Interesting thoughts and happenings...
This week’s worthy reads…
Floyd Holt, photo courtesy of PhotographyServed ~ Warriors for Peace
War & Sacrifice in the Post-9/11 Era -
The Pew Research Center DataBank provides a ‘daily number’ – this week’s caught my eye:
52% – More Than Half of Post-9/11 Combat Veterans Report Emotional Trauma
To read more about this number click here.
Not surprisingly, given the wide variety of news reports that have been relentlessly provided, according to the Pew Research Center, “the re-entry process has been more difficult for post-9/11 veterans than it was for those who served prior to 9/11. More than four-in-ten post-9/11 veterans (44%) say they had difficulty readjusting to civilian life, compared with 25% of pre-9/11 veterans. This may be due in part to the fact that post-9/11 veterans are much more likely than those who served before them to have seen combat. Among post-9/11 veterans who served in combat, half (51%) say they had difficulty readjusting to civilian life… Nearly six-in-ten post-9/11 combat veterans (57%) say that since being discharged from the military, they have experienced frequent incidents of irritability or outbursts of anger…Nearly as many combat veterans (55%) say they have experienced strains in family relations…” Read more.
Our communities and congregations are full of veterans, families of veterans, friends of veterans. Do you know who they are? What’s happening in your community? What’s happening in your church? What’s your next step in coming alongside those who are struggling?
Young Adults and Women…
There are some themes here that seem to be converging & I want to read/write/talk more about them. There’s nothing worse than blog topics of the moment that then get lost in the next big thing but are really worth pondering & talking deeply about.
Seven Reasons Why Young Adults Quit Church ~ Christian Piatt for Red Letter Christians
Four More BIG Reasons Why Young Adults Quit Church ~ Christian Piatt for Red Letter Christians
15 Reasons I Left Church ~ Rachel Held Evans
It’s the Simple Moments that Stick ~ Susannah
Rush Limbaugh and Three Evangelical Blind Spots ~ Rachel Held Evans
Because we’re United Methodist, and therefore “mainstream,” some of us may be inclined to think we’re immune to these kinds of issues. But I wonder. Considering that I was called “an out of control little girl” by someone in my first appointment, makes me think that maybe this whole conversation is hitting closer to home than we’d like. Seems like we need to think a bit longer about all of this…
