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Magazine

Sojourners Magazine: December 2023

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Advent is often a busy time for Christians as we prepare for the commemoration of Jesus’ birth. But the nativity story is replete with theological, familial, and political lessons about rest. How can we intentionally slow down this holiday season, in hopes of yielding the fruits of rest? 

Features

The illustration shows a shepherd sleeping with his sheep with the star of Bethlehem in the sky.

Five suggestions for stillness despite the busyness of the season.

by
Julian Davis Reid
Magazine
Features
The illustration has five panels showing the journey of a teenager who is pregnant, has a baby, feels alone, and then finds community.

Christian ministries and other organizations are helping teen parents carve out a space where they can be ‘fully mom and fully teenager.’

by
Bekah McNeel
The image is a collage of many people who are a part of the Catholic Worker community

“All of us who come here need something.”

by
Kris Brunelli

Voices

Voices
Mobilizing Hope
The illustration shows a semi-transparent person holding a newborn infant on a red, tendril-esque background.

“It is profoundly significant that Jesus was born not in a secure, two-income household but to an unwed teenage mother.” 

Voices
From The Editors
The illustration depicts a middle aged white man wearing a suit, with images of wheat and flying birds in the background. The quote reads "The Sermon on the Mount will be called practical when Christians make up their mind to practice it." -- Peter Maurin

For many around the world, especially those being forced from their homes, there is little opportunity for rest this Advent season. 

by The Editors
Voices
Commentary
The illustration shows shrouded figures in a crowd, all looking forward or down. One person stands in the middle and is looking up at the sky. They are orange, with clouds.

There are antidotes to moral exhaustion in a world of complex injustice.

by
Quincy Howard
The graphic shows a variety of protest symbols, including an eye, raised fists, flags, and the word "NO"

How Georgia’s attorney general indicted Stop Cop City protesters using RICO laws.

by
Mark Goldstone, Kennedy Pivnick, Philip Vachon
Voices
Columns
The illustration shows lots of diverse hands reaching out to touch a globe in the middle.

The sort of preparedness that money and stockpiles can’t buy.

by
Liuan Huska
The photo shows a large group of people smiling for a photo underneath a banner that reads "We Will Not Be Moved." The people are standing in front of the door to their apartment complex.

After a decade-long fight, they won.

by
Rose Marie Berger
Voices
Eyewitness
The photo, taken through the middle Christmas tree bailer, shows two men lifting up a Christmas tree

How Michael Tabor fights against climate change on his Christmas tree farm.

by
Michael Tabor

Vision

Vision
Culture
The photo shows two men, one who is an angel and dressed in lighter colors, and another who is a demon dressed in black. The angel is looking at a clipboard and the demon is just standing there.

Good Omens revisits the story of Job, making it come alive in new ways with humor and new characters. 

by
Michael Woolf
The image shows a couple sitting dow, wearing headphones, looking at a large, electronic egg. There is a woman standing behind them, watching.

Three culture recommendations from our editors.

by
The Editors
The picture shows a melting glacier and the pool of meltwater that has formed beneath it. The remaining snow is on a mountain.

Hiking to the end of an age.

by
Avery Davis Lamb
Vision
Books
The image shows the cover of the book "Reckoning with Power" but David E. Fitch

Reckoning With Power by David E. Fitch invites us to reframe how we think about power structures within the church. 

by
Greg Williams
The image shows the cover of "The Country of the Blind" by Andrew Leland.

In The Country of the Blind, Andrew Leland reflects on the false binaries of blindness and sightedness.

by
Olivia Bardo
The illustrations shows the head of a woman whose eyes are closed, with a single tear falling down her face. The background covered in gray drips.

Amanda Held Opelt's new book explores the lost rituals of grief.

by
Sarah James
Vision
Poetry

A poem

by
Laura Sobbott Ross
Vision
Living The Word

December reflections on scripture from the Revised Common Lectionary, Cycle B

by
Natalie Wigg-Stevenson
Vision
H'rumphs

Lessons in communicating with your cat via the Holy Spirit. 

by
Jenna Barnett