ISSUE No. 56 | APRIL 2025
WELCOME
If you’re new to CULTIVARE we welcome you! CULTIVARE is a monthly field guide for life and faith, brought to you by TEND. Each month we explore a specific “field” – a topic or theme through which we seek to cultivate contemplation, engagement, and deeper understanding. Our guiding questions are:
What are you cultivating in your life?
What fruit do you want your life to bear?
Each issue of CULTIVARE is structured into three parts:
Cultivate: Examines a specific “Field” or facet of life and offers questions to unearth and challenge our held perspective; along with concise kernels of truth which we call “Seeds.”
Irrigate: Explores the ways we nurture our understanding, which varies from individual to individual. We offer six means of irrigation: Art, Poetry, Profile, Film, Essay, and Books.
Germinate: Encourages practical ways to engage in becoming more fruitful and free in our lives.
Our name, CULTIVARE, in Spanish means “I will cultivate.” We hope each issue of our field guide will encourage you to do just that – cultivate new thoughts, actions, faith, hope, and fruitful living. We invite you to dig in and DIG DEEP!
FIELD
For we are partners working together for God, and you are God's field.
(I Corinthians 3:9)
Our theme this month is JOY. This is the third in our nine-part series on the Fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control; against such things there is no law (ESV).
Joy is different from happiness. Happiness is a feeling that evaporates when pain or struggle arrive. Happiness is therefore fleeting. In contrast, joy wells up from deep within. It emerges through our pain and struggle, like the first blossoms of spring, like a diamond mined from deep within. Joy is more virtue than emotion and can serve as an abiding anchor. Happiness often acts like an aimless balloon.
What do you think of when you think of joy? Perhaps it was the time you came to faith in Christ. Perhaps it was the birth of a child. Maybe the hard work leading to a graduation. Possibly a reunion with an estranged friend. Maybe it was that first Easter Sunday when the resurrection story became real to you and you could not contain your tears of joy when you exclaimed – “He is alive!” – knowing that you, too, were alive in new ways after all the pain and struggle you had endured.
As a Spiritual Director, I am privileged to listen to individuals who, after years of struggling with shame and guilt, find the courage to confess their failings and sins to God. The power of forgiveness and the peace of release, inevitably lead to exultant joy, an abiding sense of being free and alive in new ways.
In this issue we are privileged to feature another original essay by Andrew DeCort, this one entitled “Joy: Our Eucatastrophe.” We profile Phillip Neri, the Patron Saint of Joy who lived in the sixteenth century and was known for his enlarged heart and enduring humor. We feature two poems this month, one by Mary Oliver and another by Grace Paley. Our artist of the month is Sister Rosetta Tharpe, affectionately known among musicians as “the Godmother of Rock and Roll.”
Philosopher Dallas Willard observed that “Joy is a pervasive sense of well-being.” This Easter, this year, may we each experience a penetrating and ever-present sense of well-being, even amidst the challenges we individually face or the fears we harbor about the world today. May the emerging buds and blossoms of Spring remind us that whatever winter we have navigated is behind us. In the words of author Joseph Campbell, “We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy.” Let’s embody and live the fruit of joy! (DG)
***
Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!
(Psalm 126:5 ESV)
You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.
(Psalm 4:7 ESV)
So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy,
and ran to tell his disciples.
(Matthew 28:8 NIV)
Until now you have asked nothing in my name.
Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
(John 16:24)
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing,
so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
(Romans 15:13)
***
TEND CAN HELP! If you would like to take tangible steps working toward a new chapter in your life TEND can help. Explore our offerings by clicking here:
SEEDS
A handful of quotes to contemplate and cultivate into your life
God created us in joy and created us for joy, and in the long run not all the darkness there is in the world and in ourselves can separate us finally from that joy, because whatever else it means to say that God created us in his image, I think it means that even when we cannot believe in him, even when we feel most spiritually bankrupt and deserted by him, his mark is deep within us. We have God’s joy in our blood. (Frederick Buechner)
Christian joy is essentially the enjoyment of God, the fruit of communion with Him.
