Week 11 (2023)
nightly rest & unexpected visitors, Nick Offerman & C.S. Lewis, language vs. images, modern mothering & online judgement, the speaking tree & a conversion story
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reading: books
The Problem Of Pain, C.S. Lewis — audio — It had been 7 years since my last time through this one. How poignant and wisely perceptive he is.
A Circle Of Quiet, Madeleine L'Engle — audio — It had been 6 years since my last time through this one. Her meandering thoughts as a writer, wife, and mother were just what I needed in this season. On to the next three Crosswicks Journals! (If you need a push to read them, let this essay of Haley Stewart's be your catalyst.)
reading: essays, articles, newsletters
What Wendell Berry Taught Me — Nick Offerman, Outside — “I had made it. Or so I thought, because the man himself was apparently still ambivalent about an actor who was interested in promoting Wendell Berry books (good), yet who also worked in television (bad).”
The Unexpected Visitor — Carmel Richardson, Hearth & Field — “But friendship is born of imposition, and friendship is what we are after. The very idea of it comes from a need that overrides our reflexive individualism and makes a martyr of privacy.”
Give Me My Nightly Rest — Abigail Dunlap, Fathom — “My husband says I’m going through a silent season. Like St John of the Cross’s dark night of the soul. It’s not my first brush against such a time, but the crush of grief amplifies the silence this season, leaving me more bewildered than before.”
Moms Need Allies: A Review Of 'Screaming On The Inside' — Amber Lapp, Institute For Family Studies — “I imagine that strengthening multigenerational ties… might increase the pressures and judgments moms feel, moving from a vague sense of social media pressure to the context of a specific relationship. For better and worse, if others are helping raise your children, they’ll also have more of a say in how things are done.”
Judging Parents Online Is A National Sport — Stephanie H. Murray, The Atlantic — “People can’t seem to agree on whether it’s our soul-sucking complaints or our phony cheer that dominates the discourse. By some accounts, current discussions about the difficulties of motherhood are a pushback against a time when it was idealized. Others say the “mommy internet” used to be a place where moms could be “raw and authentic”; only recently has it become overrun with “staged, curated photos that don’t show the messier part of life.””
(related: “joy is as real as pain. cleanliness is as real as messiness.”)
Learning Through Language: Education And Electronic Media — T. David Gordon, Front Porch Republic — “The God of the Bible (and his servants) prized language above other available media, and we would do well to respect that choice even as we are awash in image-based media.”
(related: Jessica Hooten Wilson's forthcoming book, Reading For The Love Of God, on reading as a spiritual practice.)
C.S. Lewis's Mixed Bag Of Tangents And Asides — Jessica Hooten Wilson, Church Life Journal — “Lewis’s story about his own imagination becomes compelling for understanding how to read our own lives, apart from dominant cultural narratives. Lewis advises people to read an old book for every new book they read, to keep a healthy pulse on how much their culture is influencing their knowledge of themselves.”
The Speaking Tree — Eleanor Parker, Plough (audio version available) — “The tree didn’t choose to suffer, to become the Cross, any more than the antler chose to be turned into an inkhorn, or than any human being can choose the forms of suffering that come to us and transform us. But God chose to suffer. Through that suffering, the poem suggests, it is not he but we who are transformed, given life, and made into something new.”
The Cross And The Machine — Paul Kingsnorth, First Things — I shared this popular (and wild) essay on his conversion a while back, when it was making the rounds. Judy Wu Dominick recently brought it up: “And I’ll tell you what… his story did something in me. I wept. SO MUCH. His account both exposed and acted as a healing balm for a gaping wound I didn’t even know I had.”
watching/listening
The Politics Of Forgiveness — Elizabeth Bruenig! Rev. Fleming Rutledge! Bishop Claude Alexander! Moderated by Matthew Lee Anderson! I mean, come on… there’s bound to be gems when these folks dialogue.
Continuing On:
Verity with Phylicia Masonheimer — Episodes 48-52 — Dispensationalism, Discerning Core Doctrine (book form), Contemplative Prayer (book form), and Seven Views of the Atonement (fascinating overview…I did not know all these existed!)
using: product, tip, resource
Easter Gift Guides — Risen Motherhood
remembering
One Year Ago:
Two Years Ago:
This Week:
I can rely to the words by Amber Lapp you've quoted. As parents you're alone and free in your lifestyle or you're supported and judged, influenced at the same time. I've chosen number one, my sis goes with numer two. There are + and - .
A few years ago I've a course by Phylicia Masonheimer, it was about organizing time as a mom. Nice to see this name again.
Have a good week!