Fodder for thought
this week's hodgepodge of things I liked
Have you ever wondered what it’d be like to be the exact same size as a baritone ukulele? Me neither 😝 But here’s a 17-month-old nephew to scale:
I hope you enjoy some of the things that have given me fodder for thought:
a deep-dive into psalm 84
I’ve been loving the song Yahweh (Psalm 84) by the Writers Well. Especially the lines:
Even the sparrow finds a home
Even the weary find their rest
Just a day here in Your courts
Is better than a thousand anywhere else
After dozens of listens during my commutes, I felt compelled to read the passage. Last night, I ended up going into a deep-dive exploring Psalm 84 in multiple translations (CSB, CJB, NMVB, MSG, NLT, ESV) and scribbling everything that stood out to me.
I don’t have anything profound to say about this psalm. Except that it deeply comforted me. Jesus met me—intellectually, literarily, poetically, personally <3
jesus and the hurting
I loved yesterday’s sermon (thanks, jacob!) One thing that most struck me:
“Lord, the one you love is sick.” (John 11v3)
Lazarus was very sick.
And Lazarus was very loved by God.
The presence of pain and heartache does not mean God's absence.
Jesus has the perfect wisdom to meet each of us where we are at—whether we need the living truth of his Word (like Martha), or the tender tears of a suffering Savior (like Mary). Or both 🥹
quotes on friendship
From Robert Vaughn’s leaflet True Friendship: Walking Shoulder to Shoulder:
Jesus is the perfect friend who enables us to be true friends ourselves.
[True friendship can ask of one another:] “If you were the devil, where would you direct your attack against yourself?”
There is nothing more important than relationships, with God and with others. I need to reorder my life accordingly.
From Henri Nouwen:
No friend, no lover, no husband or wife, no community or commune will be able to put to rest our deepest cravings for unity and wholeness. And by burdening others with those divine expectations, of which we ourselves are only partially aware, we might inhibit the expression of free friendship and invoke instead feelings of inadequacy and weakness. It is sad to see how sometimes people suffering from loneliness, often deepened by the lack of affection in their immediate family circle, search for a final solution for their pains and look at a new friend, or a new lover, or a new community with messianic expectations.
From Lori Rentzel:
A healthy friendship is free and generous. Both friends are eager to include others in their activities. They are happy when one friend hits it off with another person. In a good friendship, we desire to see the other reach his or her full potential, developing new interests and skills. In healthy relationships, we are affected by the things our friends say and do, but our reactions are balanced. On the other hand, a dependent relationship is ingrown, creating mutual stagnation, and limiting personal growth. A casual remark from our friend can send us into the heights of ecstasy or the pits of grief. When a close friend moves away, it is normal for us to feel sorrow and a sense of loss; but if one of the partners in a dependent relationship moves, the other is gripped with anguish, panic, and desperation. While healthy friendship is joyful and upbuilding, emotional dependency produces bondage.
From Francis Schaeffer:
We are finite and therefore we do not expect to find final sufficiency in any human relationship, including marriage. The final sufficiency is to be found only in a relationship with God. If a man tries to find everything in a man-woman or a friend-friend relationship, he destroys the very thing he wants and destroys the one he loves. He sucks them dry, he eats them up and they, as well as the relationship are destroyed. But as Christians we do not have to do that. Our sufficiency of relationship is in that which God made it to be, in the infinite-personal God on the basis of the work of Christ in communication and love.
I’m co-teaching a class on friendship soon. I will likely “model” vignettes as case studies more than “teach” content, but this is me filling up the well.
gift vs. prize
A short lent devotional by Phylicia Masonheimer who distinguishes the “gift” of salvation from how rugged discipline prepares us for our “prize”:
Discipline—living a boundaried life—brings freedom. By saying no to unhealthy impulses and listening to the Holy Spirit’s leading, we are freed to have deeper relationships, better health, stronger faith, and a greater witness. The disciplined life is not aimless, but focused. We have set our eyes on the prize of “well done, my good and faithful servant” and can run with his approval in mind.
We do not choose discipline in order to earn salvation; we choose it because we are saved. Because we are in Christ, a new creation, we must choose to say ”no” to some things and say “yes” to what is better—for the sake of our time, for rest, for connection, for discipleship, for health, and for growth. The season of Lent teaches us to say a temporary “no” so that we may experience a much deeper, more fulfilling “yes” to God. Any area in which we learn to delay gratification out of love for God (not out of legalism) leads us to a deeper experience of his affection and the profound impact of the Spirit-led life.
suffering is spiritual formation
An interview with Dr. Eric Mason on how the church in America is good at gathering people, but has done a poor job at holistically discipling them. I especially liked this quote:
We do people a disservice when we don’t tell the whole Christian life. When you look at Acts 14, they preached, made many disciples, teaching them that through many trials and tribulations you must enter the Kingdom of God. In their fundamental discipleship, suffering was normalized: you are in a trial, coming out of one, or going into one. Suffering is one of the mechanisms of spiritual formation in our lives.
the crumbling of public institutions
A fascinating perspective on being a librarian in America, and the intriguing role of this institution. And also why you can’t take a nap in a public library.
Libraries are on the frontlines of so many wars—the war against censorship, the war against the erosion of personal privacy, the war against illiteracy, the war against fascism and the crumbling of democracy. Put it all together and we’re fighting one big war—the war against despair.
the maker is your husband
A 40-minute Tim Keller sermon on Isaiah 54 called The Maker is Your Husband. I’m about to say something controversial: I enjoy singleness :-) I’m still bumbling through this thing called life, with much to grow in. But God’s given me much grace. And TimmyK articulates what I’ve experienced. May we see the beauty of singleness as much as our natural inclination to see the beauty of marriage. That ultimately, it’s about neither, because:
When the main thing in the world you want to do is delight the One who delights in you, everything in your life will fall into place. And you can burst into song [like the barren woman]:
Let us arise and go to Jesus,
He will embrace me in His arms;
In the arms of my dear Savior, O!
There are ten thousand charms.
warming up
I love learning to lead worship. Part of doing so is taking care of my voice. The Worship Initiative dropped an 18-minute vocal warm-up album that I used this weekend. Bright and early at 6.30am with the sparrows and birdies that go uwu uwu.
from a praying church
A counter-cultural way to plan:
Prayer saturates my planning. A spirit of expectant waiting, where you don’t yet plan—except to pray—is a critical ingredient to a praying church. The author of 1 Samuel is at pains to contrast the impatient spirit of Saul, who can’t wait, with the praying spirit of David, who is constantly consulting with God. We don’t control the Spirit. We wait and pray.
Thank you for reading, friends! Ending with an existential pop quiz:
Q: how many tedders?
A: yes.
love,
reb