Relief: A Quarterly Christian Expression http://www.reliefjournal.com Tue, 06 Jan 2009 06:03:36 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.reliefjournal.com/images/M_images/new.png http://www.reliefjournal.com Relief: A Quarterly Christian Expression http://www.reliefjournal.com/content/view/272/133/ Editor-In-Chief Kimberly Culbertson wishes the Relief community a Happy New Year!This past weekend, Ben and I attended two family Christmas celebrations. After celebrating New Year's Eve, it was a little odd wishing Merry Christmases and exchanging presents (again). There were times when I was afraid 2008 would never end. But now that 2009 is here, I am determined to lay a good foundation for peace and wellness.New Year's Resolutions?On New Year's Eve, Coach and I have a tradition of sharing our favorite memories from the year that's ending, but we haven't gotten very serious about New Year's resolutions. This year though, we're planning to take our resolution seriously: This year we will take a sabbath each week. It's a commandment--we're setting a boundary. Now, I'm not certain that sometimes awkward family events necessarily count as rest but they also don't technically count as work :) So this year, we're one-for-one so far.If we're lucky, your resolution involves submitting your work to Relief and renewing your subscriptions At any rate, we're all looking forward to an excellent 2009! Editor's Blog - Misc Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:23:12 +0100 http://www.reliefjournal.com/content/view/271/96/ Coach takes a minute to recap the greatest moments from 2008.Ok gang, as we approach this year's ending and another beginning, I thought we should celebrate some great things that the Good Lord has done over the last year (or maybe two)! There's been some major milestones, and we just want to give some thanks to God for the successes He's given to us. Relief Highlights, 2008: TWO, count 'em TWO Pushcart Special Mentions for works published in our FIRST YEAR of publication! Props to Chris Fisher and Lisa Ohlen Harris!ONE Notable Mention in The Best American Spiritual Writing 2008 for Lisa Ohlen Harris! (Yowza, is that girl on fire or what?!!!)Our first big official showing at Calvin's Festival of Faith and Writing. It was awesome to meet authors and readers at our booth--Man was that a great conference!Our first shout-out from an author in his thanks section. Thanks Michael Snyder for remembering us little people as you hit the big time! Being called the best literary mag in Christendom by an editor at a Christian publishing house (I can't tell you who because I don't want him to get into trouble with any of the other journals!). A fairly consistent blog schedule (yes, I know we're kind of sporadic with the holidays but we'll be back in the new year!). Completing our second full volume of Relief! A nifty new look to our web site! A CPA to help us finish out our 501c3 paperwork! A massive thanks to Angie Poole for her huge help! Surviving a server apocaplypse without losing any orders! And we could go on and on about all of our Relief and Diner authors who have gone on to get book deals and other great stuff. J. Mark Bertrand, Kevin Lucia, Stacy Barton, Mike Delloso, Jeanne Damoff, Jeff Newberry, Michael Snyder, Elrena Evans, Margot Starbuck, and I know there's a bunch more! Drop us a line in the comments if we left you out of the list :D We just give thanks to God as He gives us the ability to publish excellent work. Gang, seriously, thank you to all of you who come by the blog, buy the books, submit great work, and I'm still kind of shellshocked by all of the support you've provided even in this strange economic time we're in. We're a small outfit, run by volunteers. We work hard to build great books for you, and we hope we've been a blessing along the way, because all of you--our readers, our bloggers, our subscribers, and our Relief and Diner staff--you've been a huge blessing to us. Thanks for making 2008 an awesome year, and we look forward to an exciting 2009! Your immensely grateful neighborhood tech guy, Coach Relief News Tuesday - Latest and Greatest Tue, 30 Dec 2008 00:31:29 +0100 http://www.reliefjournal.com/content/view/270/118/ Thinking about getting your MFA? Relief Editors Alan Ackmann and Amanda Bauch answer a second question about their MFA programs. Question Two: What do you feel was the strength of your program? Amanda Bauch: Although I tried to pinpoint a specific strength of my low-residency program, I couldn’t. So instead I’ll highlight a few key strengths. Over time, I grew to appreciate the interdisciplinary component. The first three of four semesters, students created a project that would feed into their writing, working with a mentor in a specific field. For example, my last interdisciplinary project was a website called “Places of My Youth.” I traveled back to my hometown, took pictures of significant places, and interposed them with text on the site. One of my mentors had told me that, after reading my work, she still couldn’t visualize where the action took place. This project brought these locations alive in my work, allowing me to include the kinds of details that make writing vibrant. My program also had a profound effect on me as a person. One of the biggest struggles I had with my memoir was piecing together my identity, a complex, fluid part of my daily life and, therefore, my writing. Spending the intense, long days of residency with people from diverse backgrounds and locations exposed me to different perspectives on writing, art, and life. Also, most