Tuesday's News & Ideas - 8/8/2023

Left behind by disaffiliations, Texas town’s United Methodists charter a new church
Religion News Service: After all seven United Methodist churches in this city in the Texas Panhandle voted to leave the country’s second-largest Protestant denomination, an 83-year-old UMC minister became determined that the UMC wouldn't become extinct in Amarillo.

Pope doubles down on message that church is open to all, including LGBTQ people and women
National Catholic Reporter: After driving home a message to young people for several days in a row that the church is open to everyone, Pope Francis reiterated that such a message includes LGBTQ people and all marginalized groups.
Catholic News Agency: Pope Francis: ‘Spiritual worldliness’ one of greatest dangers facing priests, the Church

Bishop Talbert, advocate for justice, dies
UM News: From humble beginnings as one of seven children born to sharecropper parents in rural Louisiana, retired United Methodist Bishop Melvin G. Talbert took his ministry of justice and love for all people around the globe. He died Aug. 3 at the age of 89.

Even Zoom is making people return to the office*
New York Times: The tech company that helped millions of people work from home is finally tired of its employees being far away. It’s not the only one that feels that way.

‘I want them to go higher’: A West Side pastor’s faith in the power of college
WBEZ: For nearly a decade, Bernard Lilly Sr. has shepherded kids from Chicago’s West Side to and through college.

The Spark

The abiding ‘Gift’ of Anne Morrow Lindbergh
“Gift From the Sea” is a meditation on life, solitude, marriage, family and womanhood, with a modest, quiet tone. I read it for the first time — more than 40 years after my mother recommended it — to find her, writes spiritual director Susan Moldaw in The Millions.

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