Weekend Top 10: the Slow Start edition
A curated list of what I've been up to lately: places, people, books, podcasts, music, links & more for your weekend downtime with thanks to the creators and cultivators filling the internet with truth, goodness, and beauty.
First, a photo from this week!
Getting back into some deep work this week, with the help of tea, juicy orange slices, and helpful reminders.
It’s been a week of slowly moving back into rhythms of work and planning. I’m grateful for my January writing pep talk from Jonathan Rogers in his newsletter, The Habit Weekly. His podcast and newsletters are one of my best internet finds in 2019. If you aspire to make creative work a habit in your life, I highly recommend Jonathan Rogers’ practical and gracious (with a healthy dose of mystical) inspiration.
Some good places to dive into The Habit:
Subscribe to the weekly email newsletter. I found the encouragement in the photo above here.
Subscribe and listen to The Habit podcast. Here are a few of my favorite interviews from 2019:
Episode 19 with James K.A. Smith
Episode 26 with Tish Harrison Warren & Doug McKelvey
Episode 27 with Christie Purifoy
In my own habit of writing and curating, here’s what I published this week!
On Patreon:
The Feast of the Epiphany devotional post: I'm looking forward to sharing with Daybook patrons a weekly Epiphany Daybook devotional post for these eight weeks of witness. You can read here for a brief description of the liturgical season of Epiphany.
Epiphany Livestream post: We figured it out! I shared briefly what I've learned about Epiphany (both the Feast Day and the season), focusing especially on the spiritual practices, Scripture focus, and prayer this season of the church calendar fosters. You can reference some of what I'll share at the Epiphanytide page on my website. I also offered a brief introduction to the Cultivating A Rule of Life conversation I'll be leading live each Tuesday afternoon in January.
I'll be sharing live some brief history and a lot of personal insight to help answer the following questions:
What is a Rule of Life?
How does a Rule of Life work?
Do I need a Rule of Life?
What are some cautions in cultivating a Rule of Life?
How does a Rule of Life change as the seasons of my life change?
How does a Rule of Life work in community or family?
There’s still time to join us! All you need to do is head to my Patreon page and subscribe as a Daybook patron (that’s the $5 a month level). Join before Tuesday to join in the live conversation or just anytime in January to be able to view the recorded sessions at your convenience.
I’m so excited to encourage many of you seeking to live within a spacious, but intentional life of work, rest, and worship.
Now for more online truth, goodness, and beauty I’ve enjoyed this week…
My Top 10
1. Creators & Cultivators
'We never chose this': refugees use art to imagine a better world – in pictures via The Guardian London will be the setting for a January exhibition and auction of art by people living in Moria camp, on the Greek island of Lesbos. The proceeds will go to the Hope Project, an initiative that promotes greater dignity for refugees and aims to transform the way they are seen. Thanks to the indefatigable Sarah Quezada for pointing me toward this collection of poignant artistic expression.
2. In Season
I can barely make it past the precious gorgeous in the first photo - Photos: Christmas Around the World via The Atlantic.
3. Justice, Reconciliation, & Social Critique
One of the best theological treatments on war that I read in this week of frightening speculation - Into the Maw of Chaos by Fr. Stephen Freeman via Glory To God For All Things
4. People & Place
I found my bucket list for the rest of winter. I’ve already visited (and loved!) numbers 2 and 4 - 9 CT Bookstores I Love via The Size of Connecticut.
5. Reading & Writing
Pairs well with Jonathan Rogers’ encouragement pictured at the top of this post - Who Has the Right To Be A Writer? Stewart Sinclair on What It Means (and Takes) to Have a Career in Writing via Lit Hub.
6. Spiritual Direction & Disciplines
I’ve always loved the question Krista Tippett employs to begin each conversation, and have sought to copy it in my own conversations. I loved this audio compilation from the past decade of interviews, delightfully animated by Andrew Khosravani.
I dare you to try this question with a friend, neighbor, or stranger sometime this week!
7. Watching & Listening
We watched the new Little Women directed by the inestimable Greta Gerwig this past week. I intentionally avoided all reviews before going because I was already nervous about a new adaptation since we love (and annually cry over) the 1994 (how can it’ve been that long ago?!?) version starring Winona Ryder as Jo. I needn’t have worried. In between glaring at the women in our row who talked through the entire movie, we laughed, and cried (my two daughters, husband, and me passing tissues up and down the theatre row). The movie was so well made and, after reflection, I’ve decided I need both interpretations (1994 and 2019) in my life.
If you’ve already seen it, I found the following three reflections to be superb:
Anthony Lane at The New Yorker writes Greta Gerwig’s Raw, Startling “Little Women”: What emerges from Gerwig’s adaptation is a strong sense that indignation is not just the natural lot of women but their rousing right.
Karen Swallow Prior writes for The Gospel Coalition How ‘Little Women’ Re-Reads the Original Novel: “Inferior art advocates; good art wrestles. Little Women wrestles.”
Lore Ferguson Wilbert writes a lovely reflection of her viewing experience at Sayable: To Weep With Those Who Weep: A Kind of Little Women Review
8. Wholeness & Healing
Wow. Caitlin Connolly’s artwork always moves me but this is next level.
9. Work & Callings
I was delighted to learn my post on the missional endeavor of our daily work for The Telos Collective was one of their top ten read posts of 2019 - “Why Am I Here?”: A Missional Approach to Identity and Vocation. You can see part two of the series here - The Workplace: America’s New Church?
10. Worship, Liturgy, & Church
A little child shall lead us - One Inch off the Ground: A child meets her guardian angel at a live nativity by Maureen Swinger via Plough.
May you enjoy slow, but steady rhythms of work and rest this weekend
Peace, friends!