(Jerry Bridges, The Practice of Godliness)
The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives. (Russell M. Nelson)
Joy is that kind of happiness that doesn't depend on what happens. Normally, we are happy when something good happens, and we are unhappy when something happens that we do not consider good. We pick and choose. But joy is our wholehearted response to whatever opportunity is given to us in any moment. It does not depend on what happens… If we cultivate this grateful joy…we can be happy no matter what happens. We sometimes get this wrong. We think that people are grateful because they are happy. But is this true? Look closely, and you will find that people are happy because they are grateful.
(David Steindl-Rast)
The difference between shallow happiness and a deep, sustaining joy is sorrow. Happiness lives where sorrow is not. When sorrow arrives, happiness dies. It can't stand pain. Joy, on the other hand, rises from sorrow and therefore can withstand all grief. Joy, by the grace of God, is the transfiguration of suffering into endurance, and of endurance into character, and of character into hope—and the hope that has become our joy does not (as happiness must for those who depend upon it) disappoint us. (Walter Wangerin Jr.)
We who are Christians have a further cause for joy: like Jesus, we know that we are loved by God our Father. This love transforms our lives and fills us with joy. It makes us see that Jesus did not come to lay burdens upon us. He came to teach us what it means to be fully happy and fully human. Therefore, we discover joy when we discover truth—the truth about God our Father, the truth about Jesus our Savior, the truth about the Holy Spirit who lives in our hearts. (Pope John Paul II)
It is impossible to receive Christ and not to receive His joy. For His joy IS joy! It is the delirious music of those who have been delivered. (Calvin Miller, Walking with the Saints)
Do not look for rest in any pleasure, because you were not created for pleasure: you were created for JOY. And if you do not know the difference between pleasure and joy you have not yet begun to live. (Thomas Merton, Seeds of Contemplation)
The Resurrection is the eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation—This story begins and ends in joy. (JRR Tolkein)
ART
Sister Rosetta Tharpe
By Olivia Mather
She would sing until you cried, and then she would sing until you danced for joy.
She helped to keep the church alive and the saints rejoicing.
(Tharpe’s Gravestone Epitaph)
Our artist of the month is gospel superstar Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Tharpe was a traveling singer and guitar player whose style earned her an important place in American music history as the “Godmother of Rock and Roll.” She paired innovative electric guitar playing and energetic singing with gospel lyrics about hope. Her performances embodied not just the good feeling of joy, but its power.
Tharpe was born in Arkansas and like many African Americans in the 1920s, left the South for Chicago as part of the Great Migration. Tharpe’s mother was an evangelist in the black Pentecostal church, a job that often used musical performance to attract listeners to a spoken message. Since Rosetta had displayed precocious musical talent from a young age, she accompanied her mom and played in church. This would become Tharpe’s life work and she spent most of her career as a gospel performer for churches, revival meetings, and secular club venues.
Though only a few high-quality films of Tharpe’s performances exist, it’s easy to characterize her career as one of exuberant joy. As she played the electric guitar, she bounced, swayed, and danced, all while singing with a dynamic voice. Most of her songs are fast in tempo and her guitar picking is quick and virtuosic. Her songs also involve a “call and response” leader/group interaction: a lead musician sings or plays a short melody and another musician responds to it. In the black church, it’s often utilized by a worship leader who sings or shouts one line of a song followed by vocal response from the congregation. Many of Tharpe’s songs feature this technique, further inviting listeners to sing along. Her songs and her vivacious performance style enacted joy in God’s provision.
Watch Tharpe’s performance of “This Little Light of Mine” (1960) View Now
Watch Tharpe’s performance of “Up Above My Head” backed by a gospel choir View Now
Listen to podcast episode on Tharpe from Christianity Today’s podcast “Music and Meaning,” hosted by musician Charlie Peacock: View Now
POETRY
Don’t Hesitate
by Mary Oliver
If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty
of lives and whole towns destroyed or about
to be. We are not wise, and not very often
kind. And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this
is its way of fighting back, that sometimes
something happens better than all the riches
or power in the world. It could be anything,
but very likely you notice it in the instant
when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the
case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid
of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.
