The Warren & the World is Story Warren’s weekly newsletter, providing a round-up of our favorite things from around the web as well as a review of what was on our site over the past week. We’re glad you’re here!
Around the Web
The More Things Change, the More God Stays the Same
Erin Wyble Newcomb writes at Christ and Pop Culture writes on community and tradition.
- his year, my husband and I hosted our fourth annual Halloween party at a local park. We arrange a scavenger hunt for the kids, who then snack on their candy and play in the typically cold weather. It’s a tradition I look forward to every fall because of the way it brings our various friendship groups together. At some point, one of the parents will ask how we know each of the families in attendance. There are families from both of the churches we’ve attended, friends from work, friends from our elder daughter’s soccer team. Some of the kids we’ve known since they were born. Others we’ve met only recently. All of them play an important role in our continually evolving sense of community.
Diverse Picture Books to Celebrate the Everyday
Sarah Mackenzie has a list of picture books that both represent the diversity around us and the norms of everyday life.
- When you think of diverse picture books, what do you think of?
Are they books that highlight issues? Books based on historical events or racial tensions? Those are very important books- I’m so glad there are many of them.
Grace Lin tells us that it is important for books to serve as both mirrors and windows. Mirrors- so that they can see themselves in the stories they read, and windows- so that they can peek into the lives of others and develop empathy for those who are different.
The Making of the Bread
Kimberlee Conway Ireton explores how the work of making sourdough bread reminds her of growing in Christ.
- As I type these words, sourdough bread is rising in the kitchen. My husband and I have been making our own bread for 12 years. In the spring we decided we were ready to try a new challenge: sourdough. So we ordered a starter from King Arthur—because theirs was started in 1789, the year the American Constitution was signed, and I am geeky enough to think it’s super cool that I have something that old living in my refrigerator.
5 Reasons You Need Fiction
Our own S.D. Smith has a piece at The Gospel Coalition on the reasons we need fiction in our lives.
- I’ve heard pastors and longtime Christians argue against reading fiction since it’s “not true.” But great literature can be an avenue of profound blessing and an ally to teach us to anticipate the kingdom of God in all of life.
If we’re moved when we come across an ancient oak swaying beside a brook in a sunlit valley, we don’t immediately try to justify its existence. If we’re sensible, we don’t think, You know, this tree would be much better if it had a Bible verse carved into it. We let it be, and we praise God for it.
It’s like this with stories—they’re best enjoyed at their natural best. If you’ve lived beneath the sheltering shade of great tales, you can think of a thousand ways they’ve proved their importance and helped you to give thanks.
Around the Warren
Doing Nothing
Kelly Keller reminds us what Pooh and Christopher Robin tell us about doing nothing.
- Recently, we’ve been reunited with our old friend Pooh.
We had these CDs from the time my oldest boys were little, but they were so loved that they were scratched out of use a few years back. Now we have the audio again (this time from Audible). It’s been so much fun to see our older three recognize the old friends, and see the younger ones enjoy them for the first time. This edition is narrated by the delightful Peter Dennis, who does every voice differently and snorts enthusiastically every time Piglet talks.
Pockets
Helena Sorensen introduces us to Jennifer Armstrong’s book, Pockets.
- “A slim schooner of a woman, driven by strong winds and a broken heart, floundered barefoot across the eastern plains until arriving at the edge of a village.”
So begins Jennifer Armstrong’s Pockets, a memorable and beautifully illustrated tale of a seamstress who finds herself in a place where nothing but hard work is valued. The women’s extensive sewing skills (she can sew anything from frocks to pantaloons, doublets to farthingales, mantuas to petticoats to gowns) are considered useless, a distraction, and she is allowed to remain in the village only on the condition that she sew useful things.
Something to Do with Your Kids
Here’s a video with instructions on how to make your own kinetic sand. Try it out this weekend!
And Something to Watch
The Cubs won the World Series this week. That is not a sentence that’s ever been written in an email before–because the last time they won was 108 years ago. Even if you’re not a baseball fan, the end of the longest drought in baseball is a cultural event (and it was a really good series, too!). This is the Nike commercial that played immediately following the win, and it’s a lovely tribute to the team’s run this year: a home run, if you will. 😉
Thank you for reading. We’re on your side.
Carolyn Clare Givens is a displaced Northerner exploring the foreign ways of the South. She lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with her literary cat, Lord Peter Wimsey. She's the author of The King's Messenger and Rosefire and in her free time helps run Bandersnatch Books.
You can find her at carolyncgivens.com or on Facebook or Instagram at @carolyncgivens.
You can find her at carolyncgivens.com or on Facebook or Instagram at @carolyncgivens.
Latest posts by Carolyn Clare Givens (see all)
- The Warren & The World Vol 12, Issue 43 - December 5, 2024
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- The Warren & The World Vol 12, Issue 41 - November 23, 2024
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