New content from our writers—and readers

If you’ve been around the Century for a while, you’ve probably noticed that every few months we publish essays by our readers. These are winners of our recurring Readers Write contests, sponsored by the Frederick Buechner Center. Each contest invites readers to submit short essays based on a one-word prompt. Today I have our latest group of winning essays, responding to the prompt “Flight.” (And for those of you who like to write, here is the info about our next essay contest.)

As it happens, our video of the week also resonates with the theme of flight. Marc Roscoe Loustau discusses an article he wrote for the Century about the Ukrainian pastors who have fled from the occupied portion of their homeland. He describes what life is like in that region and what ministry looks like for these displaced clergy.

Scroll down for even more great stuff, including a new column from Stephanie Perdew about her annual practice of dwelling on the incarnation in the time just after Christmas Day. Plus some great new book reviews: CC senior editor Elizabeth Palmer reviews Sister Monica Clare’s memoir of transformation, and John Farrell discusses Margot Singer’s collection of essays about memory and home.

Jon Mathieu
Email me: Do you celebrate New Year’s Eve/Day? Why or why not?

Essays by readers: Flight

“Don’t you remember Dad taking us to look at cockpits?”

“No.”

Psychologists say that siblings grow up in different families. Mark and I illustrate that strange reality.

– Lynne Baab, one of the winners of our Readers Write contest

Click here for info about our next contest.

One of us

“In the days after Christmas I sink deeply into the mystery of the incarnation.”

by Stephanie Perdew

VIDEO: Ukrainian pastors in exile

Marc Roscoe Loustau talks with Jon about the situation and ministry of pastors from Ukraine who have fled their homes and churches.

In the Lectionary for January 4 (Christmas 2)

The child staggering out of a bomb-blasted city does not need to find her home in God. She needs a physical home.

by Mindy Misener

From comedy club to convent

“Claudette Powell’s transformation into Sister Monica Clare (an Episcopal sister who is best known these days for her TikTok channel), which she chronicles in A Change of Habit, takes two decades and involves a lot of work.”

review by Elizabeth Palmer

You can’t go home again

“Unexpected questions permeate the essays in this collection, all of which are personal memoirs accentuated by Margot Singer’s insistence on stepping back from the personal—changing the scale of her perspective—to connect her experiences more deeply to the wider world and humanity.”

review by John W. Farrell