Here
By Grace Paley
Here I am in the garden laughing
an old woman with sagging breasts
and a nicely mapped face
how did this happen
well that’s who I wanted to be
at last a woman
in the old style sitting
stout thighs apart under
a big skirt grandchild sliding
on off my lap a pleasant
summer perspiration
that’s my old man across the yard
he’s talking to the meter reader
he’s telling him the world’s sad story
how electricity is oil or uranium
and so forth I tell my grandson
run over to your grandpa ask him
to sit beside me for a minute I
am suddenly exhausted by my desire
to kiss his sweet explaining lips
PROFILE
St. Phillip Neri
Patron Saint of Joy
(1515-1595)
Philip Romulus Neri, the third of five children, was born into a middle-class family in Florence, modern-day Italy. As a child, his friends and family often called him, “Pippo Buono” (good little Philip), because of his cheerfulness and moral character. Philip’s mother died when he was only about five years old, so he and his two sisters were cared for by their grandmother. He was well educated by the Dominican friars in Florence and later in life acknowledged the good influence they had upon him. By the age of eleven, Philip was known for his piety and prayerfulness, and for making frequent visits to the churches in Florence. When he turned eighteen, Philip was sent to live with his father’s wealthy cousin, Romolo, whom he referred to as his uncle, near the Benedictine monastery of Montecassino. Romolo had no children, so Philip was sent to him to become his heir.
Shortly after moving in with his uncle, Philip had a profound conversion. This conversion might have taken place in a seaside chapel called the Sanctuary of the Holy Trinity. Legend holds that the huge cliff overshadowing the chapel was split in two when Jesus died, opening a sanctuary overlooking the sea. Philip’s conversion had already been in full motion when he left Florence to live with his uncle, but once he arrived at his uncle’s and faced the real possibility of inheriting enough to live a stable life in the world, Philip had to make a choice. Did he want a comfortable life as a businessman, or did he want to follow the Holy Spirit Who was tugging on his heart? He chose the latter.
In 1533, Philip thanked his uncle and informed him that the Holy Spirit wanted him to go to Rome. He arrived penniless but found housing in the attic of a customs official. He paid for his simple accommodations by being a tutor for the man’s two sons. In Rome, Philip frequented the holy sites, prayed at the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul and the other Roman martyrs, and waited for God to direct him. His food was simple, usually only bread and water once a day. He enrolled in university where he studied philosophy, theology, and human sciences. While studying theology at the University of Saint Augustine, Philip was interiorly moved as he gazed at a large crucifix. As a result, he quit his studies, sold his books, and dedicated himself to full-time prayer. For the next ten years, until the age of thirty-three, Philip lived an eremitical life, often praying in the catacombs of the martyrs, frequently making all-night vigils. He refrained from idle pastimes, dividing his time between prayer and charity. He visited hospitals, conversed about holy subjects with the poor, converted sinners, and injected humor and laughter wherever he went. This one-on-one ministry as a layman, coupled with his life of prayer, set the foundation for what was to come next.
Around the year 1544, just before the Solemnity of Pentecost, Philip was praying in a catacomb and had a profound mystical experience. A ring of fire descended and entered his mouth, settling in his heart. The flame filled him with such an intense love for God that he fell to the ground and cried out, “Enough, Lord, I can bear it no more!” When he recovered, he noticed a visible swelling on his chest over his heart. For the rest of Philip’s life, especially when engaged in prayer and holy conversation, his heart would noticeably palpitate. Though some thought this to be a physical ailment, others saw it as the result of divine love filling his heart and flowing over. It is said that when people saw Philip, they were drawn to him, and especially drawn to his heart. A post-mortem exam revealed that he had an enlarged heart, so much so that two of his ribs were dislocated.
After this mystical experience, Philip began to engage in a more active apostolate as a street preacher in Rome. His approach to “preaching” was much different than that of others. Rather than railing against the immoralities of the day, he gathered young men around him as his companions, and with his joyful and affectionate personality, began to inspire others with the joy of following Christ. He and his companions spent much time serving the sick in the hospitals and doing many menial acts of service, such as cleaning, making beds, conversing, and helping in any way they could. He often started his conversations by saying, “Well, my brothers, when shall we begin to do good?” Doing good, with joy and enthusiasm, drew many to listen to him and follow his example. Philip converted one soul at a time to the life of virtue.
Saint Philip Neri was a true missionary who re-evangelized the Christians of Rome, one soul at a time. His miracles, ecstasies during prayer, and ability to read souls were enough to convince everyone of his holiness. But setting those supernatural phenomena aside, it was the joy that radiated from his heart, a heart united to the Divine Heart of Christ, that was the surest sign of his sanctity. As we honor this saint of joy, ponder the importance of the gift of joy in your own life. Joy is a spiritual gift, not just a natural emotion. Joy comes from God alone. Open your heart to that gift.
