SojoMail - Five ways to rest this Christmas season

View this email in your browser All Is Calm: Scripture’s Radical Call to Rest During Advent As Advent begins this weekend, we’re sharing Julian Davis Reid’s cover story for Sojourners magazine’s December issue in this week’s SojoMail. Reid offers us a radical idea: What if the story of Jesus’ birth was actually God inviting us to rest? The fervor at church during the Advent season is a remarkable sight. Both clergy and laity work like the shepherds, tending to their flocks late into the night. And many move like the wise men, traveling to foreign places and spending extensive resources to celebrate Christ’s arrival with family. This time of heightened activity makes sense given the story of scripture and the story of our current world. The shepherds could not help but tell others once they learned of the Savior’s birth. And as we now await his return, we should work hard to share the riches of the nativity with a world that is a little more open to matters of faith at this time of year. But if increased activity is the only melody we pick up from the nativity story told in Matthew and Luke, we neglect a needful counterpoint: the importance of rest. The nativity story is replete with theological, familial, and political lessons about rest that quietly proclaim God’s goodness to this weary world. With exhaustion rampant in the church — perhaps especially so at Christmastime — we would do well to hear notes of rest sounding from the manger. READ THE FULL ARTICLE Forward Share ADVERTISEMENT   Our Latest Christmas Is Canceled in Bethlehem, Say Palestinian Christians (by Ezra Craker) “How can we celebrate when we feel this war — this genocide — that is taking place could resume at any moment?” Palestinian pastor Munther Isaac said. The Truth About Gaza Isn't Coming from the Empire’s Media (by Crystal Silva-McCormick) Palestinian civilians are treated like terrorists. So was Jesus. Why Black and Palestinian Christians Need Each Other (by Josiah R. Daniels) For Azmera Hammour-Davis, resisting militarism in Israel and police violence in the U.S. is connected. What Christian Nationalists Get Wrong About the Bible (by Jacob L. Wright) Biblical peoplehood is not about political power over a country; it’s something much better. ADVERTISEMENT   From the Magazine Reclaiming Weeping as a Sacred Practice (by Sarah James) Amanda Held Opelt’s new book explores the lost rituals of grief. ADVERTISEMENTS Earn a DSL (Social Leadership) or PhD (Social Research, Religion/Society) Lead constructive social change by earning your Doctor of Social Leadership or PhD in Social Research (Religion and Society Studies) degree. Omega Graduate School: accredited, affordable, faith-based. Sliding Scale Tuition. Small group British tutorial-style Instruction with opportunities to study at the Library of Congress and University of Oxford. Apply today! Invitation to faith leaders on conversation fostering God’s vision for children “Blessed Beginnings: A Theology of Early Childhood Development,” will be an interactive webinar exploring faith leaders’ role in nurturing young children from theological and biblical perspectives. Join us this December 7th at 6:00 PM ET online as we define what it means for churches to prioritize the health and wellbeing of our children. Join our Virtual Posada this Christmas Join us online December 6, 2023 at 8PM ET where we will highlight hope and advocacy with our immigrant communities. It will be a time to hold space for sacred stories, reflection, and action with communities, families, and churches allied for a humane, just, and common-sense pathway to citizenship. DONATE   SUBSCRIBE Copyright © 2023 Sojourners, All rights reserved. Sojourners | 408 C St. NE | Washington, DC 20002 Email: sojourners@sojo.net | Tel.: 202.328.8842