Getting Curious: May

This new monthly email features ways the FPC staff is getting curious.

by Rev. Amy Starr Redwine on May 22, 2023

This new monthly email features ways the FPC staff is getting curious. Find ideas, recommendations, and inspiration from a different member of the staff each month. This month features our Pastor and Head of Staff, Amy Starr Redwine.

1. Reading

This year, I have been slowly making my way through The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt and it is a revelation! Haidt is a moral psychologist who taught at UVA for almost 20 years. This book looks at why groups of people think and reason differently, and why these differences so often lead to anger and polarization. He makes a compelling case for how much our political and religious views are formed more by gut feelings than rational deliberation. The subtitle is Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion and this book is helping me feel more informed and more optimistic -- no small feat when our divisions can feel so hopelessly entrenched.

2. Reading

If you know me, you know I'm a sucker for a good book, so I'm sharing another recommendation! Finding the Words by Colin Campbell. This is the most insightful and eminently practical book on grief I have read, born from pain and experience after Campbell's two teenage children were killed in a car accident. I am especially grateful for the many concrete suggestions and practices he offers to those who are grieving. It has inspired me to question whether we in the Protestant Christian tradition could have more and better rituals around grief, especially after the funeral when the shock of death (even a long-anticipated death) wears off and grief sets in.

3. Listening

I can't wait to see the Broadway musical Hadestown, coming to Richmond for a limited run later this month. It is a retelling of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, and the story and songs are deeply moving. (I also feel a little pride that Anais Mitchell, the author, is a fellow Middlebury alum, and her father, Don Mitchell, was one of my English professors!) If musicals aren't your thing, check out Anais Mitchell's self-titled album, also lovely.

4. Cooking

Although I was a vegetarian for many years, I was never a big fan of tofu — until I came upon this recipe for Coconut-Caramel Braised Tofu. I know it sounds a little weird, but it's not sweet or terribly coconut flavored, but a savory, satisfying meal our whole family enjoys and which now has a place in our regular rotation of recipes.

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