***
Excerpted from My Catholic Life: View Now
FILM
Each month we recommend films focused on our theme
Feature Film
Inside Out
(2015)
In this animated feature film from Disney’s Pixar studios, we follow the emotions of an 11-year old girl named Riley. Her experience is driven by five personified feelings who become main characters in the plot: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, and Fear. When Riley faces new challenges, the five feelings face their own confusion about how to steer her toward happiness. The character Joy, who previously had attempted to “put on a happy face” no matter what the problem, discovers that forcing happiness doesn’t work. Joy becomes more complicated, leading Riley to a deeper sense of herself and the ability to face trials with wholeness. Available on various streaming services.
Watch the trailer here: View Now
Documentary Film
Radiating Joy:
The Michelle Duppong Story
(2024)
Servant of God Michelle Duppong was 31 years old when she died from cancer on Dec. 25, 2015. A young woman filled with joy and a fire for the Lord, she was born in Colorado and grew up on her family farm in North Dakota, after which she served as a Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) missionary before becoming the director of adult faith formation for the Diocese of Bismarck.
Duppong’s inspiring life has now been documented in a film. The documentary includes actual video footage of Duppong throughout her life and illness, and includes commentary from her parents, siblings, friends, co-workers.
The film tells her remarkable story and concludes with Bishop David Kagan of Bismarck, North Dakota, announcing the opening of the diocesan investigation which could lead to the beatification and canonization of Michelle. While we understand most Protestants do not affirm the idea of beatification and canonization, we at Cultivare believe Duppong’s story is profound and powerful and can be an encouragement and inspiration to all.
Watch the 45-minute film here: View Now
Short Film
Morning Joy
(7 minutes)
Sometimes joy finds us when we aren’t looking for it. In this animated short by John Henry Hinkel, a widower wakes up in his dreary apartment, rising to meet another day without his spouse. A bird alights on his windowsill and begins to chirp. The man, annoyed, shuts the bird out. The bird persists, and eventually the man accepts the bird’s invitation to form a musical partnership that leads to surprising meaning in the word “joy.” The “joy” the man finds incorporates his loss into newfound inspiration. Watch the film here:
Short Talk
Kate Bowler: Living into Easter Joy
(5 minutes)
The deepest joy comes from the Resurrection. But as Kate Bowler asks, “what happens to Easter joy when something dramatic and tragic crashes in?” In this short talk, Duke professor Kate Bowler describes this deep joy as something so profound that it can incorporate what’s wrong in the world. True Easter joy doesn’t deny hardship but lasts through it because it knows that the Resurrection stands against all darkness. It’s a joy based in a reality that is true all year.
Sermon
Tim Keller: Infallible Joy
(35 minutes)
Jesus says one of the main resources his disciples need in life is joy. And he says joy is something he gives. In John 15:11, he says, “I give you my joy that your joy may be complete,” but he doesn’t elaborate on it. In John 16, he gives us more information.
What does John 16 tell us about the joy that Jesus gives? Five things: that this joy 1) is inevitable, 2) is not circumstantial, 3) is thoughtful, 4) is prayerful, and 5) is based on wonder. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 2, 2017.
ESSAY
Joy: Our Eucatastrophe
By Andrew DeCort
For the joy set before him he endured the cross.
(Hebrews 12:2)
I realize this is a strange invitation. But for just a moment, try to imagine your life’s most fearsome fate. Go down the rabbit hole of what could go wrong. Catastrophize.
It’s easy to do in our aching world and anxious souls. Here’s one such storyline:
You get born into poverty, violence, and trauma. After losing your home, you grow up watching powerful people kill your friends. Early on, your dad mysteriously disappears.
Still, something different — something beautiful — is alive in you. You love others deeply and give yourself for their flourishing. You become a witness of truth to power, a presence of healing amidst suffering, a sign of hope in the face of despair. You express love in ways that no one had ever imagined before you. Your mother says you are God-sent, and, secretly in your own soul, you know that you are doing what you were born for.
