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A Time to Ponder Some Powerful Themes

IN OUR COVER STORY, this week, Rabbi Lenore Bohm writes about a challenge millions of families  share as we approach the year-end holidays: How do we rediscover the meaning of these festivals beneath the weight of the holiday industry? Please read her column and share it with friends.

And, Books to Guide Your Reflections

As you read Rabbi Bohm’s column, you will discover that the powerful themes she lifts up are challenges faced by millions of families all year ’round. In this week’s Front Edge Publishing column, Susan Stitt recommends some inspiring books to help guide your reflections. Please, take a moment to check out Susan’s column as well—and share it with friends on social media.

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And, more Holidays & Festivals

 

Rethinking Thanksgiving

Just as Rabbi Bohm explains in our Cover Story this week, rediscovering the roots of our holidays is a huge challenge in the face of America’s holiday industry. In this column, we look at the complicated and often heart-breaking Native American roots of Thanksgiving—and share resources for remembrance and reconnection. Please share this cover story with friends, this week.

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Christmas Is Coming

Sooner Than You Think

OUR HOLIDAYS COLUMNIST Stephanie Fenton writes about the start of the Western Christian Advent season, this year, on November 28. She also includes a link to making a DIY Advent wreath with candles for each Sunday of Advent.

STEPHANIE also reports on the start of the Eastern Orthodox Nativity Fast, the traditional period of preparing for Christmas, which begins even before American Thanksgiving this year.

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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.

THIS WEEK, Ed McNulty also adapted his coverage of the thought-provoking film Sons and Daughters of Thunder for the audience at the Presbyterian Church-USA’s international website, focusing on how the film’s themes of racial justice are directly connected to Presbyterians.

Among Ed’s free reviews and columns:

1. MIDNIGHT MASS—Ed writes, “Director Mike Flanagan’s 7-part horror series is a bloody but fascinating tale of misplaced faith, heroism and sacrifice that provides plenty of food for thought and discussion, even if it fizzles out a bit with the director/writer’s pantheistic view over-riding the Christian faith of the story’s characters. I was intrigued that a Biblical book is used for the name of each episode.”
2. KING RICHARD—Ed gives 5 stars to this film that focuses on the father behind the Williams sisters’ careers in tennis.
3. 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.”
4. BELFAST—”Director/writer Kenneth Branagh joins a long line of filmmakers who find rich treasure in mining their childhood experiences.
5. THE FRENCH DISPATCH—”The director of The Grand Budapest Hotel is back, and with another film even more quirky that serves as an homage to The New Yorker Magazine.”
6. THE HERO—Ed urges fans of the venerable Sam Elliott not to miss this film.
7. NO TIME TO DIE—While Ed is ambivalent about the violence and overall message of the latest Bond thriller, he does heartily recommend that viewers read Benjamin Pratt’s book about Ian Fleming and James Bond. Use this link to read Ed’s review of No Time to Die.
8. SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THUNDER—In recommending this film, Ed writes, “Director Kelly Rundle’s film about the students’ debates in 1834 over slavery at Cincinnati’s Lane Seminary is based on the play by Earlene Hawley and Curtiss Heeter.“
9. FLAG DAY—Ed praises this film in which three members of the Penn family portray the family of a con man.
10. REMINISCE—Ed McNulty writes, “Writer-director Lisa Joy blends film noir with science fiction in this tale set in a near future Miami whose streets are being flooded as climate change causes the ocean to rise. Nick Bannister (Hugh Jackman) is the jaded detective whose specialty is the past.”

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