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** Feeling good about religion
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I have returned from my time in Denver for the AAR/SBL annual meetings. What a time it was! I met a ton of fascinating scholars of religion and the Bible, some of whom will hopefully become writers for the Century. In addition, I used Zoom to attend my ecclesiastical council where I learned I have been authorized for ordination in the United Church of Christ.

You might say I feel better about religion than I have in a while. There are some other reasons to be bullish on Christianity in some of our recent articles. Voices columnist Alejandra Oliva describes her work welcoming busloads of migrants ([link removed]) to Chicago. Elizabeth Eisenstadt Evans reports that, despite a few years of unprecedented stressors, clergy are receiving support ([link removed]) from many different corners. And Sam Wells distinguishes between easy believism and faith grounded in trust ([link removed]) .

There is no video this week (and these may be a bit spotty over the holidays). But I do bring you another piece of myself in the form of my home city, Pittsburgh. Here is a lovely poem by Sally Witt ([link removed]) about a rose located there.

Email me: What are your joys or hangups regarding “organized religion”?

Jon Mathieu
[email protected] (mailto:[email protected]?subject=Re%3A%20Editors%E2%80%99%20Picks)
This week’s top articles:
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** Busloads of migrants were told something was waiting for them in Chicago ([link removed])
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“Our immigration system treats migrants as logistical issues, as suspicious packages abandoned at the airport, as invading armies—as anything but what they are, which is people trying their hardest to survive.”
by Alejandra Oliva
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** A clergy mental health crisis ([link removed])
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“Researchers advocate a proactive approach to managing stress and are working to help clergy develop a variety of strategies to address it.”
by Elizabeth Eisenstadt Evans
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** The better part of faith ([link removed])
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“It would be easy to think that what I’ve described as belief is the only kind of faith there is. But there is another kind, one that isn’t based on escape.”

by Sam Wells
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** In the Lectionary for December 4 (Advent 2A) ([link removed])
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John the Baptist is calling for more than a cognitive recognition of wrongdoing.

by Montague Williams

Advent 2A archives ([link removed])
Get even more lectionary resources with Sunday’s Coming Premium, an email newsletter from the editors of the Christian Century. Learn more ([link removed]) .


** A troubling new coalition in Israel ([link removed])
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“Everyone seems to agree that the system—a hangover from the founding of the state in 1948—is badly in need of repair.”

by Mordechai Beck


** November Rose in Pittsburgh ([link removed])
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”In the tiny front yard
at the house
of a neighbor dead three years,
flowers are left uncared for. . . .”
poem by Sally Witt
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