It’s Friday, September 18. 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 in less than a month.
So it’s not that surprising to me I was drawn to articles about new ways of thinking and being this week.
Some are old new ways of thinking: others looking these strange people, drawn to Jesus and the power of love, and eventually calling them ‘Christian’.
Some are new new ways of thinking: moving from 16th century modernism to 20th century post-modernism to 21st century pragmatism.
Some are about facing the fact that we have to start thinking in new ways: we can’t support church buildings the way we used to, our pain tells us our souls get ‘knotted up’ just like our muscles do, our age tells us we may not have the same relationship with work we used to.
Each of these articles brings the question: how can we see things differently? or how is the world changing around me, and how do I respond to it?
It’s not always easy. We don’t always like it. But there’s still joy, wonder, and hope in front of us.
It’s some Good Stuff.
This week’s theme: Transformation
☕️ ‘When Did the Sermon Become the Center of Christian Worship? The Meal That Disappeared From Christian Worship’ by Kenneth B.
How did a culture so focused on food get so far away from the centrality of the Eucharist to Christians - despite the fact that early reformers were very clear about this?
An interesting look at the transformation of American Protestantism…
This subject is far and away the most cited reason that visitors to our church mention as to why they are looking into Orthodoxy; after reading the Bible, they begin to realize that the Lord’s Supper is central to New Testament worship.
☕️ ‘Michael Levin’s Pragmatism Solves the Postmodern Problem’ by James Taylor Foreman.
Our collective culture is constantly being transformed by the lens through which we view the world, and I for one am glad that Foreman sees a shift back to wonder and mystery along with our scientific certainty…
Pragmatism could be a great enlivening force for our age. It lets us again feel the awareness and the intelligence of everything, while also not losing our modernist reason and logical approach. It’s a wonderful prospect, as far as I’m concerned.’
☕️ What Is A Christian? by Pastor Rich Bitterman.
Do you call yourself a Christian? Why?
The first Christians didn’t give themselves that name. Others watched them - and their lives transformed by love - and started referring to them as ‘Christ people’.
So perhaps the question is not simply whether you have always called yourself a Christian. The better question is whether your life has ever been gathered up into Christ. Do you belong to Him? Has grace opened your mouth? Are you willing to stay near Him when doing so costs you something?
The believers in Antioch did not invent a label for themselves. Their neighbors watched their lives and found one.’
☕️ ‘Life is a three-act play’ by Terrell Johnson.
Some transformations aren’t so easy. Suddenly we’re in another phase of life - one that causes us to re-assess who we are and how we’re called…
I wonder if I’ve come to a similar hinge moment in my life. I’m 55 years old; my oldest is about to graduate from college this spring and my youngest will become a teenager in just a few weeks.
Are there other things I need to be doing? Are there parts of my life I’ve given enough energy to, and are there new directions I should aim for?
☕️ ‘Trigger Points’ by Barbara Caver.
Sometimes looking at one thing - like our muscles, sore from working out - can transform our thinking about other parts of our lives…
Trigger points develop in your soul too. In fact, a trigger point in your body will indicate one in your soul too.
The technique to release a trigger point in the body is the same as to release one in the soul, albeit with far less violence:Confront it.
Soothe it.
Accept it.
Again and again.
This week at Free Range Priest:
Reimagining ministry as the institutional church transforms into the future…
☕️ Loren Richmond Jr.’s blog for Substack Seminary - ‘What do we lose when we lose the church building?’ - explores the gap between what we want church to be and what it often is: institutional maintenance.
☕️ The Trexo Story. Why I’m creating a gym for your soul.
☕️ Six-word mission statements are fun and informative ways to get at the heart of what your ministry is and why it matters. It’s also not so easy to do! It’s one of the fundamentals of Cage Free Ministry. I’d love to know yours! If you’re a subscriber (free or paid!), share yours with me here and I’ll send you some feedback:
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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Thanks for the mention, Cathie!
Thanks so much for the shout-out, Cathie!