Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Skinner House Books @skinnerhouse.bsky.social · 1h

Tuesday, October 14th at 8:00PM ET, join authors Julianne Lepp and Florence Caplow to honor and celebrate the publication of Tend to Your Spirit: Mindful Living with Chronic Illness. The authors will be in conversation with Tandi Rogers. Details to attend: bit.ly/tendtoyourspirit

A graphic that includes the cover of Tend to Your Spirit and the details of the virtual event: October 14th at 8PM, virtual event, free to attend. The authors in conversation with Tandi Rogers.

Skinner House Books @skinnerhouse.bsky.social · 1d

The release is the stage when writers share the soul of their project—its gift. Award-winning author and teacher Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew shares how to thrive and best serve your work once the writing is done. Available wherever books are sold!

A copy of The Release on a desk with some journals, a vase with yellow flowers, and a glass of water.

1

Skinner House Books @skinnerhouse.bsky.social · 2d

We’re thrilled to announce our newest title, Tend to Your Spirit: Mindful Living with Chronic Illness by Julianne Lepp and Florence Caplow. This powerful spiritual companion on your journey through the seasons of chronic illness is available to pre-order wherever books are sold.

The cover of Tend to Your Spirit on a graphic that says New from Skinner House.

1

Skinner House Books @skinnerhouse.bsky.social · 3d

Complete with historical context and legal analysis, Faith on Trial by Mark J. T. Caggiano is an invitation to religious progressives and moderates to help put social progress at the center of the national conversation about religion and the law. Available wherever books are sold.

Faith on Trial next to some brown autumn leaves and orange and yellow flowers.

1

Skinner House Books @skinnerhouse.bsky.social · 4d

You are no less resilient, reaching
both down to the strength that holds you,
and up, up to the light, out with your beauty.

—Taraxacum

Rev. Julián Jamaica Soto
Spilling the Light

Even though they are edible, someone
decided that dandelions are weeds, stragglers
to destroy, to uproot. But dandelions
never got the memo, never
thought to care. Busy instead
with dropping roots, flinging seeds, unfurling
shoots. And persistent in digging in that
taproot to depths of two or three average
adults end to end, the tiny yellow flower
survives.

You are no less resilient, reaching
both down to the strength that holds you,
and up, up to the light, out with your beauty.
And you know, having sunk your effort into
the cool, damp earth—that while dandelions
can be clipped and fought, uninvested
in anyone’s opinion they throw their
sparkling futures onto the wind, tomorrow tucked
into seeds, and grow all the way back, strong and bowing
at the very same time.

—Taraxacum

Rev. Julián Jamaica Soto
Spilling the Light

1

Skinner House Books @skinnerhouse.bsky.social · 6d

Impassioned is now available as an audiobook! Get your copy of this engaging and timely guide to preaching with passion from minister and professor Lucas Hergert from Libro.fm, Audible, or any other major audio platforms. And you can often request that your local library purchase a copy too!

Impassioned audiobook on a phone next to a piece of paper and a pen.

1

Skinner House Books @skinnerhouse.bsky.social · 6d

Minister and poet Kristen L. Harper confronts and unpacks the language, imagery, buzz words, and cultural touchstones that reinforce white supremacy culture and invites readers to radically transform their perceptions of blackness. Available wherever books are sold and at shopinspirit.org.

The Darkness Divine next to some yellow flowers.

1 1

Skinner House Books @skinnerhouse.bsky.social · 6d

The Unitarian Universalist Pocket Guide is now available as an audiobook! Get your copy of this powerful, engaging, and accessible introduction to Unitarian Universalism today from Libro.fm, Audible, or any other audio platforms. And you can often request that your local library purchase a copy too!

The cover of The Unitarian Universalist Pocket Guide audiobook shown on a smartphone on a purple background.

2 3

Skinner House Books @skinnerhouse.bsky.social · 9d

Little Did I Know: An Anthology on Loving and Companioning Young Lives, edited by Vanessa Rush Southern is a beautiful and inclusive anthology of reflections on the spiritual gifts and challenges of raising young people. Available wherever books are sold and from shopinspirit.org.

Little Did I Know on the ground next to some acorns and some yellow leaves.

1

Skinner House Books @skinnerhouse.bsky.social · 10d

Impassioned by minister and professor Lucas Hergert is an engaging and timely guide to preaching with passion. Hergert shows exactly how progressives can—and why they should—preach with feeling and force. Available now wherever books are sold!

Cover of Impassioned: A Guide to Progressive Preaching on a graphic that says New from Skinner House

1

Skinner House Books @skinnerhouse.bsky.social · 11d

All That You Need Lies Within You

Once it is in your heart
let it spread into your life,
let it pour from your life into the world—
and once it is in the world, let it shine upon all beings.

—Angela Herrera
Reaching for the Sun

All That You Need Lies Within You

Consider this an invitation
to you.
Yes—you
with all your happiness
and your burdens,
your hopes and regrets.
An invitation if you feel good today,
and an invitation if you do not,
if you are aching—
and there are so many ways to ache. . . .

Maybe your heart is heavy
or hardened.
Maybe it’s troubled
and peace can take up residence
only in a small corner,
only on the edge,
with all that is going on in the world,
and in your life.
Ni modo. It doesn’t matter.

All that you need
for a deep and comforting peace to grow
lies within you.
Once it is in your heart
let it spread into your life,
let it pour from your life into the world—
and once it is in the world,
let it shine upon all beings.

—Angela Herrera
Reaching for the Sun

Available at inSpirit: The UU Book and Gift Shop.

1

Skinner House Books @skinnerhouse.bsky.social · 13d

We’re thrilled to announce a new edition of The Unitarian Universalist Pocket Guide, edited by Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt. This powerful, engaging, and accessible introduction to Unitarian Universalism is available now wherever books are sold.

