SOJOMAIL & VERSE AND VOICE FROM SOJOURNERS: UK King Charles and a wannabe king 30APR26

 

By Betsy Shirley Editor in Chief, Sojourners This week, King Charles III became the second British monarch to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress. The irony was thick: The king used his speech to praise the virtues of democracy to a country that, 250 years ago, leveled a laundry list of grievances at Charles’ own five-times-great grandfather. Meanwhile, the White House released a photo of Charles and President Donald Trump captioned: “TWO KINGS.” When kings praise democracy and presidents style themselves as kings, it’s easy to just laugh bitterly at the ridiculousness of our present political moment. But as José Humphreys III writes in his latest column, ignoring these feelings of bitterness primes us for resentment and even a longing for vengeance. Instead, he suggests an alternate strategy for finding relief. Elsewhere this week, a church brings dementia out of the shadows, a Broadway musical considers joy amid the pain of miscarriage, and film critic Zachary Lee explores why space films like Project Hail Mary move us to awe. Plus: a Wheaton professor/manga superfan considers why that cartoon pirate flag you may have seen at protests can be an inspiration to Jesus followers. I Won’t Let Resentment Determine Who I Become (by José Humphreys III) What Nelson Mandela’s life can teach us about healing and liberation. Read the full article Advertisement Our Latest Stories A Musical About Miscarriage and the Strange Work of Joy (by Jim McDermott) “The depth of the grief shows the depth of the love,” Shaun Benson, co-creator of ‘My Joy Is Heavy!’ told Sojourners. “You don’t have the one without the other.” Read more My Father Has Alzheimer’s. A Church Became Our Refuge (by Courtney E. Martin) America is getting older. The need for a public awakening around dementia and Alzheimer’s is only going to get bigger in the years ahead.  Read more From Artemis II to Cinema, Why Are We Drawn to Space Stories? (by Zachary Lee) ‘Project Hail Mary,’ ‘Prometheus,’ and four other films that bring the “Overview Effect” down to Earth. Read more From the Magazine: The Manga Jolly Roger That Became a Global Protest Symbol (by Chuck Liu) Why the messianic pirate hero of ‘One Piece’ is a lot like Jesus. Read more Advertisements Catholic Charities: Neighbors Helping Neighbors When neighbors help neighbors, hope blossoms. For more than a century, 169 Catholic Charities agencies have served communities across the country and down the street, no matter beliefs or differences. Be the hope around the corner — in your neighborhood, nationwide. Learn more and volunteer at PeopleofHope.us. Serve as a Jesuit Volunteer in the Pacific Northwest Where will next year take you? Use your skills to make a real difference. Live in a community passionate about faith and justice. Rise to this moment. Become a Jesuit Volunteer. Learn more about a service year in the Pacific Northwest at jvcnorthwest.org. Forward this email to someone you know who would like it! Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here to receive this newsletter in your inbox every weekday. Verse of the day Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. - Colossians 3:9-10 Voice of the day To know // the spirit is my beloved. To come to things—swift / as a ray of light, or a look. / To live as I write: spare—the way / God asks me—and friends do not. - Marina Tsvetaeva, “I am happy living simply” Prayer of the day As we work toward a better reality, may we approach you and one another with honesty. Advertisement Our Latest Stories My Father Has Alzheimer’s. A Church Became Our Refuge (by Courtney E. Martin) The need for a public awakening around dementia and Alzheimer’s is only going to get bigger in the years ahead. Read more A Musical About Miscarriage and the Strange Work of Joy (by Jim McDermott) “The depth of the grief shows the depth of the love,” Shaun Benson, co-creator of ‘My Joy Is Heavy!’ told Sojourners. Read more Christian Zionism Helped Bring the Right Together. Now, It's Driving It Apart (by Rubin McClain) MAGA and Zionist Christians’ failures have been laid bare for an opportunity to chart a new path. Read more 20 More Bible Verses For President Trump to Read (by The Editors) And, ideally, reflect on, after he kicks off the week-long event “America Reads the Bible” with 2 Chronicles 7:11-22. Read more Advertisements Legacy finds common ground in African wisdom traditions Legacy: Wisdom of African Traditions and the Bible compares almost 300 African proverbs with Bible verses. Discover: African expressions of the golden rule, African versions of loving one’s enemies and welcoming the stranger, and much more! Finding common ground has never been more urgent. African idea of sankofa—“go back and get it”—tells us that we can go forward by looking to the past. Unfiltered conversation about faith: God Talk with Medene & James When millions of us are disaffected from the faith we grew up with, God Talk provides honest, unassuming dialogue. Public theology in the service of fellowship, social justice, and self-actualization. Medene - a Black Catholic with Pentecostal roots, James - a gay Catholic from the farm. Join the conversation! Let's talk. Donate Subscribe

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VERSE AND VOICE FROM SOJOURNERS 7JAN26

 