of the students in my program were returning to school after a prolonged absence; some hadn’t taken a class in as long as thirty years. The richness of their lives helped me value my own experiences, making me believe that my life—and writing about it—had value. Faculty and students alike created a nurturing environment, combined with some tough love, that forced me out of my complacency as a writer, and made me long to give my story the voice it deserved. Of course, we also must not forget that the low-residency program had a practical, financial perk. Instead of having to move to Boston, one of the most expensive cities in the country (and where I’d have to work full-time to pay my bills), I could stay in Upstate New York, where the cost of living was much cheaper. That way, I was able to only work part-time and still have plenty of money to pay bills. The greatest strength perhaps lies in the low-residency program’s ability to help students achieve that ever-elusive work/life balance. But I’m saving that for another post, so you’ll have to stay tuned. Alan Ackmann: The first part of my answer is more of a general pedagogy response than a full-res specific response, but the biggest strength of my program was the emphasis on effective writing as reflection of critical reading. Arkansas’ students were required to take numerous form and theory classes, where we studied various creative schools of writing, methodically analyzing the techniques, styles, and subject matter of classic and contemporary writers. A high premium was placed on recognizing your gifts as a writer, and on emulating the skills of writers who had come before you. The process was not entirely imitative, of course; we were encouraged to take only what was useful to us from any given writer, and to augment our studies by uncovering our own artistic identities. Even in our obligatory workshop classes, the emphasis was not simply on a recursive correction of specific errors within a story, but on isolating the mental misconceptions that generated such errors, and on correcting those miscalculations so as to avoid additional lapses in the future. The net result of all that critical reading, for me, was an awareness of critical writing. Over time, I stopped just slapping down “whatever felt right” onto the page, and started making conscious decisions fueled by an awareness of how my moment-by-moment choices were effecting the larger work and its intentions, which increased my confidence as a writer. I’m sure it’s possible to come to those realizations without having a full-residency program, but I’m not sure I, personally, would have been able to do so. Learning how to write at this level was such a paradigm shift for me that it felt sluggish even when I was giving it everything I had, in terms of both time and effort. In all honesty, it took me almost a full year to understand why the stories I came into the program writing weren’t very good, and a whole other year to figure out how I might be able to make them better. And if I hadn’t had a half dozen or so good, good friends just a mile up the road who were going through the exact same thing I was, I’m not sure I would have had the stamina or courage to endure it. So those were the big strengths: the time to focus on the formative elements of fiction, and the community of people there to share in the experience. Related Post: Full Residency vs. Low Residency MFA Programs (content/view/264/114/) Alan Ackmann, Relief's Fiction Editor, earned his MFA in fiction from the University of Arkansas, and his short fiction has appeared in McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Ontario Review, Louisiana Literature, and elsewhere. He was a Tennessee Williams scholar at the 2007 Sewanee Writers Conference. He teaches at DePaul University, and is currently completing his first novel. Find out more at www.alanackmann.com (http://www.alanackmann.com/). Amanda Bauch, is an assistant editor for Relief, writer, and teacher. She fled the harsh Upstate New York winters and now resides outside of Jacksonville, Florida. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University and is currently working on a young adult novel and a memoir. Her short fiction has appeared in Tattoo Highway, Bent Pin Quarterly, The Hiss Quarterly, and nonfiction pieces have been published in Writer Advice, Empowerment4Women, as well as two print anthologies, Tainted Mirror and MOTIF: Writing By Ear (forthcoming, December 2008). Editor's Blog - Writing Mon, 29 Dec 2008 13:13:23 +0100 http://www.reliefjournal.com/content/view/269/133/ To celebrate the birth of Jesus, we're taking a break on the blog. I know there's lots of hustle and bustle during this holiday season, but try to take some time to chill (ha ha--we just got a bunch of snow dumped on us here in Chicagoland) and think about why we're really taking this time to remember the guy Who came down out of heaven to create a way to forgiveness and eternal life. All props to the J-man this Christmas! We'll return to a semi-regular schedule this coming Monday, but we'll also take a short break for New Year's. From all the Relief Staff, have a great Christmas! Editor's Blog - Misc Wed, 24 Dec 2008 17:00:00 +0100 http://www.reliefjournal.com/content/view/268/132/ Short story author and playwright Stacy Barton continues her series on writing her first novel.Rewrites Verses EditsThere are two ways to tackle fixing your story…rewrites and edits. Rewrites are when you cut off the second half, start in the middle, and add a whole new ending; edits are when you fix clichés, adjust