Dogs & Doxology:
Stories of Nature, Hope, & Beauty
How I Almost Became a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Farmer. Or, How to Stay Human in the Coming Robot Utopia. Or, Why Tillage?
This was my immediate, gut reaction after first reading Jayber Crow, a novel by Wendell Berry about a small, dying, fictional farming town called Port William in rural Kentucky.
It knocked me off my feet.
Thanksgiving Playbook, Episode 4: Closing Time
As we close this Thanksgiving Playbook series, we would be remiss if we failed to talk about endings. The hard truth of life is that everything comes to an end and learning to end well—to consider the close—is part of what makes an intentional gathering, well, intentional.
Thanksgiving Playbook, Episode 3: “Are You Not Entertained?!”
Creating meaningful gatherings is not to be confused with entertainment, as though it were a kind of show the host is putting on for the guests.
In fact, this Thanksgiving we invite you to turn the whole notion of host and guest upside down.
Thanksgiving Playbook, Episode 2: The Hobbits Got it Right
The hobbits are distinct among all the inhabitants of Middle-earth, namely for their deep and sometimes troublesome preoccupation with food and drink.
Thanksgiving Playbook, Episode 1: Wait, Is This a Costume Party!?
You know that scene from Stranger Things: Season 2, when the boys show up to school fully decked out as Ghostbusters and are completely mortified when they realize no one else is wearing a costume?
“Guys. Guys! GUYS! Why is no one else wearing costumes?”
Welcome to Our Thanksgiving Playbook
While the call to war is obviously figurative, it is intended to be no less arresting than hearing the tocsin bells start up in a medieval town. It’s a call to radically shift our outlook, to move from a day of just food, family, and football—though good pursuits in and of themselves—to a heightened sense of purpose, a gathering unique in time and space, never to be repeated, whose impact will ripple across the cosmos.
Today I Walked to the Ballot Box
How can I be like the small poppy who is not anxious about what the day may hold?
Surprised by Scripture
"In our studies, we explore everything from fun linguistic elements to the great mysteries of life. Each moment of study is an invitation to walk with people through the questions and revelations; to sit beside them as they wrestle and discover the timeless abundance hidden in the text." —Holly Ullman
Stay and Be Rooted
I’ve run past naked people (not nearly as many as you might think), unhoused and drug addicts, through parades (accidentally), protests (again, accidentally)—up, over, and around the many hills of San Francisco.
I’ve stood in the pre-dawn dark on Twin Peaks....
What We’re Reading: Unreasonable Hospitality
So much of what is considered unreasonable in "unreasonable hospitality" is because it doesn't scale or because it's not an efficient use of capital, human or otherwise.
But I think that's kind of the point.