But as your life begins bearing fruit, you aren’t awarded or even wanted. You’re untrusted and held in suspicion. Rumors spread. Your family worries about you. Harassment and death threats hound you. Powerful people and their devotees insist that you’re disloyal, delusional, even dangerous — a threat to God and country.
You begin to feel like something terrible is coming. Your heart rate accelerates. Your body sizzles with anxiety. Frightening scenes flash through your mind. You catastrophize.
Soon enough, it actually happens. You’re arrested by armed men. The people who were supposed to keep you safe condemn you, and your community pushes for the death penalty. They call this “justice” and “God’s will.” Powerless, the police viciously torture you.
And then, you’re executed in public. As you struggle to breathe, your closest friends abandon you, afraid for themselves and disappointed by your failure. The people who stick around ridicule you and relish your suffering. They say God didn’t want you.
At last, with a shriek of grief, you die. And that’s the end of your story. Finished.
***
For me at least, a storyline like that activates some of my deepest fears. Human vulnerability, radical love, and high hopes crash into rejection, abandonment, rage, abuse, shame, terror, violent death. The fruit of being born turns bitter: physical agony, psychological anguish, humiliating powerlessness — then lights out. Why go through with it?
But continue this strange exercise for a moment more:
Imagine that you pass through all of this, but, on the other side, you discover that you’re fully safe and always were.
What you feared would destroy you didn’t. You feel no shame for having suffered and been stripped of everything you once thought you couldn’t live without. In fact, you feel newborn, fully yourself and yet fresher than ever before.
It dawns on you like a blazing sunrise that, after this, you never have anything to fear ever again. You were loved at every moment, shamelessly witnessed in all your suffering, and loved back to life when it all ended. Now you can live entirely in trust, freedom, and hope.
After this, you love life and want to live like never before. You also want others to live, including the ones who made you suffer. In fact, you perceive the great trauma you suffered as a small scar, a cherished sign of your survival. You neither diminish it nor feel like it must be undone; you simply integrate and outgrow it.
Further, something in you knows that the people who did these terrible things to you — and the people whom you yourself have harmed — will also be fine. All regret, resentment, and revenge fall off like flakes of old skin.
You have passed through the very worst, and you are radically okay. In this sacred passage, you have fully integrated the trust that everyone and everything in all of reality is loved, ultimately safe, and destined for healing. As you perceive this, you’re fully grounded but weightless in your body. You feel perfect stillness and full movement, absolutely alone and with everyone who ever lived, infinite silence and like every atom of existence is singing with love.
***
What word might describe this haunting middle passage through ultimate catastrophe to everlasting safety?
I suggest joy.
Joy is the shameless happiness of being held by love. It’s equally the dark good humor of trusting love when we don’t feel it holding us. To the outer edges of the universe and intimately inside the soul, joy is the delightful freedom of accepting that we exist because our Creator loves us, wants good for us, and will ultimately heal us, come what may.
And so, joy sets us free to live, love, and suffer with hope. In our relationships with others, joy is love’s liberation from envy: it celebrates when others succeed and increases with their flourishing. It is love’s pleasure in seeing others shine and love’s reverence in witnessing them suffer with courage.
Together, joy is the side-effect of trusting that we’ll all be okay, even if our catastrophizing comes true. J.R.R. Tolkien called it eucatastrophe, something so overwhelmingly good (eu) that experiencing it can only be described as a good catastrophe — indeed, the ultimate catastrophe, joy “as poignant as grief.”
This joy is the storyline of Jesus. It’s that strange movement from life to death and from death to life that I sketched above, all held in love. At Easter and each moment we’re truly awake, we’re invited to remember that this is the story of God and all reality. It’s our story.
There’s no denial or dissociation in this primal path: catastrophe can strike. In fact, it will, in one way or another. The worst — tragedy, injustice, suffering, heartshatter — very well may happen. And still, we will be okay. Love witnesses us. Love holds us. Love brings us back.
What endures and emerges from the dark tomb of history is joy. It’s like all reality waking up with a burst of eucatastrophic laughter in which all fear, shame, and trauma are held, healed, and shaken off forever. Joy is the shameless, fearless, aggressionless freedom of those who have suffered, lost it all, and survived.
This is what the presence of God produces in us according to Paul, that religious extremist who was converted to love when he met the post-death Jesus. According to Paul, the divine presence that worked this undeathing for Jesus also lives in us. We are these glorious, vulnerable, perennial gardens of this everlasting presence. And thus Paul wrote that the fruit of the Spirit is love and then joy, together growing with freedom (Galatians 5:1, 22).