voice, or otherwise rework the language. Edits, I like, rewrites are something to be “wrastled” to the ground and conquered. My cousin Greg was a wrastler (that’s how you say it in Oklahoma) and I know from watching him that you have to be smart and wiry and strong to win the match. As a short story author, I write most of my stories in a flash of passion and edit them until they sing. I rarely rewrite. However, after piecing together the second draft of my first novel, I found myself knee deep in a world of massive reconstruction. My new draft needed a slew of new scenes grafted into a spotty collection of rearranged material. Writing on the PorchI have a very distinct memory of sitting on the porch in the Florida sun just a few months ago. I was attempting to add new scenes into the holes of my second draft. It was painful. Spilling out onto the page in the thrill of a first draft is one thing, targeting your creativity into a specific hole of something you aren’t sure will survive the effort, is another thing all together.So there I was, crafting my second draft. I would sit out on the porch and write a scene or a part of a scene – bleed it onto the page – and then get up and walk around the house. After a lap, I would sit down and add some more, try again, finish a scene, then get up and walk into the kitchen. Inside, I would eat some cheese or a pickle or drink sweet tea right out of the jug. It was summer so when I returned to the porch, my legs stuck to the plastic chair. But I kept at it. I kept writing. One scene, one pace around the kitchen at a time. Finally, one day, it was done. Not done, done. I had just finished the new structure, which meant draft two was complete. It was jerky and bumpy and it needed a good shine, but the basic body was there and most of the scenes I needed had found their way onto the page. After I caught my breath, I could try to make what I had rewritten work. I could edit. Coming Up Next: Choosing Your Readers WiselyStacy Barton is a short story author and playwright who is currently slogging through her first novel. Her debut collection of short stories, Surviving Nashville, was released in 2007. Her stories and poetry have appeared in a variety of literary magazines including Potomac Review, Relief, Ruminate and Stonework and her fifth stage play, an adaptation of Dylan Thomas’ A Child’s Christmas in Wales, premiered in Orlando, Florida in 2006. In addition to short stories, plays, and poetry, Stacy is the author of a children's picture book and an animated short film. She is currently a free-lance scriptwriter for the Disney Company. Visit her at www.stacybarton.com (http://www.stacybarton.com/). General Blog - Writing and Publishing Thu, 18 Dec 2008 20:41:55 +0100 http://www.reliefjournal.com/content/view/267/130/ Stephen Swanson considers the potential for expanding our definition of worship music and the potential for broadening our view of faith at the same time. What Does Music Have to Do with Being a Christian? One of my first interactions with the question of “What is Christian?” came from my parents. Being strong, evangelical parents, they wanted to ensure that my young mind remained focused on the good, the holy, the sacred in the world. However, because of their generation’s experiences in the 1960s and 70s, I believe, they had a more open view of what Christian music might mean. So, rather than merely limiting my and my brothers’ searches for music to the “Christian/Spiritual/Gospel” racks in our local music stores, we had the option of justifying our choices by research and discernment. This forced me to really consider and study and think about what “Christianity” meant and how I could get my new favorite bands into that definition, or at least not obviously outside of that definition. This process of connecting music and faith within popular music is certainly not limited to parents and their children. Of late, I’ve seen a lot of other voices questioning the identity of Christianity through a musical lens. Of course, we all know the U2/Bono and faith debate. In the past few years, the renewed interest in old-timers like Johnny Cash have also added to this debate. Even the criticism of popular indie music has focused on the diversity of music that can be called Christian, from praise songs, to the Danielson Family, to Pedro the Lion, and onto Sufjan Stevens. This perhaps is epitomized in Andrew Beaujon’s (http://beaujon.org/)Body Piercing Saved My Life: Inside the Phenomenon of Christian Rock in which this contributing writer to Spin magazine spent a significant amount of time delving into what the phrase “Christian Rock” meant in and of itself and what it meant to the culture more broadly. “One Love”: A Story of a Little Rasta in Church A couple of years ago, my wife and I attended a fairly small church in a very urban neighborhood, and we loved to go to the early service that was held in the fellowship hall because it was a bit less formal and the people (a mix of people from the neighborhood, more elder parishioners, and young families) always actively welcomed us in a genuine and interested way that accepted us as people and not just potential donors or volunteers, although they needed plenty of both. One morning, we were running a touch late, and as we were coming in, the praise band was beginning the first song, but rather than a more accepted praise song, hymn, or an example of the sort of Jesus People songs of which middle-aged ex-hippies are wont to enjoy, I heard familiar off-beat guitar rhythms more associated with islands and beaches than a wintery