Letter from the Editors

💛 Hey Reader,

We’re closing out 2022 with three articles in response to our “Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot?” writing prompt in which we invite writers to share one, two, or all three of the following:

  1. Love It: A memory they’ll be sure to take with them into 2023
  2. Leave It: An incident they’re all too happy to leave behind in the annals of 2022
  3. Believe It: Something they’re looking forward to in 2023

Veteran OHF Weekly writers Drew Downs and Peter Faur, and newcomer Arturo Dominguez, answered the call with thoughtful and inspiring articles, each from their unique yet relatable perspective. Enjoy.

To our longtime readers and those of you just discovering OHF Weekly, we know you have a choice as to what you allow into your email client and the websites you regularly visit. Thank you for choosing us as a source for articles on racial equity, allyship, and inclusion.

As you reflect on the lows and highs of 2022, may you celebrate the year’s end as a new beginning.

Love one another.

Clay and Sherry
The OHF Weekly Editors

New This Week

“How COVID Changed Everything”

by Arturo Dominguez

Photo by Zac Durant on Unsplash

Recently, our entire family was struck with COVID. Me, my wife, kids, grandkids (including my granddaughter who’s a preemie), and maybe even the dog. It was bad. It hit us all like a truck out of nowhere. It went from initial symptoms to the flu x 10. Body aches, congestion, fever, loss of taste and smell, all of it. We’d managed to avoid the Coronavirus for nearly 3 years.

When it finally got us, it got us good.

I recently wrote about our family’s COVID experience. And while we all hated the whole affair, I found somewhat of a new appreciation for life. Like surviving a stroke at the age of 40 in 2014, my outlook changed. Maybe it’s not as drastic as the change that occurred 8 years ago, but it was most certainly a reminder of what’s important.

(Read the full article at OHF Weekly)

“I Want my Family to Live Closer”

by Drew Downs

I called my parents to share the good news. Our freshman daughter was cast in the ensemble of her high school’s production of Oklahoma!

It was in a later call that I casually dropped that show dates would be mid-November.

That’s it. No pressure. But I wanted to apply some. I wanted this to be important enough.

Families are different/similar.

My family is close-ish. I don’t think there’s a truly objective definition of what close is. I know that I talk about stuff with my parents that a lot of people wouldn’t.

We also don’t live nearby. And this can ache.

My kids have never lived close to their grandparents. And their grandparents have missed soccer games, tennis matches, and all the concerts and holiday plays.

They missed the fourth grade talent show when our daughter played “Good Riddance” on electric guitar and learned the words so she could sing it. Then for fifth grade, taught herself the Harry Potter theme.

The life they’ve missed is taking a toll on me. Not just because I want them there. But because they want to be there and haven’t been. And as they get older, their ability to be there fades.

(Read the full article at OHF Weekly)

“Is it Heresy or Insight?”

by Peter Faur

Photo by Clu Soh on Unsplash

Like many people, I’ve been struggling for several years with what the church has come to represent to so much of the world — rigid, judgmental, intellectually barren, heartless, and clannish. As I told a friend recently, it’s really difficult to claim Christianity when so much of it looks so ugly.

Yet, I am a Christian, and I believe the God I worship has the power to transform individuals, nations, and the world. That’s why I was delighted this year to find two books that will go a long way toward resurrecting a simple idea: God is love, and those who follow God will work to bring and expand love to the world. I’ll definitely be bringing these books into 2023 and beyond.

The first is Brian D. McLaren’s Do I Stay Christian?: A Guide for the Doubters, the Disappointed, and the Disillusioned. The second is John Pavlovitz’s If God Is Love, Don’t Be a Jerk.

(Read the full article at OHF Weekly)

Final Thoughts