Week 17 (2024)
children's worship & resisting isolated parenting, the psychology of urbanism, desire & the will, spring's work & humane rhythms
(Click title to open in browser, on the Substack website)
to read: books
Silas Marner — George Eliot — It’s no Middlemarch, but that second half really ramped up.
(related: this little story from Paul Kingsnorth this week)
The Lord Of Psalm 23 — David Gibson
A Shepherd Looks At Psalm 23 — W. Phillip Keller
Reading (listening) to these two books alongside each other was worthwhile. Each filled in gaps the other didn't have, which made for a richer experience. They are both wonderful little books on their own, but Gibson’s was especially pastoral and nourishing in its earthy simplicity.
This past Sunday’s service was all about these themes throughout scripture, reinforced in communal song, and I could hardly believe it.
(related: God's Question & Mine and The Shepherd's Life, shared previously)
to read: essays, articles, newsletters
Routine Maintenance: Embracing Habit In An Automated World — Meghan O’Gieblyn, Harper’s — “…each hour becomes subject to negotiation, each task a battleground of the will. The effort required to resist the twin temptations of procrastination and overwork quickly depletes one’s reservoir of motivation. A regimented life, I’ve learned, is the only way to avoid the spell of noonday dithering… According to the most zealous advocates of automation, true freedom requires gradually eliminating necessity from our daily lives by rendering work and labor superfluous, leaving our schedules open for limitless choice and novelty… Weil was naturally skeptical of this vision, not only because she believed routine work to be inescapable, but because she believed human nature to be ill-equipped to handle unqualified freedom, which would leave us at the mercy of our own desires.”
(related: Liturgies For Young & Old, Housework and Craft & Theology: The Reason, shared previously)
- , Hearth & Field — “He knows our propensity to live out of rhythm with our limitations and with creation, as we too easily obey the cruel masters of overwork or sloth. He knows our deep temptation to expect too little and too much of ourselves… Thus, he has provided us with an unchangeable reminder of the need for both work and rest, both risk and renewal, both preparation and trust.”
What If Urbanism *Is* Eating Our Vegetables? —
, The Deleted Scenes — “What if suburbia is psychologically something like junk food? Or remote work? Or mentally something like…contraception? Something which may be fine in and of itself… but which does something subtle: raises the psychological cost of doing what used to be easier simply because the choice was not presented to us?”(related: Cities Aren't Built For Kids, Walkability And The Culture Wars, The Case Of The Carseats, Our Year Without A Car (With Kids), Cities Aren't For Families, Arbitrary Lines, Yes In My Backyard—And In My Frontyard, Closer To Home, and Grilling Man At The End Of History, shared previously)
Everyone Knows — Alan Jacobs, The Homebound Symphony — “So our problem is not a lack of knowledge; it’s a deficiency of will and a malformation of desire… We need to devote our full attention to one question and one question only: How do we love rightly and teach others to love rightly? If that’s not our constant meditation, we’re wasting our time.”
(related: How To Build A Garden In The Technopoly, shared previously)
The Introvert's Guide To Tech Resistance —
, Verily — “I refuse to accept that an unplugged life is only for the socially intense. So what can introverts do to create a healthier social and emotional life than digital addiction offers, without taking the extroverted, highly-convivial approach?”(discussion at her post here)
Grace Winter Woods — Racquel James Esau, Ekstasis — “Oh, grace is cold down the neck, when it comes
To that, when it comes like that. When it falls like some
Shocking, shivering shower and awakens, oh no, never numbs.”
Multi-Generational Mothering — Siobhan Heekin-Canedy, Fairer Disputations — “Too often, the proposed solution to work-family conflict is “less family.” Given that American women are increasingly having fewer children than they desire, this is an unhelpful response.”
The Invention Of Parenting — Holly Taylor Coolman, Church Life Journal — “More and more people are recognizing that truly supporting families will mean not simply another program, but deep forms of solidarity that are both practical and spiritual… Part of resisting isolation is the affirmation that children are not the sole responsibility of their parents. Mothers and fathers have a very particular role in guiding their children, in making the decisions that will govern their children’s lives. But they simply cannot do it alone.”
(related to the above two: this thread and the entire Nuclear Meltdown archives)
The Case For Children's Worship Services —
, Mere Orthodoxy — “A good children’s worship time is the worship equivalent of looking a child in the eye… When Jesus blessed the little children, the Gospels do not tell us that he preached the kind of sermon that he would have preached to the crowds.”(related: Cultivating A Sacramental Vision, shared previously — and this book I bought and have been meaning to finish)
to watch, listen to
Continuing On:
Verity with Phylicia Masonheimer — Episodes 134-135 — How To Understand The Bible and Why Am I Still Sinning?
The Commonplace with Autumn Kern — Self-Care For Homeschool Moms
to glean from: tip, product, resource
Some of y’all are collecting heirloom books, but some of us have rambunctious 18 month-old boys and cannot hold these picture books too dear. But here’s where the tip (idea) comes in: Save the defaced [Robert McCloskey] book and turn favorite, salvageable pages into framed wall art. I think it will work. (If there was a book to sacrifice for pages-worth of dreamy art, it was this one.)
Putting this here as a reminder to myself. Also, we don’t just destroy books around here. We get a healthy stream of used books delivered, so the boys have come to love the mailman.
to look back on
This Week:
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I had no idea about the lectionary when I picked up the books 😂 Super wild.
One Morning in Maine! A classic, and one worth preserving in a frame. I was visiting my mom's class of first graders this week, and I very nearly read that to them, but decided in favor of the more humorous and dramatic "Stand Back!" Said the Elephant, I'm Going to Sneeze. :)