Northwest Ohio. “Kicking off” is not really an action that one may ascribe to this group of dedicated musicians, but they did their darnedest to kick off the 1977 Bob Marley hit “One Love” right at that moment. At first, I thought of it as cool and impetuous choice highlighting the difference between this church and many of the more staid, A-Mighty-Fortress-Is-Our-God type church. It certainly communicate that message, but more lay beneath the surface. Listening to the words, my mind shifted into the discerning gear instituted in my parents’ house and refined in my liberal arts, Christian college. I immediately set aside the obvious differences between the Rastafarian background grounding the song and the Christian context in which it was being performed. I know that this is a false assumption to some degree, but the musicians were clearly not playing the song to communicate their devotion to Jah but rather because it spoke to something in their faith. My goal was to find out what that might consist of. Stay tuned for Stephen's next blog, where he'll analyze the lyrics of this popular song in the context of faith and worship.Stephen Swanson teaches as a lecturer of media and critical reading, thinking, and writing courses at Penn State-Erie, The Behrend College. He enjoys word games, his cats, and cooking and knitting with his wife and son. The majority of his “free” time is spent trying to keep up with the dozen or so “must-see” series on television with the help of his DVR. He holds degrees in Communications, Film, and Media and American Culture Studies from Calvin College, Central Michigan University, and Bowling Green State University, respectively. He edited a collection of essays entitled Battleground States: Scholarship in Contemporary America and is working on a book on ethical themes in classic and contemporary film noir. General Blog - Faith Wed, 17 Dec 2008 20:44:51 +0100 http://www.reliefjournal.com/content/view/266/123/ Coach recommends some really nifty writer tech. Dudes, you have got to see this. The Pulse Smart Pen combines the grand old pen-and-paper thing with modern day tech. It records what you write! Check this out: It does rely heavily on special paper that has micro-dots. You can buy the paper in Moleskine-type notebooks, three subject notebooks, or you can print your own if you have a 600-dpi color laser just laying around the house. But seriously, the ability to write stuff on paper and then transfer it to your computer for manipulation or download as a PDF, who wouldn't want that? You can find out more at the official site, http://www.livescribe.com. (http://www.livescribe.com) Here's one more video for the road: Relief Recommends - Misc Wed, 17 Dec 2008 10:15:18 +0100 http://www.reliefjournal.com/content/view/265/96/ Editor-In-Chief Kimberly Culbertson shares some news.Relief S.O.S.Relief's support raising campaign is scheduled to end December 31. If you check out the ChipIn widget to your right, you'll see that we've raised $580.00 towards the $2000.00 goal. You can also see that we've reduced the goal from $2000.00 to $1801.00 to reflect two donations that came to us via mail. That means that we are still short a little over $1200.00 with only 14 days left in the year. The good news is that Relief won't be closing its doors if we don't meet the goal by the deadline; we'll have to reevaluate some of the projects and continue to raise funds into the new year, but we've raised enough to head into 2009.Please consider donating even $5.00. If only ten percent of those who come to our website every month donated just $5, we'd easily surpass our goal. Thanks for the prayers and kind words that we've received via email. We hope to be around for many years to come, and we're thrilled to know that many of you have the same hope. And of course, thanks to those who have subscribed or donated to the journal :D Coach's Midnight DinerCoach's Midnight Diner, Volume 2 is now in layout. The second volume is shaping up to be even more hard-hitting than the first. For those of you who are fans of speculative fiction, this genre anthology won't disappoint. You'll be able to purchase a copy early in the new year. Relief News Tuesday - Latest and Greatest Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:58:13 +0100 http://www.reliefjournal.com/content/view/264/118/ Two Relief staffers, Alan Ackmann and Amanda Bauch, begin a new series to inform the masses about the MFA experience. One of the cornerstone’s of Relief’s philosophy is that good writers are made, not born. There are the occasional fables of some hot-shot phenom bursting onto the scene with tales of perching before his laptop, cracking his knuckles, and spewing forth ream upon ream (do printers still use reams?) of prose guided merely by hope and instinct. Most writers, though, agree that you can’t sit down to write, and expect to write well, without having earned the knowledge of how to do so. Where writers often differ, though, is on the question of where one should acquire said knowledge. While it is possible to become a good writer just by living fully and reading well, many contemporary writers elect to speed up the process—hopefully—by enrolling in an MFA program. One of the interesting sub-questions in writing centers on the pros and cons of full residency or part-time residency programs. To better explore that question, Relief asked two of its staffers, Alan Ackmann and Amanda Bauch, to share their experiences with writing programs in Relief’s most recent blog series.Question One: Why did you choose a full residency or low residency