Forward this email to someone you know who would like it! Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here to receive this newsletter in your inbox every weekday. Verse of the day For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. - Isaiah 55:8-9 Voice of the day She was seeking confirmation of the voice and vision, and everywhere she found and acknowledged answers. A personal answer for all other creations except herself. She felt an answer seeking her, but where? When? How? - Zora Neale Hurston, “Their Eyes Were Watching God” (1937) Prayer of the day Whenever we are buried in the weeds of uncertainty, reassure us that you are at work regardless of how well we perceive your ways. Advertisement Our Latest Stories Our Prayers for You in the New Year (by Adam Russell Taylor) 2025 was a doozy. Here are our prayers for our readers in 2026. May they embolden us to advance God’s reign of justice, peace, and steadfast love with greater urgency and courage. Read more Anti-ICE Nativities Are the Reason for the Season (by Emma Cieslik) The churches putting up these nativities are declaring that they refuse to be complicit in the very same violence that threatened Jesus at his birth. Read more Bethlehem Is Still a Reminder of Joy Amid Grief (by Elom Tettey-Tamaklo) For two years, the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem canceled its traditional Christmas celebration. This year, the festivities resume. Read more DHS Bars Norma Pimentel’s Charity From Federal Funding (by Ken Chitwood) The department appeared to cite Catholic Social Teaching to allege that Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley mismanaged funds in service of noncitizen immigrants. Read more Advertisements Shop for New Books with Bookshop Looking for your next great read? Check out Sojourners' Bookshop page for curated selections of books on social justice and living your faith. When you buy through our Bookshop link, part of the proceeds support Sojourners and independent bookstores throughout the country. Engage and Adapt Free Webinar SojoAction invites you to register for another installation of their ongoing “Engage and Adapt” training series on January 13, 2026, at 7 p.m. EST. This webinar will focus on “A Justice-Centered Look at Federal Health Funding,” featuring special guest Lauren Reliford, MSW, Policy Director for the Children’s Defense Fund. Donate Subscribe Copyright © 2025 Sojourners. All rights reserved. Email: sojourners@sojo.net | Tel.: 202.328.8842

VERSE AND VOICE FROM SOJOURNERS 1JAN26

 

Forward this email to someone you know who would like it! Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here to receive this newsletter in your inbox every weekday. Verse of the day For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven. - Ecclesiastes 3:1 Voice of the day No experience has been too unimportant, and the smallest event unfolds like a fate, and fate itself is like a wonderful, wide fabric in which every thread is guided by an infinitely tender hand and laid alongside another thread and is held and supported by a hundred others. - Rainer Maria Rilke, “Letters to a Young Poet” (1934) Prayer of the day God of change, as we embark on this fresh start in a new year, invite every person to consider the intentionality of every moment you place before us. Advertisement Our Latest Stories Anti-ICE Nativities Are the Reason for the Season (by Emma Cieslik) The churches putting up these nativities are declaring that they refuse to be complicit in the very same violence that threatened Jesus at his birth. Read more Bethlehem Is Still a Reminder of Joy Amid Grief (by Elom Tettey-Tamaklo) For two years, the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem canceled its traditional Christmas celebration. This year, the festivities resume. Read more DHS Bars Norma Pimentel’s Charity From Federal Funding (by Ken Chitwood) The department appeared to cite Catholic Social Teaching while alleging that Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley mismanaged funds in its service of noncitizen immigrants. Read more Advertisements Help Doctors Without Borders Save Lives As humanitarian crises intensify and emergencies compound, our patients need us now more than ever. When you make a donation to Doctors Without Borders, you will help us continue providing urgently needed medical care in places like Gaza, Sudan, and around the world. 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. Donate Subscribe

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VERSE AND VOICE 29DEZ25

 

Forward this email to someone you know who would like it! Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here to receive this newsletter in your inbox every weekday. Verse of the day Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for indeed our God is a consuming fire. - Hebrews 12:28-29 Voice of the day Stroke a flint, and there is nothing to admire: / Strike a flint, and forthwith flash out sparks of fire. - Christina Rossetti Prayer of the day Teach us how to tend to the fire of faith and justice so that it continues and lasts beyond our contributions. Advertisement Our Latest Stories Anti-ICE Nativities Are the Reason for the Season (by Emma Cieslik) The churches putting up these nativities are declaring that they refuse to be complicit in the very same violence that threatened Jesus at his birth. Read more Bethlehem Is Still a Reminder of Joy Amid Grief (by Elom Tettey-Tamaklo) For two years, the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem canceled its traditional Christmas celebration. This year, the festivities resume. Read more DHS Bars Norma Pimentel’s Charity From Federal Funding (by Ken Chitwood) The department appeared to cite Catholic Social Teaching while alleging that Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley mismanaged funds in its service of noncitizen immigrants. Read more Advertisements Help Doctors Without Borders Save Lives As humanitarian crises intensify and emergencies compound, our patients need us now more than ever. When you make a donation to Doctors Without Borders, you will help us continue providing urgently needed medical care in places like Gaza, Sudan, and around the world. 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. Donate Subscribe Unsubscribe or update email preferences Copyright © 2025 Sojourners. All rights reserved. Email: sojourners@sojo.net | Tel.: 202.328.8842