A Hedge Against Despair: Liturgy, Ritual, and the Need for Embodied Hope

This week, I’ve shared about the rash of “Deaths of Despair” plaguing the country. It’s an American epidemic, one which grows from a myriad of factors, so the experts say. Economic woes, chronic isolation, religious disillusionment—each of these contribute, but what is the solution? How can we hedge against the pervasive sense of chaos that marks the age, and stem the increase in American mortality?

Hold that question.

There was a lightness in her voice, a tone I hadn’t heard in weeks....