Nazi bombing.”
• CATHERINE CALLED BIRDIE—(Streaming on Amazon) “Director-writer-producer Lena Dunham  adroitly captures the spirit of the Newberry-winning children’s novel by Karen Cushman.”

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