It’s Friday, September 25. 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 always hear God’s voice in small coincidences.
This week, I’ve been working to define my ministry. People often ask me ‘What does a Free Range Priest do?’ and I struggle to answer without launching into long stories about struggling churches and stressed-out pastors.
So just as I’m trying to be more concise, I’m also reading several articles about how God is in the details: of our daily movements, thoughts, and repeated actions.
Not exactly original or groundbreaking - but there’s something about being reminded that it all goes back to the basics.
In my running community, we often repeat the phrase: ‘How do you know you’re a runner? You run.’
It’s the same in the religious community. How do we know we are believers? We believe.
This week’s writing helped me see that a Free Range Priest does the same things any other minister does: turns us back to Jesus.
It’s some Good Stuff.
This week’s theme: It’s the little things
☕️ ‘The Gift of Dishes’ by Young Woong Yi.
Seeking a ‘romantic life’, and finding it in the most ordinary places. The wonder of being able to see God at work in every corner of our lives.
‘I have a simple working theory about these little tasks that pop up everyday. Here it is: when we accept them for what they are, we receive a natural means of grace for the day’.
☕️ ‘When Jesus Touches Things’ by A.J. Swoboda.
A similar theme: Jesus makes the ordinary extraordinary.
‘It is beautiful to consider the person who actually prepared that meal for the Last Supper. Did they know they were preparing what may be the most famous, talked-about meal in all of human history?’
☕️ ‘Where Art Thou Rob Bell?’ by Doctoral Discipleship (Daniel)
The ordinary holy doesn’t come from us. It leads us back to God, and to a rich and clear religious tradition. If not, it becomes an endless loop of our own self-involvement.
‘I realized that Bell’s progressive Christianity led people to an abstract alternate universe where the morality of the inner person was the true God. I was too messed up for that. I needed a Cross. I needed a high priest who could sympathize with me, not a God who offered comfort in the aisles of Trader Joe’s.’
☕️ ‘Is God Doling Out Lessons?’ by Pastor Sierra Ward
Asking if God ‘never gives us more than we can handle’ leads to a deep discussion of where our theology comes from.
‘This niggling feeling you have is a warning for all of us. Be careful what you believe, because so goes your life. I do think we understand this, but it’s hard to look at too closely.’
I’m so enamored with the ways of early church that I’m developing a ‘spiritual gym’ based on ancient Christian spiritual exercise.
So I found it a huge gift from God (and holy coincidence) to read this:
☕️ How the Early Church Got Catechized by Griffin Gooch.
‘there’s very little indication that “believing the right things” topped anyone’s list of importance. The goal was more so retraining - reprogramming our base, animal instincts closer to the image of Christ.’
This week at Free Range Priest:
Small, repeated patterns for turning our life - and ministry - back towards God:
☕️ ‘It’s still ministry, it just tastes better.’ Cage Free Ministry = concepts for ‘bite-sized’ changes based on a new way of thinking about ministry and building a more agile system from the inside of church.
☕️ ‘What if you could train your soul?’ (at the Trexo gym for your soul)
Train for what?
For that moment when everything falls apart … and we know we’re surrounded and held by love.
For the moment everything comes together … and we know that our happiness rests in something even larger.
For a life bound in peace, love, meaning, and JOY.
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.
thanks for sharing Cathie :)
Cathie~ you’re amazing. Wow honored to be in this post among great writers.
Thank you !