Open the Way

Open the Way for God? Take to the road,
Calvary Hill. It is no easy path.
Give up your greed, your tendency to wrath,
go to confession, and lay down your load.

Turn your attention from your sad sack self
to those around you, suffering and in need.
Let no day pass without a kindred deed,
take down the King James Bible from your shelf,

drink deeply, grow like Jeremiah’s tree
beside a stream; it flourishes in drought
and casts its shade on all beset by doubt
who follow the hard trail from misery,

hatred of self and others, mortal fright
and suicidal darkness into light.

Dear Reader,

Can I be direct with you?

War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.

First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.

But we can’t do it without readers like you.

Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.


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If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.

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