Beauty For Your Week #1
Prayer over pundits, stopping to notice seashells, and a poll.
Occasionally I’ll send out a collection of links to articles, podcast episodes, books, and more that have highlighted God’s beauty in some unique way. Please let me know if there are other types of resources you’d like to see.
#1: Let Intercessions Be Made (
)Because our political landscape is chaotic, Jen reminds us that prayer is one of the few explicit commands we are given in Scripture regarding our political life, and she offers a beautiful example of what a commitment to obeying it might look like.
I too rarely hear—even from public Christians—the kind of lament we read in the psalms. There, we hear a naming of the world’s great disrepair and a pleading for God—the only just and righteous Judge—to intervene. It’s to say that lament demonstrates faith, not in our political systems and parties but in another Hero of the world’s redemption story.
#2: In praise of seashells and coffee too (
)Because we’ve been talking a lot about radical Christianity and Don’t Waste Your Life deeply shaped me as a young teen and I’m still unlearning that unholy hustle. It is a gift to see more and more people questioning this brand of theology.
Jesus paid it all, my friends, and so—thank Goodness—we don’t have to make our lives count. They do matter, but they can’t count. Jesus did all the counting, once for all. And life isn’t short; no clocks are ticking; life is everlasting in Christ our Lord.
So, we’re freed to love and to serve, even in the midst of our no-count weakness, smallness, and brokenness. We’re freed to have a cup of coffee, if we want it. I’d prefer a Coke.
We’re freed to attend to the glory of God in the world around us, in enjoying a beverage with friends or watching crabs skitter and little mollusks burrow into the sand.
#3 The Three-City Problem of Modern Life (
in Wired)Because I love a good metaphor, especially one that reminds us that we were created for worship, no matter how our “cities” might try to convince us otherwise.
I eventually left the seminary when I realized that I had mistaken my longing for transcendence—for Jerusalem—as requiring me to leave the business world altogether. I had felt so lonely there, so out of place, that I thought I was required to renounce one city before stepping foot in another. That is the tragedy of the three cities: the artificial walls that trifurcate us.
When I left the seminary, I decided that I would try to live at the intersection of Athens, Jerusalem, and Silicon Valley. The solution to the problem, I have found, is a more integrated view of human nature.
Beauty in Home
The past week has been chaotic, to say the least. We got the keys to our new apartment and have spent quite a few late nights unpacking boxes, cleaning, and organizing. Despite the exhaustion it feels so good to get settled into a new space. My last two tasks might be my favorite: unpacking and reshelving my library and hanging art and photos on our empty walls.
Beauty in Work
My husband started a new job working remotely last week. It is a job that utilizes his skills and passions so perfectly and we are beyond blessed to be able to work in vocational ministry in a way that provides us freedom and flexibility to also invest in the ministry of our own home. Pray that we would steward our work well and adjust smoothly to new schedules.
I have been thinking through other ways to serve my readers and build a community here at Beautiful Discipleship. Pursuing God’s beauty in the way we live out our beliefs can feel like constantly swimming upstream, both in our faith communities, and of course in the wider world. Would it be helpful to you if we pursued concrete action in that direction together? Would swimming together help the current to not feel so strong? How does a Beautiful Discipleship Commitment sound to you? We could pick one discipline or habit to practice together. Perhaps we could even meet over Zoom to encourage one another and discuss our experiences. If this interests you, let me know which of the following commitments you would most want to make this fall.
In pursuit of Beauty,
would like a zoom, and I am down to driving over to meet up.