It’s Friday, October 15. 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.
☕️ I turn 60 tomorrow!
So I’m running the half marathon leg of a 70.3 Ironman!
It seems like the best party I can imagine - and I want to celebrate being healthy and fit (at my advanced age)!
Still, I can’t believe I’m this old. I feel so much younger. I was talking with my mom this week and she said: ‘YOU feel old! My daughter is 60!’ Fair enough.
Which is probably why I’m drawn this week to articles that ask unanswerable questions. ‘Why did that parishioner leave?’ ‘Why are we trying so hard to save this church?’ ‘What does AI reveal about God?’ ‘Why do we have paragraphs?’
I guess some of them are answerable. But it feels more like marveling at the joyful mystery of it all.
Which I’m completely here for this week.
This week’s theme: all the things we don’t understand
This is a hard one. Parishioners leave - sometimes without explanation - and it’s hard not to take it personally as a pastor…
☕️ ‘When They Get Off the Bus’ by Dennis Sanders.
‘When someone leaves, pastors are left with questions. You start to wonder where you failed. Was I too pushy? Did I ignore them? Did I not take a prayer request seriously?
Are we trying to save the church? A particular church? We probably can’t.
Are we trying to save the faith? We don’t need to! We just need to follow…
☕️ ‘Practicing Congregational Discernment: What Are We Trying to Save?’ by Annie Neely.
‘When someone says, “We have to save this church,” they may really mean, “I cannot imagine my life without these people.” They may mean, “My spouse’s funeral was held here.” Or, “My children were baptized here.” Or, “This is the place where I learned that God loved me.” They may mean, “I have already watched so many things in my life change, and I do not want this to change too.”’
I love belonging to a liturgical church. There is so much freedom within the limits of worship form. The church calendar is an especially powerful guide.
The rhythm of feast and fast, holidays and ordinary time, is the metronome of our lives, and our life with God.
☕️ ‘The Time I Tried to Wipe the Ashes Off My Girlfriend’s Forehead’ by Beau Stringer.
‘What I love most about it is that the calendar gives you permission to feel different things in different seasons. Not every Sunday has to be a mountaintop. Some seasons are for waiting, some are for grieving, and some are just for showing up and letting the roots grow.’
This is why I love AI - and am not afraid of it:
As we learn the limits of intelligence, we are left with what is so much more: the meaning of life. We’re left with God.
☕️ ‘Does Artificial Intelligence reveal our artificial ways of living?’ by Chris Nye.
‘In seeing Christ we not only see God, but we see “all things” in the light of his glory. In this way, “reality” is not what we see and respond to. Jesus is reality. “Perspective” on any world event is seen through the bloodied man hung on a tree, a strange and empty grave on the outskirts of town, a child in a manger, his ascended and reigning life now.’
And because I am a grammar nerd..
☕️ ‘How the internet killed the paragraph’ by Colin Gorrie.
I still remember learning the rules: topic sentence, supporting sentence, concluding sentence. But it turns out there were never really rules at all…
‘I’ve had to unlearn some of the habits I’ve worked so hard to inculcate for online writing.
All this put some questions in my mind: Where do our ideas about paragraphs come from? And why does the internet-native paragraph work so differently from its traditional cousin?
As is so often the case, the answer begins in Ancient Greece.’
This week at Free Range Priest:
☕️ ‘Can Cage Free Ministry be truly sustainable?’
It’s the story of my ministry, in more ways than one.
Cage Free Ministry is 12 rubrics built around:
the System: how we organize ourselves as the church.
the Community: what we do and believe as the church.
the Minister: how lay and ordained leaders serve God and the church together.
You’ll learn them the way we’re learning them:
by practicing, discovering, and building sustainable, JOYful ways of bringing church to people.
☕️ ‘Who’s in your network, And how do they know what you’re doing’ by Loren Richmond Jr.
Substack Seminary is back in session!
The Q4 theme is Technology and Collaboration - and we are the case study! Join Pastor Sierra Ward, Loren, and myself as we talk about how we work together, and how we promote and support each other’s work. Loren has a new book out, and we’re spreading the word. To help Loren, yes. But mostly because it’s full of helpful ideas for churches trying to go Cage Free!
Your weekly Trexo ‘Hearts up!’ moment:
Our spiritual practice is SO much like our physical exercise routine. It’s easy to say ‘Of course I pray!’ - like it’s easy to say ‘of course I work out!’ - but without a regular practice, it’s easy to let it fade away. S
ometimes I can’t remember if I’ve prayed yesterday! Or if I ran last week. A workout plan - a Rule of Life - helps us keep a rhythm and routine to our spiritual practice. It doesn’t have to be rigid! Just a guide to keep our relationship with God part of our daily routine.
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.
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