It’s Friday, October 29. This is Friday Good Stuff: Things that inspired, motivated, challenged, taught or amused me on Substack this week + what’s new at Free Range Priest.
☕️ All Saints Day is the best holiday the church has neglected.
Yes, sure, we get all excited about Halloween these days. But we seem to have long lost the connection to All Hallow’s Eve.
I love All Saints, and the time to celebrate the mystical connection between the living and the dead. The hope we all live in because of Christ’s Resurrection.
It’s wonderful to feel the saints near - and all souls, where we still make the distinction. Those who have gone before us in faith, and those we are connected to in love today.
I have long made a habit of praying for every one of my FB friends by name on All Saints Day. Last year, I started the tradition of adding my Substack subscribers and followers as well. That’s several thousand names! As well as those we pray for in church on All Saints Day.
But far from being daunting, it immerses me in the great cloud of witnesses I know I am surrounded by. Thank you for being part of it, too. If you are reading this, know I will be praying for you this weekend.
Love is stronger than death. It’s the best news. And the heart of some Good Stuff this week…
This week’s theme: Love never ends
Learning to love…
☕️ ‘You are dear to me’ by Emily Dunevant.
‘This is where the practice of dearness comes in. Because when we develop the relationships that we call dear, our natural response is to love with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind. And the more we practice developing dearness the more our capacity to love grows and expands. Our apprehension and fear dissolves because now we are friends.’
Our deepest loves…
☕️ ‘I Left a Light on For You’ by Mary Roblyn.
‘If you were alive, the yard wouldn’t be a blight. There wouldn’t be a wine fridge sitting in tall grass halfway between the house and the alley, where the city promises to pick it up if I get it there by Monday but it’s too damn heavy to move any further, it’s like a car on cinderblocks. How soon will the neighbors come with their torches and pitchforks?
You know this isn’t about the house.
I have no ammunition. No fortress. No escape from the loneliness.’
the theology of love stronger than death…
☕️ ‘The Saints are Not Our Way to Christ: He is Our Way to Them’ by Jason Micheli.
‘The instant David asked me his question I felt glad that we were sitting in a pickup staring straight ahead instead of in my office or over lunch facing one another. I was glad we were sitting in his truck because, with tears in his eyes, I wouldn’t have wanted him to see the confusion in my own, to see that I didn’t know how to answer him. My first impulse was to sidestep his questions, to ignore the questions about the saints departed, about what their life is like, what they do, and what we can ask of them.‘
Love for your church…
☕️ ‘A Well-Equipped Church Died. It Didn’t Have To.’ by Roger Ross.
‘When we walked into the nicely decorated sanctuary, it looked as though the worship service had just ended. The pulpit was well positioned, liturgical banners were on the walls, and a few bulletins were casually strewn in the pews. Computers, an updated sound system, and other tech equipment sat ready in the back of the room.’
Love for your vocation…
☕️ ‘Thanks, Rev’ by Rachel McDonald.
‘You’ve got to know how to do a little chit chat and greeting, authentically pray in front of people you know and don’t know, understand the choreography of the liturgy, and probably be ready to receive feedback, solicited and otherwise. It’s odd to be able to do all of these pieces and yet clergy who serve in a congregational setting do this week after week.’
Even though I think Christian practice opens us to the grace that falls into our lives, whether they are on good soil or rocky soil, I still appreciate this perspective…
☕️ ‘The Terrifying Power of Good Habits.‘ by Cole Nielsen.
‘Wells rolled his eyes. “Yes. Yes. Yes. I repent. Habits form people. What else am I to say?
“That a musician, through continuous repetition, doesn’t learn to play without thought? That a muscle, constantly worked and fed, does not grow? That a blind man, after years, doesn’t walk freely and confidently through his own home?
“Yes. Habits form people…
“And that, Ethan, is what terrifies me.”
Ethan’s upturned lips quickly flattened.
“Terrifies you?”
“Yes.”’
This week at Free Range Priest:
☕️ I updated my About page - and made a video about it!
The video is part of my ‘Ditch your church website’ course (that I’m still finishing). The first part is done - it shows how you can use Planning Center to create a more engaging, technically based admin center for your ministry.
Now I’m finishing the Substack part - how to use Substack as your interactive home page, and stop using a static website no one ever sees.
I’m adding a video a week - and sending it out to everyone who has already signed up for the course. At the end of November, the 5 Substack videos will be a stand alone course.
The new ‘About’ page is here…
You can find the course here:
Substack Seminary is community for Cage Free Ministers
And this Quarter, we’re talking about Technology and Collaboration
This week we’re specifically discussing how formation happens at a distance.
And although we’re specifically talking about digital formation, Loren Richmond Jr. wrote a very interesting article about Alexander Campbell, a 19th century leader in the Christian Restoration movement. Alexander taught and formed Christians in new ways of being church the old fashioned way: debate and writing.
☕️ ‘Through his writing, Campbell was not simply trying to convince people to think differently about communion [in the 19th century]. He was encouraging them to practice communion differently.
And as congregations began putting those ideas into practice, they were also being formed by them. Gathering around the table reinforced a different understanding of Christian unity, belonging, and the nature of the church itself.
In other words, Campbell’s writing helped change a practice, and that practice helped form a people’.
- ‘How do we form people we never meet?’
Your weekly Trexo ‘Hearts up!’ moment:
What have I missed?
I can’t always read 400+ newsletters.
And there’s lots of great Substackers I haven’t met yet - especially those who are just starting, and who may not have that many followers yet.
PLEASE share the Good Stuff you’ve read this week in the comments below.
And PLEASE restack this post so others can see - and subscribe to - this Good Stuff.
At Free Range Priest, we’re bringing church to people.
Bite-sized ways that YOU can re-imagine ministry and get ‘unstuck’.
Subscribe to re-discover ministry JOY.
Thank you so much for including this sermon in your good stuff for the week! It means a lot.💚
Thank you, Cathie, for the call-out. I’m glad you enjoyed my essay, and grateful to you for sharing it.