Thursday, December 25, 2025

SojoMail - Merry Christmas! Here are our top movies of the year

In this week's SojoMail: top movies from 2025 to watch over the holidays; how Bethlehem reminds us of joy amid grief; and what anti-ICE nativities are signaling.

Sojourners’ Top Movies of 2025

Merry Christmas to you and yours! As a gift from our editors and columnists, we’ve rounded up the films that held our attention this year:

For five years now, Sojourners has created a list of our favorite films of the year. And because we’re Sojourners and not Vulture or IndieWire, our list follows a different set of priorities. We only focus on films that are concerned with spirituality or justice (or when we’re really lucky, both).

This year, more than any of the other four years we’ve done this round-up, I was struck by the sheer number of films grappling with faith and justice. So, to help with the difficult task of only choosing 10, I enlisted the help of our culture columnists, Abby Olcese, Zachary Lee, and Georgia Coley; and our managing editor, Tyler Huckabee.

In a year full of meaningful cinema, these films moved us most. — Jenna Barnett, culture editor

Read the full article

Our Latest Stories

Bethlehem Is Still a Reminder of Joy Amid Grief (by Elom Tettey-Tamaklo)

For two years, the West Bank city of Bethlehem canceled its Christmas celebration. This year, the festivities resume.

Anti-ICE Nativities Are the Reason for the Season (by Emma Cieslik)

The churches behind them are declaring that they refuse to be complicit in the very same violence that threatened Jesus at his birth.

Charlie Brown and Sufjan Know the ‘Good Grief’ of Christmas (by Tyler Huckabee)

Both have found themselves packaged into the same slab of Yuletide slop that their work ostensibly opposes, and yet both resist being totally subsumed.

Mary Casts Down Pete Hegseth’s False God (by Yanan Rahim Navarez Melo)

When my next-door neighbor called me a racist name, it was the most unsafe I had ever felt. I was terrified for my life. In that moment of desperation, I asked Mary for help.

Advertisements

Doctors Without Borders Needs You Now More Than Ever

Doctors Without Borders is on the ground providing medical care, delivering aid, and saving lives in over 75 countries worldwide. We can’t do this work without your support. Now more than ever, we need you.

Need a unique gift that offers stories of faith, courage, and hope?

Give a gift subscription to Sojourners this holiday season and save $10! Your recipient will receive 10 issues of Sojourners magazine keeping them informed and inspired all year long. Order your gift subscription today and we will mail a hand-signed postcard to your special person letting them know of your generosity.

Donate