Echoes and Stars

1. We need to be careful of the desire to be clever in our communication. Twitter and Facebook have made this ubiquitous but we should be careful because it often shuts down actual thoughtful communication. A clever response can sometimes be helpful, but also it can shut down the possibility of extended discussion of complex issues.

2. I know as a good American I am not supposed to like the monarchy. But I love how the Brits love their royal family. I’m not even sure why. But I do wonder if it is because I am created to love a Sovereign.

3. Because our culture valorizes rage and sees mercy and forgiveness as weak and a giving in to injustice, there can be no expectation of gun violence (or any other kind of violence) ending any time soon. I assume it will grow. Anger is now a virtue and casting it out into the world for all to see is also an act of virtue. If someone has wronged you, anger. If someone has wronged someone somewhere thousands of miles away and you know no one involved, anger. Your team blows a lead, anger. The other team cheats, anger. Package is late, anger. Someone says they disagree with you on masks, anger. The weather is bad, anger.

And to be honest, the church, which should be known for its forgiveness and mercy and grace, is increasingly cut from the same cloth. Nothing but anger. And it seems that every time I bring this up, someone will immediately point to Jesus turning over the tables. Just a thought but maybe we should be like Jesus in his mercy and forgiveness and then work on being angry without sinning.

4. Baseball is beautiful.

5. What you entertain yourself with is what will spiritually form you.

6. The works of Bob Dylan are an education.

7. Isn’t it strange that one hundred years ago, cars were seen as dangerous, but now if a teenager does not get their license on the day they turn 16 something is wrong? Which got me thinking – my autistic daughter would quite possibly have taken more easily to a horse.

8. We don’t have cable so we have only been able to watch home renovation shows like Home Town, Maine Cabin Masters, and Fixer Upper, while on vacation. But we just got Discovery Plus and the danger of the show is if you are not content with what you have. But also, these people are artists – even the ones who are not the “stars” – and I think it’s to good enjoy that kind of practical art instead of a another dark Netflix drama with hero, fighting psychos and a tragic past of their own making.

9. Slogans are to actual problems what band-aids are to cancer.

10. It is getting very hard to listen to those who want you to just trust science because they seem to be the ones consistently telling us a boy can be a girl and a girl can be a boy and there is no difference anyway. I’m still going to wear a mask if asked to because of Matthew 5:41, but I’m struggling to believe them.