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Second Season Sensation?
At this point, there will only be two new television shows for me as the “fall season” begins. And one of those, the latest season of The Amazing Race, has been in the can for at least a year. The second series, The Mandalorian, just dropped its season two trailer. It looks good, holding on to what made the first season so great while also expanding things nicely. Here’s the trailer.
20 Years Stuck in a Moment
Dang. It’s been twenty years since U2 released All That You Can’t Leave Behind. To “celebrate” the moment, the band is reissuing the album with two editions with all kinds of extras. Look for at least one of them to incorporate some of the music from the ep 7, which had a couple of new songs plus the “single” version of “Walk On” and this version of “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of.”
Posted in Music, The Long Story, Travel
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Saturday Evening Song
Any day that ends with a game of Hand and Foot is a good day, I think. Today was actually a day of little pleasures: a morning walk north into the neighborhood, a bagel and golfer’s tea from Coffee Bean, sushi for lunch, a frozen Coke and some C. S. Lewis, spending time with neighbors. And winning at Hand and Foot is always good and fun.
Here’s a song from Andy Gullahorn, who always does a great job of blending the war-torn and the whimsical. A good song to end the week, I think.
Posted in Music, Notes for a World's End
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Pandemic Permanence
Today Rod Dreher spent some time reflecting on this piece from the Baptist Press concerning the long-term effects of Covid for churches. The church that gets most of the mentions in the piece is a relatively short drive (in TN terms) from my parents’ house. I have friends that have attended there. It’s definitely been a major presence in Middle Tennessee these last few years. Which is to say that it hits close to home in an interesting way.
The big question, of course, is whether or not churches with strong online shifts this year will maintain those shifts if/when things return to normal. Long Hollow Baptist seems to be prepping for a long-term shift, which is totally understandable. I shared the article with a friend who quickly pointed out that this is a shift similar to what schools here are facing: a 50/50 type shift where some people are present and others are online-only.
Dreher’s reflection on the SBC piece is spot-on in many ways. He doesn’t pull any punches (even the weblink mentions gnosticism which is simultaneously funny and sobering because it’s true). And that’s for both liturgical/sacramental churches as well as for evangelical/preaching-centric churches. I’m glad he mentions that being a liturgical/sacramental church is no guarantee of community, because it really isn’t. If anything, size might matter more than anything else (just read the comments attached to the reflection).
It’s really good to see this conversation happening. Online church is a bummer. But face-to-face church isn’t what it used to be either. “What happens next” isn’t necessarily up-for-grabs for any group, at least not completely. Groups on all parts of the spectrum can learn some things through all of this. But Christ and His community should stand at the heart of it. We ought not be “disembodied brains” guilty of a kind of gnosticism. Presence has to be prioritized. But they kind of presence and the purpose of the presence matters a great, great deal.
“A Little Incarnation”
From the introduction to Lewis’s Reflections on the Psalms:
It seems to me appropriate, almost inevitable, that when that great Imagination which in the beginning, for Its own delight and for the delight of men and angels and (in their proper mode) of beasts, had invented and formed the whole world of Nature, submitted to express Itself in human speech, that speak should sometimes be poetry. For poetry too is a little incarnation, giving body to what had been before invisible and inaudible.
What Happens in the Middle
A friend recently shared this video with me. I’ve not read anything by Simon Sinek before, but I’ve seen his books around. This is a good piece, encouraging for those who often find themselves in the middle of things.
Posted in Teaching
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Living with Books
Last week I posted a short video featuring Alan Jacobs talking about the integration of faith and learning on a collegiate/professional level. It was a real encouragement to me, as I’m trying to guide others through a similar process. Jacobs and Matt Jenson also also spent some time talking about Jacobs’ life with books. It’s a great piece, particularly the first half. It’s always good to be reminded that books matter.
The Lesson of Enoch’s Ending
I’m about two-thirds of the way through the rough draft of my chapel talk for next week (which I hope to record tomorrow). We’ve spent the last two weeks talking about friendship with God. I’ve done a little more personal-anecdote sharing than usual, which has been interesting for me. It’s also a topic that I’ve been thinking about for a long time. If we were back on campus (and if the scene didn’t cut off before the really good stuff), I’d definitely show this clip from a recent episode of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD. It involves the death of Enoch the chronal android from episode nine, “As I Always Have Been.” It’s a great picture of loneliness and friendship in the context of life’s big picture.
As it stands right now, it’s the most somber chapel talk I’ve given in my almost-four years of working with chapel. So it’s definitely going to need some revisions. I’m grateful for the opportunity to sleep on it, too.
Space Enough, and Time 