Forging ahead to the new year

Last week as the Editors’ Picks email was undergoing its final preparations to head to your inbox, I received news that my wife tested positive for COVID. This news was extra bad given the timing right before the holiday and the fact that two of our close family members are in extreme health crises of their own.

In times like these, support may spring up in unexpected places, and I found some here at the Century. My colleague Elizabeth wrote a couple of sweet paragraphs in her Books Worth Reading email about Steelers football legend Franco Harris after I told her I cried while watching a video of “the Immaculate Reception.” I also felt deeply seen by Brian Bantum’s new article about faith deconstruction, a topic close to my own journey and ministry. And as my family prepares for loss this season, I was comforted by the story of another family who had a mighty struggle at death’s door.

The video of the week is a lovely chat I had with the engaging poet Sarah Crowley Chestnut. We discuss poetry, ministry, memory, and of course sacrament in light of her poem, “Baptism.” Plus more thoughtful content below.

Email me: How was your Christmas? Are you finding the support you need?

Jon Mathieu
[email protected]

The roots of my deconstruction

“Maybe instead of deconstructing we simply need to let the wild things grow.”

My father’s last decision

“I saw the agony in Dad’s face. Death was the only way out that he perceived.”

VIDEO: Sarah Crowley Chestnut discusses her poem, “Baptism”

Jon chats with Sarah Crowley Chestnut, a poet who lives and works at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, MA.

In the Lectionary for January 1 (Christmas 1A)

Before Mary can cut the tags off the brand-new frankincense, the weeping starts.

by Liddy Barlow
 

An even better Bible

“We’re an interfaith, ecumenical, academic organization, not a religious one. And NRSVue is the most ecumenical—and interfaith—Bible translation.”

Annelisa Burns interviews Kutsko and Joseph Crockett, leaders of the project that produced the NRSV Updated Edition.

A shower in the desert

“As we gathered for morning prayer, our cohort of eight volunteers decided to pitch in some cash to buy a cake and party supplies for the grandest baby shower celebration the migrant shelter had ever seen.”