As we shared last month, the December issue of Bearings is our last. With this issue, we celebrate, we give thanks, we bid farewell, and we embrace the spiritual practice of letting go. Allen Ewing-Merrill, Executive Director of The BTS Center, shares an introductory piece—“The Best of Bearings”— in which he reflects on this moment. An original Featured Article by Ben Yosua-Davis, entitled “Death, Ashes, and Resurrection,” invites readers to reflect on the lessons of success and failure, death and resurrection, endings and new beginnings. The rest of the issue pulls just a few of “The Best of Bearings” from our Archives: a 2014 piece by Kelly J. Baker, called “The Return of the Holiday Prodigal: It’s Complicated…” which offers insight into people who leave the church; an important 2016 piece by Jamye Wooten, called “Who Has The Right to Be Violent?,” which challenges readers to reflect on systemic and structural violence and white supremacy; a 2016 reflection called “Yes, Jesus Loves Us. Now What?” by Mihee Kim-Kort which delves into the issues of racism and sexism in the church; Joan S. Latchaw’s moving response to the 2018 violence at Tree of Life Synagogue, “May Their Memory Be a Blessing”; and finally, a piece from earlier this year, “Can Churches Build When the Walls Seem to Be Falling Down?” in which Heber Brown shares his own leadership experience of inviting a congregation to reimagine and reprioritize. Although this is our final issue of Bearings, we’re looking ahead to new ventures, and we hope you, our readers, will stay engaged. With gratitude for all that has been, and with confidence in the God of endings and new beginnings, we look to the future with hope.
