Instructions for the End of the World : Homilies of Comfort and Resistance

Contemporary responses to biblical texts offer hope and guidance in difficult times.

When lifelong activist and celebrated author Maggie Helwig became an Anglican priest, she brought both her social justice wisdom and her incomparable literary prowess to the role. Where other priests might make of the homily – the weekly act of taking pre-assigned sections of an ancient and sometimes cryptic biblical text and making them speak to their time, their place, their community – a rote exercise, Helwig takes the language and narrative very seriously. These homilies, selected from those presented to her congregation over the last five years, talk about the Bible, and by extension, the world, through both an activist and a literary lens.

‘Instructions for the End of the World’ is how Helwig describes the gospels. As we live through the climate crisis and the rise of fascism around the world, Helwig’s responses to the ancient texts feel urgent and necessary, reminders of hope and meaning during a time of great anxiety and fear. Whether you’re religious or not, these homilies offer a basis for resistance and resources for building communities that may sustain us all.