***
Then and now, we spend much of our lives trying to armor ourselves against catastrophe, to pave over the rabbit holes of our anxiety. But the fruit of divine presence isn’t personal invulnerability or power over others, much less glee in anyone’s suffering. It is that childlike trust that we will all be okay and thus that we can suffer and still seek one another’s wellbeing and delight in our mutual flourishing when it happens. Joy is love’s laughter through tears, the singularity in which death and birth become one.
After Jesus outlived death, an ancient author wrote, “For the joy set before him he endured the cross.” Somehow Jesus could see the invisible cloud of witnesses and shamelessly trust that love held him, even through the catastrophe of rejection, torture, and imperial execution. Joy led him through.
Still today, this is Easter’s strange invitation to joy for all of us: the story of Jesus is the shape of all things and our ultimate inheritance. Yes, it may well get worse before it gets better. Catastrophe is real — poverty, mental illness, a loved one’s death, war, the whole earth going dark. In the end, everyone dies. But even then, the divine presence of love holds us and lives in us.
Joy is set before us as our eucatastrophe. When we open ourselves to this awesome gift, it begins bursting through the hardened soil of our lives with buds of new life and healing fruit for all creation.
What is growing in your garden? What is growing in our communal garden?
***
Andrew DeCort is the author of Blessed Are the Others: Jesus’ Way in a Violent World (BitterSweet Collective, 2024) and Reviving the Golden Rule: How the Ancient Ethic of Neighbor Love Can Heal the World (IVP Academic, forthcoming). He founded the Institute for Faith and Flourishing, co-leads Prophetic: The Public Theology Fellowship, and writes the newsletter Stop & Think.
BOOKS
Each month we recommend a book (or two) focused on our theme
NON-FICTION
The 4 Habits of Joy-Filled People
by Marcus Warner & Chris Coursey
Marcus Warner and Chris Coursey show us how to build habits that fill our lives with greater joy and satisfaction. Based on the latest neuroscience and attachment theory—but written in everyday language—The 4 Habits of Joy-Filled People is practical and easy to comprehend. The authors provide exercises and tools you can put into practice immediately.
Joy is possible. It doesn’t have to be a random experience that catches you off guard now and then. Some of the most joyful people have endured unbelievable trauma.
Joy-filled living expands our world. It makes life an adventure and teaches us to live for what is truly satisfying. Discover the skills and habits you can develop that will enhance your very quality of life.
FICTION
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A remarkable tale of the island of Guernsey during the German Occupation, and of a society as extraordinary as its name.
January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb…
As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends—and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society—born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island—boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.
Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society’s members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.
CHILDRENS
Rain!
by Linda Ashman
One rainy day in the city, an eager little boy exclaims, “Rain!” Across town a grumpy man grumbles, “Rain.” In this endearing book, now in board book format, a rainy-day cityscape comes to life in vibrant, cut-paper-style artwork. The boy in his green frog hat splashes in puddles—“Hoppy, hoppy, hoppy!”—while the old man curses the “dang puddles.” Can the boy’s natural exuberance (and perhaps a cookie) cheer up the grouchy gentleman and turn the day around?
DIG DEEPER
Practical suggestions to help you go deeper into our theme
1. QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
Devote some time and thought to these reflective questions on our theme:
a. What are some of the most joyful moments you’ve experienced in your life?
b. What are some of the things you are most thankful for that bring you joy?
c. What actions or experiences consistently bring you joy?
d. How does joy make you feel, and what are its effects on your life and relationships?
e. What obstacles, if any, prevent you from experiencing joy?
f. How can you overcome those obstacles?
g. In what ways may God be inviting you to experience deeper joy?
