‘Good Stuff’ = articles I’ve read this week that inspired, educated, entertained, or moved me.
Which for a Free Range Priest, means reading more amazing, inspiring things about God, the church, the universe, and running.
And … we’re back! Hope you’ve had a great three weeks. I’ve been blissfully off grid for a big chunk of it, but happy to get back to Good Stuff.
Here’s this week’s roundup:
'The institutional church is collapsing and we're not sure what to do'
If you want to know more about Free Range Priest - START HERE!
God stuff
[Note: I lost my beloved dog quite suddenly and tragically two weeks ago. Coincidentally (or in at least one case, not), I read some really great articles on whether we’ll see our dogs (and other beloved animals) in heaven]…
Ask a Priest: Pets & Heaven by Pastor Sierra Ward
‘I think God will make it right in the New Creation, and that God cares even more deeply for all of His creation than we can ever fathom. I have confidence that in the end, things will be made right, and more than right, righter than we even know now!’‘Dogs don’t go to heaven; robust Christian eschatology gives us a better hope’ by Beth Felker Jones.
‘The real glory of the restoration of nature, of God’s promise to deliver all things, is bigger than the family pet too, but where could I feel it more strongly than when the Puppy greets me, not in heaven, but in the resurrection of the body, in the kingdom that has no end?’
Church stuff
‘A Letter to my Denomination’ by Harp
‘I love my denomination, but not with a blind love. I am not a fanatic. A fanatic refuses to see fault. He becomes so enamored with an ideology, a political party, or an institution that he defends everything and questions nothing. Loyalty becomes denial.’‘Fired from Your Calling?’ by Jake Mills
’You had a calling before you were working, you have a calling while you’re working, and you will have a calling after. We can’t limit our calling to our assignments. What is your calling? Every Christ-follower is first called to Christ and His mission. Within that, God shapes each of us to contribute in particular ways.’
Other stuff
‘Five years later’ by Janette Parker Platter
’But if I start with those questions, I may very well miss something that God might do beyond what I could have anticipated. God has been faithful in each of our transitions so far. This tells me I can rely on God’s future faithfulness, too.’‘Sun Damage’ by Rachel Joy Welcher
’If those moments now stain my arms with potential
cancer, and glitter my nose with age,
Who shall deliver me from this body of death? I want it all
back to live over again through my children...’
What I wrote this week:
Mostly I’ve been updating my new, consolidated Free Range Priest publication!
the new Start Here post is at the top of the page.
I also updated my bio HERE.
And finally…
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.
Sign up for the Newletters - and manage your preferences HERE.
It always means so much when you share something I've written. Thank you Fr. Cathie!