“The Weekend Wanderer” is a weekly curated selection of news, stories, resources, and media on the intersection of faith and culture for you to explore through your weekend. Wander through these links however you like and in any order you like. Disclaimer: I do not necessarily agree with all the views expressed within these articles but have found them thought-provoking.
“Advent: The Nexus of Humility, Justice, and Joy” – Dennis R. Edwards at Missio Alliance: “Currently, there is war between Israel and Gaza. Brutal conflict is happening near to the places where Jesus was born, served, and died. The message of Advent seems especially poignant at this moment. Advent invites us to appreciate the nexus of humility, justice, and joy. The angel announced that the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem brought joy to the world:
“The angel said, ‘Don’t be afraid! Look! I bring good news to you — wonderful, joyous news for all people’” (Luke 2:10, CEB).
The news that Jesus, the Son of God, comes as a human to live among other humans who are frail and fickle is overwhelmingly joyous, and helps us to imagine how the world can be better. Advent is a season in the liturgical year that anticipates the joyous good news of the birth of Mary’s son, a fragile newborn who is the ultimate ‘Agent of Justice’ for the world. The events surrounding the birth of Jesus gives us a glimpse of the power of his humility, a model we are invited to emulate as Followers of the Way. Let’s consider the the nature of this surprising nexus between humility, justice, and joy. How are they integrated with one another, and what should we learn from each?”
“Bethlehem pastors arrive in DC, urge lawmakers to embrace cease-fire, peace plan” – Jack Jenkins at Religion News Service: “A trio of Christian leaders are visiting the U.S. capital carrying a letter signed by churches in Bethlehem, the city in the occupied West Bank long heralded by Christians as the birthplace of Jesus Christ, urging President Joe Biden and congressional lawmakers to push for a permanent cease fire in Gaza and work to establish lasting peace in the region. The leaders — which include two prominent ministers and a young Palestinian Christian activist — arrived in Washington, D.C., on Monday morning in hopes of brokering a meeting to present Biden and other political leaders with the letter. ‘God has placed political leaders in a position of power so that they can bring justice, support those who suffer, and be instruments of God’s peace,’ the letter reads. ‘We want a constant and comprehensive ceasefire. Enough death. Enough destruction. This is a moral obligation. There must be other ways. This is our call and prayer this Christmas.’ The letter was signed by representatives from Bethlehem’s major Christian communities, listing churches affiliated with Greek Orthodox, Syriac, Armenian, Catholic and Lutheran traditions.”
“Your Annual Examination: How reflecting can help you experience transformation!” – Steve Smith at Potter’s Inn Substack: “It’s the time of year where I take the time to review my past year. I do this by reflecting with ‘The Great Annual Examen.’ It’s a tool where you can look back, look within and look up. The Great Annual Examen offers you a series of questions that help you reflect upon five areas of your life. It’s like an excavation to explore your inner world and your inner ruts you may have fallen into this past year. Another year is almost over and it’s possible, if not likely that something in you needs some attention and some adjustment. This past year is a window of time to look back on to see how you’re doing: relationally, emotionally, vocationally, physically and spiritually. These five major areas compose the human soul. By looking at each area, through some probing questions, we can gain insight about how we’re actually doing! Let’s face it, there are ruts in the road that all of us can get stuck in and lose our momentum, balance and perspective. It’s been a challenging year, again. Life may have not turned out for you how you thought it would. It happens to all of us. That’s why there is such power in taking the time to look back and evaluate how you’ve been doing. When we reflect back by looking in, we can learn the truth—and the truth sets us free.”
“As climate chaos accelerates, which countries are polluting the most?” – Laura Paddison and Annette Choi at CNN: “Countries have a mammoth task ahead as they gather for the COP28 climate summit in Dubai. They are way off track for preventing ‘climate catastrophe,’ and scientists are sounding the alarm that time is running out to slash fossil fuels. Data from Climate Action Tracker, an independent research group, reveals how much planet-heating pollution is still being spewed out, who are the biggest polluters and how much progress still needs to be made. The world pumped out around 50 billion metric tons of planet-heating gases in 2022, according to this data. China was the largest climate polluter, making up nearly 30% of global emissions. Most of the world’s planet-heating pollution comes from just a few countries. The top 20 global climate polluters — dominated by China, India, the United States and the European Union — were responsible for 83% of emissions in 2022. What these countries do to respond to the climate crisis has an outsized impact on the rest of the world.”
“Christmas Celebrations Canceled in Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and Jordan” – Jayson Casper in Christianity Today: “There will be no Christmas lights in Bethlehem this year. In solidarity with the suffering in Gaza due to the Israel-Hamas war, last week Christian leaders and municipal authorities in the West Bank city decided to cancel all public festivities. For the first time since modern celebrations began, the birthplace of Jesus will not decorate the Manger Square tree. It is ‘not appropriate,’ stated local authorities. But the Bethlehem decision is only the most recent. One week earlier, the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem asked Christians in the Holy Land to refrain from ‘unnecessarily festive’ Christmas activities. Catholic churches in Galilee requested the same, as did the Council of Local Evangelical Churches in the Holy Land.”
“Farewell, Peak Literacy, We Hardly Knew You” – Brian Miller at Front Porch Republic: “With all of the worries and whirlpools of existential angst in this world, declining readership of books is top of my list. Where does it rank on yours? Does it even make it into the top ten? I was an active kid, outside fishing or hunting most days. And when I didn’t have a line in the water or a bead on a squirrel, I was riding my bicycle, a cool Spyder bike with a purple banana seat, all over town and usually the few miles to the local Carnegie library in downtown Lake Charles, Louisiana. That’s because most evenings I was perched on the couch at home reading until bedtime, and I needed an ample supply of books. Even today, sitting quietly with an open book, slowly turning pages, one after the other, in measured rhythms, occasionally flipping back to reread a passage, is for me an escape pod from the current landscape of our world—not the natural world, with its own measured ways of experiencing, but the largely digital world by which it is now being supplanted. It strikes me that in escaping the modern distractions by reading a physical book, I plunge deeper into ‘real’ life. Sadly, though, this appears to be an increasingly uncommon experience.”
Music: Sufjan Stevens, “Lo! How a Rose E’er Blooming,” from Songs for Christmas
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Matthew Erickson 