2. UNWRAPPING THE SCIENCE OF JOY
Author Arlene Dawson writes about the Templeton Foundation study on Joy, conducted by various scholars. The study illuminates the power and purpose of joy as well as onramps to experiencing greater joy. One insight Dawson spotlights: “Most people conceptualize and study joy as an emotion…I actually conceptualize it more as a virtue,” says Pamela Ebstyne King, a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary and executive director of the Thrive Center for Human Development. “Emotions tend to be feelings we assign meaning to that can come and go. Virtue is a habit one can cultivate.” We encourage you to read the entire article here: View Now
3. WHERE JOY HIDES AND HOW TO FIND IT – Bonus TED TALK
Cherry blossoms and rainbows, bubbles and googly eyes: Why do some things seem to create such universal joy? In this captivating talk, Ingrid Fetell Lee reveals the surprisingly tangible roots of joy and shows how we all can find—and create—more of it in the world around us. View Now
4. THE JOY MOTOR
In this article from Christianity Today, author Kerri Wyatt Kent writes that “Play may not seem like a spiritual practice, but it is an essential one, if we are to obey the commands of Scripture: Rejoice in the Lord always! The joy of the Lord is your strength!” She encourages us with: “As spring approaches, deliberately seek out activities that bring you joy. Go for a walk and notice the birds, the flowers, the people. Have a real feast for Easter, and invite everyone—even people who you might not typically include.” Read the entire article here: View Now
5. PRAYER FOR JOY
Joy-giver, who created joy, defines joy, is joy—meet me in my sadness and discouragement, and comfort me with your presence. Help me see what’s good in my life, and in the world. Lead me to gratitude for all your good gifts. As I navigate the difficulties in my life, the stuff that hurts, the dark night of the soul, remind me that real joy, your joy, comes with the morning. Amen.
ROOTED
But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.
(Jeremiah 17:7-8 NIV)
POLLINATE
CULTIVARE is a ministry of TEND and is offered free to our subscribers. We are grateful to our donors who help underwrite our costs. If you would like to support the ongoing work of CULTIVARE, please consider us in your giving. All financial contributions to TEND
(a 501c3 ministry) for CULTIVARE are tax-deductible.
Subscribe to CULTIVARE for free!
FIELD NOTES
Images used in order of appearance:
1. FIELD: Marcie Gonzales, The Flower Fields of Carlsbad Ranch, 2024, Carlsbad, CA.
https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/carlsbad-flower-fields-full-bloom-torrential-rain/509-5574ab3f-8e0b-4c62-b065-1d19de35540a
2. SEEDS: OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital therapy dog, Davis, visits with Connor Zimmerman, 8, in September, 2018. Doernbecher is the only hospital in the Northwest and among the few in the U.S. with two hospital therapy dogs, who can help make the hospital feel less frightening. (OHSU/Kristyna Wentz-Graff)
https://news.ohsu.edu/2018/10/23/helping-paws-ohsu-doernbecher-expands-hospital-facility-dog-program
3. ART: Image 1:
https://www.jambase.com/article/sister-rosetta-tharpe-godmother-rock-n-roll-playlist
Image 2: Pictorial Press/Cache Agency, "Discover Music"
https://www.udiscovermusic.com/news/sister-rosetta-tharpe-catalogue-digital/
4. POETRY: "Free Stamp", by Claes Oldenberg. 35-ton aluminum and steel sculpture, 1991
https://sillyamerica.com/blog/worlds-largest-rubber-stamp/
5. PROFILE: Stained glass window of St. Philip Neri, Chapel of St. Philip Neri,
Louisville, KY
6. FILM: "Balloon Dog" by Jeff Koons. Stainless steel, 1994-2000
https://www.oxmag.co.uk/articles/jeff-koons-at-the-ashmolean/
7. ESSAY: POWs returning to the US from Southeast Asia. U.S. Air Force Photo, photographer unknown
8. BOOKS: Photo of Katherine Fisher of thisiswater Productions. Photo by Christopher Nash https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dance-and-visual-art-on-f_b_788067
9. DIG DEEPER: "Dessert Tray" by Wayne Thiebaud. Oil on board, 1992-1994
https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/97.880/
10. ROOTED: "The Sun" by Edvard Munch. Oil on canvas, 1909, Aula Hall, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway https://www.edvardmunch.org/the-sun.jsp
TEAM CULTIVARE: Duane Grobman (Editor), Greg Ehlert, Bonnie Fearer, Lisa Hertzog, Eugene Kim, Greg King, Olivia Mather, Andrew Massey, Rita McIntosh, Jason Pearson (Design: Pearpod.com)
WE'RE LISTENING:
We welcome hearing your thoughts on this issue
and suggestions for future issues.
Email us at: info@tendwell.org