program?Alan Ackmann: To be honest, part of my initial choice was driven by snobbery. When I went to get my MFA, low residency programs were just coming into vogue, and didn’t have nearly the pedigree that many of the more established full-res programs did (that’s changed, of course, as the respectable programs have defined themselves and as academia itself has grown into the distance learning resources now available). Additionally, I was steered along by my professors at undergraduate, who encouraged me to follow the same path through an MFA as they did, and since I admired these professors greatly, I didn’t protest. Besides, full-res programs promised more of what my early twenties self wanted: the chance to make writing a fully immersive experience. What I wanted more than anything was a community of writers—peers invested in the same sorts of pursuits I was, and with whom I could learn and grow. I didn’t have a family or even a serious relationship, and therefore had none of the “real-life” obligations that often make low-residency programs so enticing and practical. Speaking of practical, my other main reason for selecting a full-res program had do with the resources they could offer. By enrolling in a full-res program, I was eligible for teaching assistantships and grants, which combined to fund my education fully, and to give me an adequate living stipend besides. Additionally, I ultimately wanted to use my MFA to teach, and I knew that the extensive classroom experience and training I could get with my particular program would be very useful when the time came to transition into back into “real-life” and go on the big boy job hunt.So off into the full-time game I went.Amanda Bauch: Since we’re being honest here, I will confess that the first time around, I didn’t choose a low-residency MFA program. After receiving my BA in English Literature, I only applied to full-residency programs. I couldn’t fathom relinquishing the academic environment I cherished, where faculty nurtured me, friends surrounded me 24/7, and I had flourished both academically and socially.My top choice, Emerson College in Boston, accepted me. I looked forward to attending a well-respected program that would undoubtedly provide many post-graduation opportunities. Not only this, but I longed to return to a major metropolitan area, one I considered second only to New York City as a literary mecca.Per the usual, my plans didn’t align with God’s plans, because I did something stupid. I fell in love.I met someone special a mere two months before my Boston departure. What to do? If you’re as led by your heart as I am, you tell Emerson College “thanks, but no thanks,” and start applying to low-residency programs. Also, considering the amount of geographic upheaval I’d experienced in my life up to that point, the thought of staying appealed more than going. So when I discovered a fairly new low-residency program at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts (not Boston, but close enough, and maybe even better), I figured, “Why not?” I applied and a few months later, I received a phone call at work from the program director, telling me that I’d been accepted, and they hoped to see me at the next residency. I told him that they definitely would. Good thing I did say yes, since the “someone special” has been my husband for over three years now. Alan Ackmann, Relief's Fiction Editor, earned his MFA in fiction from the University of Arkansas, and his short fiction has appeared in McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Ontario Review, Louisiana Literature, and elsewhere. He was a Tennessee Williams scholar at the 2007 Sewanee Writers Conference. He teaches at DePaul University, and is currently completing his first novel. Find out more at www.alanackmann.com (http://www.alanackmann.com/).Amanda Bauch, is an assistant editor for Relief, writer, and teacher. She fled the harsh Upstate New York winters and now resides outside of Jacksonville, Florida. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University and is currently working on a young adult novel and a memoir. Her short fiction has appeared in Tattoo Highway, Bent Pin Quarterly, The Hiss Quarterly, and nonfiction pieces have been published in Writer Advice, Empowerment4Women, as well as two print anthologies, Tainted Mirror and MOTIF: Writing By Ear (forthcoming, December 2008). Editor's Blog - Writing Sun, 14 Dec 2008 21:06:33 +0100 http://www.reliefjournal.com/content/view/263/121/ Travis Griffith reviews A Visible Sign, a collection of poety by Relief author Jeff Newberry.I’ve never been a fan of poetry for the same reason many people adore it: it’s so damn esoteric. The hidden meanings and sometimes contradictory messages in poetry have driven me mad as I’ve attempted to decipher the poet’s intent and take away a meaningful bit of knowledge. Instead I’d wade through vague descriptors and disconnected verse in search of a concrete thought. But then I opened the pages of a new poetry collection and remembered that the fluidity and free-flowing nature of human thought is exactly what makes it beautiful. Thoughts were never intended to fit into a concrete mold, which is what Jeff Newberry reminded me of and is why Relief recommends his new poetry collection, A Visible Sign.Dark, Brooding Words Question God's Existence Jeff’s poems are not going to fill you up with hope and warm fuzzy feelings like a hot peppermint mocha does on Christmas morning. At least not on the first read. Instead they address the pure frustration and at times, absolute desperation, in searching