Cover of The Unitarian Universalist Pocket Guide

1 1

Skinner House Books @skinnerhouse.bsky.social · 14d

Journey Toward Morning is now available as an audiobook! We know you'll be supported and inspired by these meditations on nature, life, and spirituality by beloved Unitarian Universalist minister Victoria Safford. Get your copy today from Libro.fm, Audible, or any other major audio platforms.

Journey Toward Morning audiobook displayed on a phone.

2 1

Skinner House Books @skinnerhouse.bsky.social · 15d

Every day you meet your child’s spiritual and emotional needs—you just don’t know it. In this accessible and comforting book, J.L. Shattuck provides insight into your child’s earliest rituals. The Tending Years is available wherever books are sold.

A photo of a toddler holding up the book The Tending Years.

1

Skinner House Books @skinnerhouse.bsky.social · 16d

Impassioned is now available as an audiobook! Get your copy of this engaging and timely guide to preaching with passion from minister and professor Lucas Hergert from Libro.fm, Audible, or any other major audio platforms. And you can often request that your local library purchase a copy too!

1

Skinner House Books @skinnerhouse.bsky.social · 17d

Why Can’t I Fix It? The Questions We Ask When We Love Someone with Addiction by Nathan Detering is a powerful new spiritual tool for anyone with a loved one struggling with addiction. Available wherever books are sold.

The book Why Can't I Fix It? on top of some yellow leaves.

1

Skinner House Books @skinnerhouse.bsky.social · 17d

Autumn Prayer

Spirit of Life, be with us this autumn.
Just as the trees and nights are changing,
so too are our lives shifting.

—Jess Reynolds
Love Like Thunder

Autumn Prayer

Spirit of Life, be with us this autumn.
Just as the trees and nights are changing,
so too are our lives shifting.
Some among us are grieving.
We grieve for loved ones and for parts of our own hearts
that do not fit us any longer.
We mourn the green leaves and the summer birds,
and we mourn the dreams we had that are dying.

Spirit of Life, do not let us be empty this autumn.
Remind us of the life that will flourish come spring,
and help us to hold space for the loss that comes first.
We cannot resurrect ourselves
without letting something in ourselves die.
May we gently guard those tender empty places,
and may all the great love of the universe
press against our raw edges and our sorrow.

Spirit of Life, hold us in this season of dying.
Hold us in the chill October wind
and among the branches scraped clean
and in the swirling center of migration.
May we close our shutters but not our hearts,
and may we gather by the hearth in communion,
that we might manage to fill one another
with the warmth to make it through the winter.

Blessed be.

—Jess Reynolds
Love Like Thunder

Available at inSpirit: The UU Book and Gift Shop.

2 2

Skinner House Books @skinnerhouse.bsky.social · 20d

Complete with historical context and legal analysis, Faith on Trial by Mark J. T. Caggiano is an invitation to religious progressives and moderates to help put social progress at the center of the national conversation about religion and the law.

1

Skinner House Books @skinnerhouse.bsky.social · 21d

Journey Toward Morning is now available as an audiobook! We know you'll be supported and inspired by these meditations on nature, life, and spirituality by beloved Unitarian Universalist minister Victoria Safford. Get your copy today from Libro.fm, Audible, or any other major audio platforms.

1 2

Skinner House Books @skinnerhouse.bsky.social · 22d

A stunning memoir of coming of age and coming out, Swinging on the Garden Gate describes a period of time in writer and teacher Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew’s life when she came to know her #bisexuality as an embodied manifestation of divinity. Available wherever books are sold.

Photo of Swinging on the Garden Gate on some yellow leaves.

1 1

Skinner House Books @skinnerhouse.bsky.social · 23d

The course is self-paced, including lectures from Elizabeth, timed writing prompts, readings, online forums with Elizabeth, and a one-hour live zoom call. Give yourself the gift of your unique and sacred story.

Skinner House Books @skinnerhouse.bsky.social · 23d

Special opportunity alert! Award-winning author and writing teacher Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew is offering a two week course: Writing the Sacred Journey: An Introduction to Spiritual Memoir. The course runs from September 15th to 28th. You can learn more at bit.ly/41qmAYg.

1 2 1

Skinner House Books @skinnerhouse.bsky.social · 24d

Have you seen our gorgeous new children's book Wind, Stop Blowing! by Laura Alary and illustrated by Sue Teodoro? “Wind, stop blowing!” shouts Benjamin Snooks. Until the wind answers back in this playful story about flexibility and accepting change.  Available wherever books are sold!

1 1

Skinner House Books @skinnerhouse.bsky.social · 24d

In Wholeness

There is no competition between this light
and the darkness which holds it.
Both the light and the darkness are holy.

—Rev. Sean Parker Dennison
Breaking and Blessing: Meditations

In Wholeness

There is no competition between this light
and the darkness which holds it.
Both the light and the darkness are holy.

We light our chalice not to defeat the darkness,
but because, for a time, we need the gifts of flame:
warmth and light to guide and help us in our endeavors.
And when the time comes, we will embrace
again the gentle dark which allows us rest.

And so, we kindle this light with awareness and gratitude
for light and dark and all that lies in-between.
Each with its gifts, each with its beauty,
each part of a sacred and necessary whole.

—Rev. Sean Parker Dennison
Breaking and Blessing: Meditations

2 1

Skinner House Books @skinnerhouse.bsky.social · 27d

Every day you meet your child’s spiritual and emotional needs—you just don’t know it. In this accessible and comforting book, J.L. Shattuck provides insight into your child’s earliest rituals. The Tending Years is available at shopinspirit.org and wherever books are sold.

Photo of The Tending Years on a blanket with a cup of coffee and candle.

1 1