Mockingbird — Elevating the Magazine into a Spiritual Journey

Rumpled, dog-eared and torn.

For print readers, the physical side of the act of reading involves change, interaction and deep connection to the medium. The team behind the magazine The Mockingbird not only knows this, they take it into account throughout the creation of their quarterly title.

“In these pages that we can turn and stain and crumple and dog-ear, The Mockingbird writers do what Mockingbird writers do—they write about what happens at the intersection of grace and life,” explains Charlotte Donlon writing in MBird.

Part of what makes Mockingbird so appealing is the way it seems to transcend the obvious physical form of “magazine” and become more of a journey for the reader.

“With content that’s written in the same spirit of the posts online, each of the nine issues holds timeless meditations on grace and life, an interview relevant to the topic at hand, lists of movies and songs and other listable items, an anonymous confessional, and a sermon,” Donlon explains.

“This isn’t your typical Christian magazine fare. When a new issue arrives, you have a sort of order of worship waiting for you with multiple opportunities to encounter Jesus, others, and self.”

And it works in print because, like a journey in real life, the reader has markers to understand where they are on the path.

“When we hold a real book or magazine in our hands, we have a better handle of the journey we are on—we can see where we’ve been and where we’re going,” says Donlon. “We can see where we started on the first page and can have a sense of satisfaction and finality as we turn the final page.”

As we all search for more clarity, more introspection and deeper meaning in our life, it’s encouraging to realize that some magazine publishers are this deeply in tune with the reader’s journey. This is what print is all about.