February 3 for 3: Giving thanks for fifty years edition [2021]
A curated list of what I've been up to lately plus work from other creators and cultivators who are helping us worship God, love people, and enjoy beauty.
A montage of my everyday work tools: prayer beads and psalms I use during spiritual direction appointments, pencils, journals, and a candle fueling on my writing work. (Thanks to Kendra & Jordan for the candle and to Katie for the handmade prayer beads!)
Dear friends,
My looming fiftieth birthday is the subtext for almost all I’ve been noticing so far in 2021. In January that looked like a gigantic post listing every book I’ve read since starting this blog in 2006. In February it looked like enrolling in a writing course that promised to help me get over the hurdles between me and publishing something substantial in the near future. In March - now one week away from my birthday - it looks like me trying to complete a fulfilling stretch of creative work so that I can spend a few days resting and celebrating. It also looks like me getting a hair cut which I’ve bee putting off since October and a massage. Thanks be to God.
It’s a weird time to celebrate any milestone and this feels like no exception. I’m not the kind of person who’d expect an extravagant party, but I’d have wanted to celebrate with a few other people, at least. (I’ve told Brian that next year on my 51st, I want to recreate something like this or this. It seems I’ve got a tradition of throwing big celebrations for the off years. Here’s what I did for my 40th. See what I mean?)
One of the psalms in our readings yesterday (March 1) felt like it offered me words for how I’d like to thank God for this birthday. Psalm 65 offers a litany of thanksgiving in beautiful language. It feels like a counterpoint to all that I’m honestly lamenting in the world, the church, and my own life right now. I’m grateful that God, our Father, welcomes both. I’ve chosen Psalm 65 as my birthday message to God, in gratitude for all that’s been given, preserved, and sustained in my own life. Verse 11 especially helps me articulate gratitude and awe for the goodness and beauty of my Creator.
“You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance.”
This is the Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Peace,
Tamara
What I’ve been working on the past couple of months: New Member Areas!
A Sacramental Life Community - IN PERSON gathered our first two times. Our conversations centered on Lent. In our first gathering, we built the conversation around the questions our community asked as we wondered what it meant to begin Lent even as we feel like we’ve been living in a continual Lent since the beginning of 2020. In our second gathering, we checked in with each other after one week of Lent. We shared our experience of giving up certain things for Lent and how that felt. We listened together to the Ash Wednesday Old Testament passage to hear again what God’s heart is for us even now that we recognize our frailty in keeping a Lenten practice.
Daybook Meditations members have been receiving a new post each day since Ash Wednesday on February 17. We’re reading together through the daily Scripture passages given for this year in Lent aided by images and music I’ve curated to help us watch and pray with Jesus this Lent. We’re following a rhythm of prayer each week, centered around the weekly collect for each Sunday and a weekly pattern of traditionally-spoken prayers like the Lord’s Prayer, prayers from the Book of Common Prayer for specific social concerns, the Venite (Psalm 95), and a few selections from Malcolm Guite in response to the Psalms. I’ve especially found the guided petitions and confessions we’ve been inserting into the sections of the Lord’s Prayer on Mondays extra meaningful this year. We’re focusing our practice around retrieving the language of lament this year. Each week we’re considering one stage of grief through the lens of the pattern we see in the psalms of lament: complaint, petition, and resolve. This the perfect week to join us if you don’t yet have a rhythm of prayer and practice for Lent. (Note: If subscribing to a Daybook Meditations membership isn’t a good fit for you right now, you can still receive all the goodness of this year’s Lent Daybook in a one-time .pdf download. Donate and request your copy here.)
Stories members received a draft of an essay I’m working on for a current writing course. My reflection, Anger as Lament, is part of the Five-Minute Stories series I began last fall. I’ve got a lot more to say about how I’ve been processing the grief of 2020 and 2021 and I’m so thankful to the Stories members for welcoming my unedited reflection into this gracious, safe space. I’ll share a bit more on this topic in March and then we’ll shift to the Lament Stories series of guest posts for Holy Week.
Can’t stop thinking about this: Faith, Apocalypse, and Nationalism: Why Evangelicals Are Vulnerable to Conspiracy Theories by Joel Lawrence, Center for Pastor Theologians
If the content is even close to as good as the illustrations, this will be one to share: Know Your Mothers Project & Know Your Mothers Daily
This reminds me about another recently released project: The First Audio Bible Voiced Entirely By Women Is Here. I find the history and rationale for the project deeply compelling.
Such a beautiful look at Hebrew word for compassion, rakhum: “Compassion” (The Character of God series) via The Bible Project
I can’t quite put into words how encouraging this feels to me. (Thanks to my friend, Jennifer, for sending it my way!): Mental Health First Aid
Have you seen this yet?: What It’s Like to Carry On a Tradition With a Friend Who Can’t Remember It by Julie Beck with Andy Gullahorn and Gabe Scott via The Atlantic
May this increase more and more: 560 UK Churches Ready to Welcome Hong Kong Wave by Stefani McDade via CT
Have you watched Pixar’s Soul yet? Listen to this: Pete Docter on Soul with Mark Labberton via Fuller Studio (Related: My friend Amy Barker Willers highlights a significant scene in the Pixar film, Soul, in her blog series on Beauty. Read it here.)
Favorite must-see TV in the past year: All Creatures Great and Small via PBS
Sign me up: DIY Kintsugi Kit via Culture Care Creative