for proof of God and attaching meaning to life in its darkest moments. The dark undertones in these poems are appealing and refreshing simply because they don’t attempt to preach life’s answers. This book asks life’s questions through the eyes of despair, the agony of grief, the nights spent awake with nothing but our thoughts while we hold on to the last straws of hope that ultimately ends in nothing but more silence.Perhaps God is in that silence. Or Perhaps not. Jeff writes:“God is a scream as mast takes man overboard. God is the sting of salt in a drowning man’s eyes. The shock of seawater as the throat tightens. The freezing hands losing grip, the muted voices, the last view as a pale hand grabs fistfuls of sea.”Of his father’s death, Jeff writes:“Never heard his voice whisper secrets of existence. Never felt the hand of the Holy Ghost. Put into my chest, fingers through flesh, to grab what’s certain: a still beating heart that pumps the blood that moves the hands that do not clasp when I do manage prayer.”When Hope is All We HaveAnd manage prayer he does, even when his world offers no other proof or hope that God even exists. I recommend A Visible Sign because it’s a testament to hope and a search for that visible sign that confirms the existence of God--even if that sign is simply the echoes of ones own thoughts.Travis Griffith, who recently left behind the corporate marketing world, choosing family and writing in lieu of “a comfortable life” financially, is a former atheist trying to define what leading a spiritual life really means. His children’s book, Your Father Forever, published in 2005 by Illumination Arts Publishing Company, Inc. captures only a fraction of his passion for fatherhood. Relief Recommends - Book Reviews Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:44:46 +0100 http://www.reliefjournal.com/content/view/262/96/ Editor-In-Chief Kimberly Culbertson congratulates two Relief authors.Congratulations to Christopher Fisher and Lisa Ohlen Harris!The Pushcart Prize XXXIII, edited by Bill Henderson, was just released. We're happy to announce that two Relief authors have received a Pushcart Prize Special Mention: Chris Fisher for his story, Priest of Exit 53 (Relief Volume 1, Issue 2) and Lisa Ohlen Harris for her essay, Torn Veil (Relief Volume 1, Issue 4). This yearly anthology honors the best poetry, fiction, and essays published by small presses in the previous year. The Pushcart Prize is the “most honored literary award in America” and has singled out some of the greatest literary work in print for the past three decades. Here at Relief, we are thrilled that these two nominations, from our very first volume of work, have received this honor. Thanks, Chris and Lisa, for the privilege of publishing your work! Relief News Tuesday - Latest and Greatest Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:13:53 +0100 http://www.reliefjournal.com/content/view/261/133/ Editor-In-Chief Kimberly Culbertson brings news of sales and shipping!Christmas Sale Ends Wednesday!Order a subscription for yourself or someone else, and we'll make sure we ship the first issue in time for Christmas! AND anyone who orders a subscription by December 10th will also receive a free copy of Coach's Midnight Diner! We'll also have single issues of 2.4 on sale for $12.95 and Coach's Midnight Diner on sale for only $8.00! We'll ship all the sale orders on the 11th to be sure of pre-Christmas delivery.Relief 2.4 Ships Tomorrow Morning!We've been checking our list... (okay, well... our list of orders and subscriptions...) and we're sending out boxes and bundles tomorrow morning! Relief's executive office is filled with piles of journals in various states of the handling side of shipping and handling, and we're looking forward to sending these packages out in time for Christmas! Editor's Blog - Misc Mon, 08 Dec 2008 11:29:49 +0100 http://www.reliefjournal.com/content/view/260/130/ Travis Griffith begins the story of his walk away from atheism. The story of how I wound up believing in God borders on the unbelievable. For 28 years, I hated the God I didn’t even believe in. Now I believe in Him, and in the existence of Christ, though I can’t call myself a Christian because I disagree with some core aspects of the religion. Relief is a Christian journal that isn’t afraid of non-Christian views, and I am a non-Christian who believes in the power of true Christianity. It’s the perfect combination so I’m devoting this blog series to telling the story of why I was an atheist, and the incredible events that caused me to change my mind.Even as a child, I was an atheist. The concept of God never made sense to me, though I did occasionally go to church with my parents or family friends. I remember listening to the pastor (or priest) and feeling like I was going to burst into flames; even as a young child. It’s not that I simply didn’t like church; it’s more like I was absolutely repulsed by the entire idea of God and the Christian story. One particular church event etched that belief into my mind for good. I was invited by my best friend’s family to an outdoor pizza and movie night on the back lawn of their church. It was a good time, until the pastor came around, individually asking the children to follow him to his office. When it was my turn, I had no idea what to expect and didn’t want to go. I reluctantly followed him down a dark, dingy concrete staircase lit by a single flickering light bulb and turned a corner into his office. He sat me down and simply asked for a quarter (I had a ton of them because the church was selling