I mentioned last week that I was writing the Editors’ Picks email from an airport. I was on my way to the Rocky Mountains for the national gathering of leaders for the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s 1001 New Worshiping Communities. This movement launches and supports communities that meet the needs of the world through innovative and inclusive approaches to gathering and worshiping. (I was there because I help lead one of these 1001 communities.)
It turns out I needed the mountains, I think. Which is to say I needed the grounding and refreshing that often comes when we step into a new and beautiful place. It helps with the exhaustion I experience when I’m told how to feel about current events, a phenomenon Mac Loftin explores in his latest essay. A change of scene can also help stir up energy when the numbness of acedia overtakes us, which is the topic of Alejandra Oliva’s new column.
“You can be fired for saying too much about Palestinians getting killed, but you can also be fired for saying you don’t care about Kirk getting killed. We have been compelled to publicly grieve for Kirk.”
People on the right have misused prayer. Folks on the left have written it off. Colton Bernasol, spurred on by his family and his activism, seeks to reclaim it.
“In his magnificent new book, Robert Macfarlane shows how, when it comes to rivers, our purportedly rational minds have become impounded, even stagnant.”
“Ross Kane asserts that the work of my church council is politics and assures me that it is both necessary and a source of good news—for our congregation and the world.”
