Percolations from life in Austin where I serve as local theologian for Austin Mustard Seed, freelance as a WordPress developer, dabble in a handful of side projects. And probably some dad stuff to be found around here too.
The formation of an alternative community with an alternative consciousness is so that the dominant community may be criticized and finally dismantled. But more than dismantling, the purpose of the alternative community is to enable a new human beginning to be made.
The fact is important enough to bear repeating: people organize their brains with conversation. If they don’t have anyone to tell their story to, they lose their minds. Like hoarders, they cannot unclutter themselves. The input of the community is required for the integrity of the individual psyche. To put it another way: it takes a village to organize a mind.
File this away in my growing (and hopefully apparent) list of reasons why true conversation should never be replaced by digital interactions.
To audiobook or not audiobook. Here’s a good example of why this question haunts me. I can’t get through all the books I want to read, and audiobooks help me find space to add 5-6 books a year to my reading list.
I’ve figured out that the kind of audiobooks that work best for me are narrative based, like history or biographies, or practical idea based, like this one. But the segmented nature of how I listen to audiobooks, and pay attention to audiobooks, oft makes me feel like I miss some of the big picture.
I chugged through this one in many trips to meetings, dance classes and appointments. I pulled away lots of interesting ideas about the value of naps, when it’s best to drink coffee, and why my current decade of life (my 40s) might be my least fulfilling. But I’m sure there were other great ideas that floated past my head and settled somewhere in the back of my car, never to be found again.
Maybe there should be a supplemental chapter on when it’s best to listen to audiobooks.
I’m intrigued enough to still have this on my list of books I hope to read ‘normally’ someday. But golly it’s a long list.
After 95 interviews, it’s not often that someone brings something that feels very new to the conversation. Pastor Steph did with her fantastic document called The Homiletical Oath which can be found in the show notes. Of course, she had plenty of other great things to say too, and her passion was contagious.
HBO’s take on Fahrenheit 451: Good source material. Great cast. Awful movie.
This summer, aMS is working our way through some of the primary story of the New Testament book of Acts. As we look at what happened in each city, we’re asking “What happens when the Holy Spirit leads the way?” Acts 7 kind of a sermon itself, so a sermon about a sermon was pretty meta.
This feels like an important and timely book filled with important and timely ideas.
The topic of attention is one that has, um, had my attention lately. I’m aware how much I have to work harder to stay focused on a particular idea or task. I’m aware how much that this same struggle for attention is part of a broader conversation in our culture.
And in a twist of irony, I’m aware of how interested I was in reading this book. And how much I struggled to stay engaged through the whole of it.
A.J. was one of my first guests on Sermonsmith, and it was a treat to have him return. This time, we focused more on his new book, Subversive Sabbath, and the role of rest and Sabbath keeping in the rhythms of sermon prep.
A.J. Jacobs is one of my guilty pleasures, and I’ll read anything he publishes. He makes me laugh, often. I suppose it doesn’t need to be all that guilty though, because there is thoughtful engagement weaved in with the humor.
This wouldn’t be the first one I’d recommend to someone new to his books, if only because I didn’t find the subject matter as interesting. No regrets for the time I spent reading it, though.
We used a recent family road trip for some classroom time by listening to this book together.
I always find books that are story based to be easiest to listen to as audiobooks, whether true life or fiction. But this one was tough to follow along. As a rewrite of all the ancient tale of Greece, it reads more like a history book. All of us struggled, and all of us agreed we’d probably find it more accessible and interesting if we’d read the hard copy instead. In fact, my kids did.
Somehow, this is the third(!) time I’ve been with Vox on Pentecost. But it’s been a while since I was with them at all for a sermon, so it was good to be there.
I wasn’t familiar with John Mark until a few years ago, when multiple requests to interview him started rolling in. Since then, his church podcast is one I keep in my own listening rotation, because I’m not learning about preaching when I listen to him, but growing as a human too. It was a pleasure to have him on, and I expect the conversation could have gone another hour without losing steam.
This book was recommended by one of the many hospice chaplains we have in our church community. He’s read about and seen his share of grief, so the suggestion wasn’t taken lightly.
It’s about Sandberg’s own grief at the unexpected loss of her husband, and how she found a way forward after.
I’d say it is more nuanced about coping with grief and loss, than the adversity and resilience that the subtitle names. But, they aren’t so different I suppose, and her experience is helpful for seeing one’s own loss and imagining what should come next.
A helpful book for anyone in formal leadership, or just wants to have influence with others. Keltner is a research psychologist who makes the case that power and influence aren’t taken or exerted, but earned through a selfless and humble posture.
Not necessarily new ideas here, but ideas that aren’t widely practiced either. And this is one of the most helpful books I’ve read for outlining them. It left me both encouraged and challenged.
Continuing here the trend of finally doing some updates on my own sites instead of other people’s. Sermonsmith was built on old and now abandoned third-party theme. And it was broken. I was able to rebuild the site on the Foundation framework with a few layout and styling additions. It was only an afternoon or so of effort — and it could still use some polish — but I’m happy with the result.
Our final sermon in the Easter readings from 1 John. I focused on John’s final stand alone instruction to “Flee from idols.” It seems to have no connection to any of the rest of the letter, so why is it even there?
Continuing in the Easter readings through 1 John. And also continuing in what I noted below about how so much of 1 John feels fundamentalist and a little combative today. It can be read as a book about setting a community apart as being the ones who get it and have it all together, Ultimately, it becomes more encouraging and meaningful when read as how a church should respond to people who think they have surpassed what the church is about — how to live as a community that is being pushed to the edges rather than occupying the center.
For the Easter season, we decided to somewhat return to the lectionary by working through 1 John. Each week, we’ve started off with reading a chapter, and then offering a teaching on some part of that chapter. It was challenging with much of the language of 1 John evoking experiences of fundamental Christianity in North America. But since I like reconstructing how words might have been heard in ancient contexts rather than ours, it’s been fun for me too. I set a lot of that up in this sermon.
A double-meaning with the title here. Francis Spufford is not apologetic for maintaining his Christian faith though the stereotypes of English professors might cause you to expect otherwise. The book is also unapologetic in that it is not your typical apologetic full of facts and arguments for beliefs.
We end up with a well-reasoned for why being a Christian continues to make sense for him. And why it might for his reader too. Thoughtful and off-color. And a book I’ll suggest to others trying to make sense of Christian faith. In fact, I already have…
This is the third book Katherine Applegate I’ve read through with my two youngest kids in our nightly bedtime reading ritual. All three have been engaging, moving, and beautifully written. This one, though, was a thoughtful and timely social commentary on difference and hospitality. Fiction at it’s best.