Notes on the questions of the faith I’m still living — doubt, trust, weariness, grace. The press gathers trusted voices across the Church’s traditions on one hard question, so you aren’t left to re-invent the faith alone.
3AM Christmas Thoughts at Waffle House
|
Friends, I'm writing to you from an unusual place this Christmas week - a Waffle House in Germantown at 3AM. I woke up early. Since everyone else was asleep, I extricated myself from the apartment as quietly as I could. Daisy the dog greeted me enthusiastically, and the door chimed as I went out, but I don't think anyone stirred. I drove to the nearest open business, a Waffle House in Germantown. There I met a truck driver who'd had an accident the day before when someone swerved in front of him through his blind spot and stopped short. Then he discovered his purchase of insurance for $500 earlier had been a scam. I hope that doesn't mean he was uninsured, and that today is a much better day for him. I'm tired, stretched thin, but grateful for a place to sit and think, maybe do some work, in the middle of the night. So much in my life is rushed, and I often feel behind. I picked up Eugene Peterson's book, The Contemplative Pastor, and found it refreshing. No, I'm not a pastor, but his focus on the cure of souls over administrative busyness is corrective for every Christian. We are here to grow and to help others to do the same. He points out that John's Apocalypse is long, slow, complex, and poetic—anything but hurried. Though John saw that the world was coming to an end, it did not excite him to frantic or panicked work. It slowed him down. Made him attentive to what God was doing. He wrote poetry, not prose. He spoke to the soul more than the mind. Reading his words makes me wonder how I can make my tech work more human, more focused on people and their thriving, my own among them? I sometimes wonder if technology is fundamentally opposed to human thriving, but in my case, it is what provides for the necessities of life, and perhaps it is as good a means as any to that end. I'm ill at ease with our culture of tech-enabled busyness, especially how it infects Christmas. Between work and family responsibilities, the days leading up to Christmas become a blur. I try to hang on to the joy of serving people and providing for my family. That’s what it is all about. Ignaria is doing well with two paying customers and a handful of daily users on the free plan. Time will tell if my investment in that project will become more than a small side ministry that I fund because I believe in it. Modern Christians need to get beyond tribal, pinched, academic or frantic versions of our faith. We need to see that the Holy Spirit has been at work for 2,000 years, and that we haven’t reached the apex of pure theology, but have in many ways digressed from it. Maybe Ignaria can be a small part of a broader rejection of the cult of progress and modern arrogance. Maybe you're tired too. Maybe your Christmas week feels more like a blur than a celebration. If so, I hope this finds you in your own version of a 3AM Waffle House - a moment to pause and notice what really matters. Merry Christmas, Harvey |
Letters from Resurrection Publishing
Notes on the questions of the faith I’m still living — doubt, trust, weariness, grace. The press gathers trusted voices across the Church’s traditions on one hard question, so you aren’t left to re-invent the faith alone.
Friend,Three in the morning, and I was simply awake. I wasn't worried, wasn't afraid. This has been happening more since we moved back to Tennessee. So I got up and reached for a novel instead of something useful, then my Bible, then a question I couldn't shake. Usually, I'd use the early hours to create something useful. And by useful, I mean something I could sell. I always have that drive to provide. But lately, I've felt a bit like I'm treading water, with something weighing me down. So I...
Friend, I want to be somebody, and the fact that I am somebody is never enough. A few days after deciding to shut down Ignaria, I caught myself already sketching the next venture—another chance to prove competence, another way to feel like I matter. The work itself may be legitimate. The drive underneath it is something else. I wrote about that restless ache, about why “you are enough” misses the point, and about the only place I’ve found that actually holds the weight. On Being Somebody →...
Friend, I was raised as a missionary kid, going to church at least three times each week, so I’m fairly attuned to the threads of thinking going around the Church. We react to current issues. We disagree about doctrine. We apply Scripture to the news and to daily life. Much of our current writing and teaching can be reduced to slogans or memes recording our outrage about moral, political, and social transgressions against Christian values. Don’t get me wrong — that outrage is often justified....