catapult magazine

catapult magazine
 

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Theology & Worldview

Words

Language is a complicated thing.  It can clarify and obfuscate, it can heal and wound, it can educate and confuse.  This collection explores the words that have stuck with us, for whatever reason.

Tree

Trees play an important role in many of our most formative human tales, whether personal or communal, literal or symbolic, and they stand silently bearing witness to our present lives.  Where has your story intersected with a tree in a meaningful way?

Craft

From the latest trend in crafting to the great cathedrals, from hobbies to professional skills—making things with our hands from the stuff of earth is an impulse we humans can’t ignore.  Stories of learning to appreciate our own handiwork and that of others.

Bloom

In some parts of the U.S., Mother’s Day is used as a marker for the last frost and then it’s safe to put plants in the ground outdoors, but gardening is much more than just putting a plant in the soil, both before and after the last frost date.  On the lessons we learn from growing things.

I Love My Place

For some, the relationship to the places where they live is characterized by fidelity, not unlike a marriage relationship.  What does it mean to love our places in sickness and in health, for better or worse, ‘til death do us part?

Schooled

Learning happens everywhere all the time, but schools provide spaces specifically committed to education.  Learning might be the only constant, however, as schools vary widely in terms of size, location, philosophy, pedagogy and more.  On our experiences with schools, from Sunday school to university.

Quitting

The old saying claims that “winners never quit,” but sometimes they do: they quit jobs to pursue dreams or downward mobility, they quit destructive physical or emotional or economic habits.  Stories of quitting to win -- or meaning to.  Soon.

Embodied

“The soul is good, but the body is bad.”  We have some ancient Greeks to thank for that false dichotomy.  In the season of incarnation, we’ll consider what’s good about being embodied, and what’s complicated.

Just Say No

The things we decline might indeed be illegal or bad for our health, as the War on Drugs has attempted to teach every child in the U.S.  But sometimes, we need to say “no” to good things -- for the sake of health, for the sake of simplicity, for the necessity of making a choice.  On learning to say no, and letting our minds wander a while down roads not taken.

Sacred Space, Safe Space

Throughout history, human cultures have delineated sacred space in a variety of ways, from architecture to artifacts to rituals.  And yet, sacred spaces haven’t always been safe spaces—sometimes they’re marked by who feels excluded, marginalized or frightened.  What’s the relationship between a sense of the holy and a sense of hospitality, both within and outside of the institutional Church?