Building resilience

In last week’s email I asked you how you are finding hope, courage, and strength right now. Thanks to those of you who wrote me; your responses were honest and moving. Here are some of the key phrases from the replies, which perhaps can provide ideas for anyone looking for a little inspiration or grounding: prayer, meditation, mutual support groups, poetry, music, gardening, writing letters, raking leaves.

We each draw encouragement and hope from where we can. Three new Voices columns this week suggest three interesting directions to consider: the past, change, and silence. Debie Thomas reflects on the blessing—and the brokenness—of her heritage. Brian Bantum suggests some shifts in our perspectives on time and change. Isaac Villegas learns from his Quaker friends about the spiritual power of silence.

In our video of the week, Caroline Langston discusses the role of faith (and a beloved novel) in her own grief journey. Plus scroll down for even more great content, like an interview with science writer Zeeya Merali about physicists’ attempt to create something from nothing.

Ancestral blessings

“I am grateful to stand in a stream of faithfulness that goes back centuries.”

by Debie Thomas

Stretched between life’s verses

“I think this is what is scary about any future: we simply don’t know, and it flies toward us anyway.”

by Brian Bantum

VIDEO: Faith, The Hours, and the twinning of life and death

Writer Caroline Langston chats with Jon about her moving CC essay (read it here if you missed it) on incarnation and hope.

In the Lectionary for November 24 (Reign of Christ B)

What does it mean to have Christ as a king?

by T. Denise Anderson

Reign of Christ B archives

Divine silence

“For the Society of Friends, worship is a habit that attunes people’s lives to the nature of God—the one whose being is beyond categories, whose eternal life defies words. In their stillness, they learn the holy communication of God’s silent presence.”

by Isaac S. Villegas

Can scientists make a universe from nothing?

“Physicists will say things like, ‘We’re trying to make a Big Bang,’ but they don’t literally mean it. What was weird about this paper I found was that the authors did mean it. They literally meant it.”

Amy Frykholm interviews Zeeya Merali