Here are Four Great Things from the week of 05/10/2024.

The Healing Power of Church Architecture

Jason Ferris is a pastor of a church in Philadelphia. In this article, he thoughtfully considers space in ways I never have before. Whereas I am not in total accordance with his views on modern churches, pausing to reflect on the hows and whys of modernity is wise.

"Sanctuaries thus hold in tension the simultaneous experience of our fear of God and of our being held safely by God. Sanctuaries awe us even as they comfort us; they challenge us even as they affirm us. This tension between fear and security is central to the Christian faith. It is what people in the New Testament experienced when Jesus revealed his power to them."



The Mystery of Drawing Faces. . . And Drawing Out God

I don't regularly draw, and even when I do my first thought is not to sketch a face. That just seems like the hardest to draw without looking cartoonish or even offensive. But what Eugene Terekhin notes is how thoughtful one should be when sketching a face—I've increasingly been studying art history, so to think of how intentional the Greats had to be in order to capture something beyond a realistic-looking face is rather humbling.

"In a face, no line is accidental. Those differentiating strokes of the divine pen bring out a unique manifestation of God. God reveals himself by differentiating and delineating. When you draw a face you delve into the mystery of divine essence. It is one, but it is manifold. It loves to draw lines to weave everything on heaven and earth into one indivisible Whole."

Fifty Late Bloomers

Henry Oliver has noted 50 people who published some great work in their later years. What an incredible encouragement to try something new, polish something existing, and finish what's been on a slow burn.

The Norton Book of Light Verse

A poetry anthology with a light-hearted lineup, this book has been a fast favorite.

Insomnia the Gem of the Ocean
by John Updike

When I lay me down to sleep
My waterbed says, “Gurgle gleep,”
And when I readjustment crave
It answers me with a tidal wave
That lifts me like a bark canoe
Adrift in breakers off Peru.

Neap to my spring, ebb to my flow,
It turns my pulse to undertow,
It turns my thoughts to bubbles, it
Still undulates when I would quit;
Two bags of water, it and I
In restless sympathy here lie.

(I’m going back to bed)

What I'm working on:

• *Nothing* this week—but I did have a conversation with a good friend about God's providence vs God's provision. I have a slow burn about our transition from TX to IN.

Quotable:

“All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies, and whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you, digger, listener, runner, prince with the swift warning. Be cunning and full of tricks and your people shall never be destroyed.”
― Richard Adams, Watership Down

Worth the Memory

The Hare

By Walter de la Mare

In the black furrow of a field
        I saw an old witch-hare this night;
 And she cocked a lissome ear,
        And she eyed the moon so bright,
 And she nibbled of the green;
        And I whispered "Wh-s-st! witch-hare,"
 Away like a ghostie o'er the field
        She fled, and left the moonlight there.

What are your great things from the week?