pop and candy for 25 cents). “You need to let Christ into your heart,” he said, “and that costs a quarter.” I remember being entirely confused, and said something like, “So I can either use my quarter to buy laffy taffy or Jesus? I choose the laffy taffy.” I was only 10, but I knew something was horribly wrong with having to pay to let Christ into my heart. I didn’t even believe in Christ, but knew he was free for anyone who did. Looking back, I realize that it was in that moment that I solidified my belief that organized religion was nothing more than a fear-based way to control humanity, that religion only served to comfort the people weak enough to believe. When I was asked about my belief in God, I’d simply answer, “I believe in me, and I worship my family. I don’t need to believe in anything more than that.”This was the state of my young belief system when I started seeing spirits in my bedroom at home.Seeing SpiritsI was torn between the things I’d see with my own eyes, and my rational thought telling me I was making it all up. Magazines would fly off my dresser, floating orbs would hover at my feet in bed, and my inflatable Denver Broncos mascot would swing wildly from the ceiling. It’s when the sounds of footsteps and knocking filled my room at night that I decided to mention my ‘problem’ to my mom. I think she already knew and was just waiting for me to mention something. She simply asked if I was afraid and if I wanted to move back upstairs. The thought of moving out of the basement had never crossed my mind. I told her that I was happy down there, and if the things I was seeing really were ghosts, they sure weren’t threatening. It’s like they just wanted to let me know they were there, and I was OK with that. Part of me still didn’t believe in ghosts though, partly because that would mean I’d have to second guess my beliefs about God. The visions increased over the years, though I was still reluctant to fully believe in them. I entered my high school years with an utter hatred of all things religion-related, but with a growing list of unexplained ‘ghostly’ experiences. It was in high school that I met my future wife. Had she not experienced with me the most frightening night of my life (to that point), I would’ve checked myself into an asylum. Of all the experiences I had as a child, I was never afraid. This night though left me quivering in the fetal position in bed, vowing to never again even consider belief in ghosts… or God. If I didn’t believe, they couldn’t get to me anymore… right? Next Post: The Night of Pitchfork Man Travis Griffith, who recently left behind the corporate marketing world, choosing family and writing in lieu of “a comfortable life” financially, is a former atheist trying to define what leading a spiritual life really means. His children’s book, Your Father Forever, published in 2005 by Illumination Arts Publishing Company, Inc. captures only a fraction of his passion for fatherhood. General Blog - Faith Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:41:55 +0100 http://www.reliefjournal.com/content/view/259/131/ Blogger Kristin Noblin offers helpful advice for the holiday season.Have a Holly, Jolly, Unconventional ChristmasI’ve had a love/hate relationship with Christmas for some time now. Like most kids, I grew up enthralled with the lights, the presents, the intrigue, the magic; yet as I got older, the twinkle of Christmas lights got overshadowed by to-do lists, a frantic schedule in the name of holiday cheer, and TV commercials telling me what my family absolutely must have this holiday season (or clearly I do not love them). Still, I look forward to the baking, the decorations, my favorite Christmas CDs, “Charlie Brown’s Christmas,” and my mom’s strawberry jello salad. Unfortunately, the gift giving can be rather problematic. I spend a lot of time trying to come up with exactly the right gift for exactly the right person, and every year there seem to be more people to buy for. Between parents and step-parents, siblings and step-siblings, in-laws, nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles, fiancées, grandparents, cousins, the occasional friend, the dog, and oh yes, my husband, I always seem to forget a handful of people when making my initial list, which leads to an inevitable panic when I realize my oversight. Said panic is finally alleviated when, after much stress and scheming, I finally settle on buying the neglected family member yet another Starbucks gift card for the unstated minimum amount deemed acceptable for Christmas gifts. Once everyone has a gift, I spend several hours wrapping presents and waiting in line at the post office before collapsing into my chair at the Christmas Eve service. Oh right: Jesus. That’s why we do this. Each year, I am left wondering how exactly I managed to spend that much money. I don’t have to look very far—either within the media or within my friends and family—to know I am not alone. We need a new solution.The Advent ConspiracyFortunately, there are alternatives out there, movements that are quickly building momentum. My church in Portland, Imago Dei Community, introduced my husband and me to one such movement, the Advent Conspiracy, during our first year of marriage. The concept is simple: Jesus did not come to earth to promote consumerism and credit card debt. So instead of buying more gifts for your family that they don’t need (and may not even like), be different:Worship fully.Spend less.Give more.Love all.In other words, establish a Christmas budget; then, give relationally, give creatively, and give the money