Story Warren Weekend, Vol. 14, Issue 1

Happy New Year, friends. From Every Moment Holy, A Liturgy for a New Year:

Now you who are loved of God,
step forward into this new year
appointed by Him, that you might
journey through its days
in peace and the grace
and the love for your Lord.

Lead us this year, Lord Christ,
that we might walk its paths
in the light of the hope of our coming redemption.

Around the Web

What I Learned from Bach, the Worship Director: “In Bach’s Christian music, we don’t find a denial of the crushing reality of life’s hardships and bewilderments. We don’t find an avoidance of doubt. Nor is everything neatly resolved. But we do find lines of hope and joy, and we’re drawn again and again to the cross of Jesus Christ.”

Still a good read despite our timing: Father Christmas and the War for Middle-Earth. “Writing throughout the blackest days of the Second World War, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis captured in fantasy a dimension of the human story — the horror as well as the heroism — that was felt more vividly in their day than perhaps in any other period of history. Rejecting the mood of cynicism and disillusionment that gripped the minds of many in their generation, they created a beachhead of resistance: stories about courage and sacrifice and redemption.”

Around the Warren

Our friend Carrie Givens updated us on the newest offering from Bandersnatch Books, I’ve Got a Bad Case of Poetry. “2025 was a challenging year for many people. It was a year of divisions and grief, a year of fear and fearmongering. To begin 2026 with I’ve Got a Bad Case of Poetry reminds me that people can work together to make something beautiful. Sure, the creators of the work are all to be counted, but also the 440 or so families who said, ‘This is something worth believing in,’ and put their money on the line to make it happen.”

Ashley Anthony told us about her daughter’s (and her own) journey through The Dream Keeper Saga. “Our kids aren’t strangers to our world’s fallenness. But Butler’s series helps them to know that this fallenness is not determinative or absolute. The underlying message is that it’s not our own strength or goodness that defeats evil once and for all—it’s our God’s.”

Now that it’s the new year, our Mended Wood Home Library Guide has been updated with purchase links. If you’d like to fill out your library with new options for kids and adults, take a look.

This is also a free gift for anyone who subscribes to our newsletters, so forward it on to someone who could be helped by this resource!

Something to do with your kids

Depending on where you live, winter can reliably contain two things: snow and books. Combine these two passions of mine by making your kids a reading tracker shaped like snowmen.

Something to watch

The Green Writer Podcast is back with their two-part finale:

Thanks for reading. We’re on your side.

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Kelly Keller

Kelly Keller is the managing editor of Story Warren. She has her BS in Elementary Education from Messiah University and has taught various ages, but her favorite was worldview and literature with high school students. The “gap” in her resume is actually a window of eighteen years of homeschooling, which she recommends as an effective, though demanding, way of expanding one’s home library.

When she’s not behind her laptop, Kelly enjoys live music, baseball, reading great books, and traveling with her husband, David. Kelly hails from beautiful snowy New England, but after nearly two decades in North Carolina, she feels right at home.

She invites you to subscribe to her newsletter, On the Common, or to follow her on Twitter or Instagram.

Latest posts by Kelly Keller (see all)

• Story Warren Weekend, Vol. 14, Issue 2 - January 17, 2026
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