We’re Sparking Creativity from Childhood through Old Age

Our Peacemakers Also Guide Us in Coping with Tragedy and Loss

THIS YEAR AS YOU SHOP FOR LOVED ONES, please consider some of the very timely books produced by our authors. In this Cover Story, Front Edge Publishing’s Susan Stitt describes a half dozen of these books. They are inspiring and several of them are packed with great ideas for families to explore in the new year. And, please, help all of our authors by sharing this story with friends on email and social media.

From Our Writers

Suzy Farbman

Hard-earned Lessons from a Couple Who Survived a Tough Battle with COVID

Our God-Signs columnist returns to our magazine this week with the inspiring story of famous Indianapolis restaurateur Steve Huse and his months-long odyssey with COVID. Despite more than 100 days in a hospital, much of that time on a ventilator, Steve survived—then had to relearn basic life skills such as how to walk again. Through it all, his wife Lila rallied family and friends to boost Steve’s spirits. Now, Lila shares some of the lessons her family learned in helping to bring Steve through his life-and-death struggle.

Mindy Corporon

How Can We Helpfully Respond after a School Shooting?

MINDY CORPORON is a nationally known advocate for the thousands of families affected by tragedies each year—drawing on hard-earned wisdom she has gathered after a terrorist attack struck her family. Now, Mindy’s life’s work has become a multi-faceted effort to share spiritual solace as well as very practical ideas for coping with trauma and loss. Her podcasts and programs already have helped men, women and young people nationwide. So, this week, when a 15-year-old gunman unleashed a shooting rampage inside a Michigan high school, Mindy immediately responded with examples of the many practical ways neighbors can respond. Please, read this timely column in our We Are Caregivers section and share it with friends.

Bill Tammeus

In the Mysteriously Inspiring Flint Hills

JOURNALIST Bill Tammeus takes us this week to the Flint Hills. If you’ve never heard of this awe-inspiring stretch of America, here’s just one line from Bill’s column: “The plains, the Flint Hills, the prairie—these, too, are active mystery, fresh every minute.” Enjoy!

Holidays & Festivals

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

ON MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, the man behind our beloved Santa Claus stories—St. Nicholas or Sinterklas or San Nicola—will be celebrated by Christians around the world. Our Holidays & Festivals columnist Stephanie Fenton reports on this festival, which a growing number of American Christian families are celebrating as a religious antidote to the commercialization of the Christmas holiday.

STEPHANIE ALSO REPORTS ON the start of the Western Christian Advent season, this year, on November 28. She includes a link to making a DIY Advent wreath with candles for each Sunday of Advent.

AND, she reports as well on the start of the Eastern Orthodox Nativity Fast, the traditional period of preparing for Christmas, which began even before American Thanksgiving this year.

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

Click on this photo to read Ed McNulty’s review of “Passing.”

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:

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.”
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.”
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.
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.”
THE HERO—Ed urges fans of the venerable Sam Elliott not to miss this film.