you don’t spend away. Suddenly, I could breathe again.My husband and I enthusiastically embraced this idea and immediately had a difficult time implementing it since all of our family lived out of state. And we overspent our budget. We vowed to do better the next year, and we did—somewhat. But we found it harder to cut back than we anticipated: we didn’t want to give the people most important to us the impression we don’t care by giving them a popsicle stick birdhouse when they bought us a really nice gift. When I added up the receipts, we were over budget. Again. Fail. This year, we have resolved once again to take another step forward. We are now in Seattle—closer to both our families and within driving distance of mine—making it easier to give relationally. My husband and I are also in a very different spot financially than we were a year ago, as he is a full-time student and I am unemployed. At the same time, we are away from our church. We are not immersed in a community committed to rethinking Christmas, and we are not surrounded by the Advent Conspiracy events our church put in place (like the do-it-yourself gift day).Even still, I am tired of giving our consumeristic society a stake in how I celebrate the birth of Christ. We have barely passed Thanksgiving. Already I find the holiday commercials increasingly grating, insincere, and self-serving, particularly as many people across the nation wonder how they will pay their mortgage next month. I am still committed to selecting the right gift for the right person: choosing to unconventionally celebrate Christmas underscores the need to make each gift highly personal and highly suited to the person receiving it. This Christmas, I want to live within my means, expand who I consider to be my neighbor, and realign my values with those of Christ. This focus requires me to let go of what others may or may not think of me and live in a way that worships Jesus and loves those around me.The Next Step: Gift Giving AlternativesFor those of you who, like me, want and need to do something different for Christmas this year, I encourage you to check out the following ideas and resources:Consider creating a system (perhaps a variation on drawing names) if you, too, have an extremely long list of folks for which to buy gifts. My siblings and I implemented this idea earlier this fall to limit the gift-giving frenzy.Find out more about the Advent Conspiracy at http://www.adventconspiracy.org/ (http://www.adventconspiracy.org/). On this website, you will find: a short video that overviews the movement information on the Advent Conspiracy’s commitment to solving the world’s water crisis and its partnership with Living Water International Ideas on practical ways to give more, spend less, and love allCreate the gifts you give away.If you are struggling to move beyond the popsicle stick birdhouse, go to sites like http://www.rethinkingchristmas.com/ (http://www.rethinkingchristmas.com/) andwww.buynothingchristmas.org/alternatives/index.html (http://www.buynothingchristmas.org/alternatives/index.html) which have ideas and forums on Christmas gift alternatives.Instead of buying something new, give something that is reused—something that you already own or something from a thrift store.Bake, play, talk, and spend time with the people you care about. Sometimes the best gift you can give is consistent time with you.Provide a much-needed service—like free yard work or childcare.Refer to the “Unconventional Christmas Shoppers” Facebook group (www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7525086262 ref=mf (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7525086262 ref=mf)) for lists of organizations which sell products that are fair-traded and benefit the poor worldwide.Utilize resources such as World Vision’s Online Gift Catalog (http://donate.worldvision.org/OA_HTML/xxwv2ibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?section=10389 (http://donate.worldvision.org/OA_HTML/xxwv2ibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?section=10389)) where you can give a gift to the poor in the name of someone you love.May we all worship Jesus more fully this Christmas season.Kristin Mulhern Noblin is a graduate of Wheaton College and has been previously published in Relief and in Rick McKinley's This Beautiful Mess. A veteran middle school English teacher and a worthy Scrabble opponent, she hates tomatoes and will never own a cat. Since recently moving to Seattle, she and her husband have frequent adventures learning to navigate the city. She enjoys good coffee, watching football, and dancing with her husband. When not getting lost in Seattle, she is busy standing for truth, beauty, freedom, and love. General Blog - Life Wed, 03 Dec 2008 21:34:38 +0100 http://www.reliefjournal.com/content/view/258/96/ Editor-In-Chief Kimberly Culbertson is honored to announce this year's nominations for the Pushcart Prize.It's that time again! Pushcart judges began judging work on December 1st! For the 2008 prize, we've nominated the following work from Volume Two of Relief:Poetry“Longing for Eve” by Mary M. Dixon, Volume 2, Issue 4Short Story “Biology” by Helen W. Mallon, Volume 2, Issue 1“Arbor” by John Keats, Volume 2, Issue 1“The Last Thing before Dirt” by Melanie Haney, Volume 2, Issue 3Essay“The World I Breathe” by Karen Miedrich-Luo, Volume 2, Issue 2“Dead End” by Jessica Belt, Volume 2, Issue 4We want to congratulate the nominees and to thank all our 2008 authors for the privilege of publishing your work. Relief News Tuesday - Latest and Greatest Wed, 03 Dec 2008 10:15:21 +0100