Where's the Good Stuff this week?
Friday 3/13/26 roundup of what I've discovered on Substack
‘Good Stuff’ = blog posts 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.
Here’s this week’s roundup:
God stuff
‘When the Heart Shifts’ by Jake Owensby. ‘Then I asked her to imagine something else. God sits down beside you, looks you in the eye, and says, “I love you.”’
‘Three Fresh Ways to Grow Closer to God’ by Sarah K. Butterfield. ‘As someone who thrives on routine, I can fall into the trap of engaging in spiritual habits because it’s what I always do, instead of being motivated by a desire for greater intimacy with God.’
Church stuff
‘The United Church of Christ Is Running Out of People—and Pastors’ by Ryan Burge. ‘A church with fewer than 50 worshippers likely can’t afford a full-time pastor. Heck, they may even be struggling just to pay the light bill and the property insurance. And if they do manage to have a pastor who is there 40 hours a week, they are almost certainly cash-flow negative, which means they are living off reserves—which won’t last forever.’
‘Power of Community’ by Thea Curry-Fuson. ‘The buildings might close, take on a new name or be bulldozed into the ground so that new life can begin. The good news of Jesus Christ, God’s love embodied here on earth, with us in the dirt, unwilling to shy away from our mess but instead offer hope, renewal and active participation in what God is up to today will not die.’
Other stuff
‘I got married two weeks ago’ by Drew Brown. ‘For years I used to tell people that a marriage is a miracle. I mean, how else do you explain two people—in a world of billions—finding each other and fitting together just so and then committing to each other for a lifetime?’
‘Two Years Ago I Quit My Life’ by Anne Boyd. ‘When things feel uncertain and I feel anxious about how unsettled my life remains, it’s helpful to remember why I left in the first place.’
What I wrote this week:
‘It’s faithful to believe in the death of the church’. ‘There is danger in conflating the continuation of the church itself with the insistence on a certain expression of it.’
‘It’s a love story’. ‘Jesus offers her what her heart really needs. not romantic love - something a million times stronger. the living water - the source of life - that is the love of God that saves us all.’
And finally…
Thanks for including me this week! Continued Lenten blessings