Retiring the #GirlBoss by Lois McLatchie suggests a there may be positive change in the air for women.
🎙️Guy Waters does a great job in this interview explaining how and why the Sabbath is important. If this is something you’ve been wondering about, this interview is a great place to start.
Tucson-based classical composer Joshua Nichols has released an album of piano music called Metropolis. And the more I listen to it the more I love it. One reviewer wrote:
Joshua’s style invokes and balances the unique ‘cart blanch’ approach to 20th and 21st century and the beauty of prior periods of the classical art music. His music is a unique blend of tonal practice with the allure of modern compositional style, coupled with a mature sense of timing, phrase, melody, harmony, and drama. You will also hear his unapologetic influences from music history.
A good description. 🎵
If you heard my talk on Gregory of Nazianzus this week (and for orthers who might be interested), the autobiographical poems I mentioned are available in a digital edition that you can borrow for free. If you’re looking for something entertaining and edifying to read this Sunday, give one a try.
archives.design, collected and curated by Valerie Marier, is “a digital archive of graphic design related items that are available on the Internet Archives.” Very cool. (via)
Grandpa doesn’t like AI Boyfriend! but why??? lol [via]
Updated: My links page for Alan Strange’s commentary on the OPC’s Book of Church Order. The hits keep coming.
From the 1960s to the 1990s, a Christian scene in Orange County, CA created an enormous amount of influence and buzz. This was particularly true for those there, but many others have also felt the water from this California wave. One important happening during this time, the birth of Calvary Chapel, is captured in the recent movie Jesus Revolution, which was released this week on Netflix. But this wasn’t the only thing happening in the OC during this time.
For those who are interested in Jesus Revolution or in this era more broadly, I recommend you read Kim Riddlebarger’s, series of blog posts on his life in Orange County during these years.
Riddlebarger is a Reformed pastor and former White Horse Inn co-host. He describes this era and place in an intimate and balanced way. He describes how it shaped him and the people around him, and what it was like to be a Reformed minister in the midst of it.
The descriptions are interesting and also entertaining—like the part about TBN giving away copies of the Heidelberg Catechism (until it didn’t) or the behind the scenes history of the very memorable Robert Schuller episode on the White Horse Inn.
His posts also helped me better understand my own history. I came to see that growing up in the 1980s and 90s, my wife and I belong to a generational cohort that experienced the last part of this big California wave. We recognized (and still have) some of the Bible covers, t-shirts, and “contemporary” Christian music that Riddlebarger references.
I also realized that growing up in Phoenix created another point of connection with this history. Despite the differences and distance, I think Phoenix can be thought of as “Orange County adjacent” in some significant ways, and not just in geography. During these decades, there were similarities in politics, immigration, tech, and more. This means that from a historical perspective, religious influence from the OC would be expected as well.
As I reflect on this, I remember how common it was for ministry teams, youth groups, and individual Christians to travel to Orange County during this time to hear speakers, attend youth conferences, and worship at Christian music festivals. I did this and know others who did too. And when we came home, we often brought some of that scene with us.
Phoenix was also a targeted place for the spread of OC buzz. For example, after the first TBN station in Santa Ana, in the mid-70s TBN purchased its second broadcast station in Phoenix, just a mile and a half down the street from where I grew up. Watching channel 21 was a regular (and usually boring) part of my growing up. The first Calvary Chapel in Phoenix started in 1978.
Riddlebarger’s personal telling throughout brought up my own memories and reflections about the past. And toward the end of the series, he had me thinking about the present and the future of my own ministry with his reflections on the OPC congregations that are also part of the story and remain so even after the influence and buzz of the OC has faded.
The series starts here:
“The OC — A New Burned Over District” – the Context for “The Jesus Revolution” — The Riddleblog.
🔗 Soft tech by Helena Jaramillo.
Monsoon-wise, Tucson photographer Ray Cleveland is having a very good season. [via] 📷
Paul and Timothy tell the Christians in Corinth that they must work with them in their ministry of the word, even though they are hundreds of miles apart. Learn how and why this was possible without the internet in my sermon last Sunday on 2 Corinthians 1:11-14.
A picture of Mo’s. We try to go whenever we visit Oregon.
And yet, just outside the restaurant was this sign pointing us the way home to Arizona.
If you don’t know the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto, get yourself some headphones and 30 minutes of headspace to listen to this beautiful piece. There are so many wonderful versions! Here’s a great one. And there is something magical about the violin cello duets in this one. 🎵
We recently started a nursery at Covenant for 0-3 year olds. We found loving volunteers, updated our child protection policy, provided training, etc. It took some time but it was worth it. Lara d’Entremont explains why by showing the kind of blessing it can be. She starts like this:
Dear Nursery Worker,
I came into your nursery with a lot of baggage. Not just a heavy diaper bag slung over my shoulder and a toddler clinging to my side. I came with grief from miscarriages. I came with sorrow from leaving the church we used to call home. I came with fear and uncertainty if this would be the place we could call our church.
Read: Dear Nursery Worker: Thank You For Loving Our Family Like Christ
Now is a good time to build yourself your own little internet homestead. It’s so fun. I use Micro.blog, which is offering a summer special right now, $1/mo for 4 months.
If you need some comfort and encouragement, listen to the sermon I preached last Sunday morning. If you want to hear about how foolish it is to think you can control people, even if you have more power than anyone else, listen to my sermon from the evening.
I know it’s hot right now and easy to complain. But what would happen if we replaced complaining with praying? Like this from the Book of Common Prayer:
O God, heavenly Father, who by thy Son Jesus Christ hast promised to all those who seek thy kingdom, and the righteousness thereof, all things necessary to their bodily sustenance; Send us, we beseech thee, in this our necessity, such moderate rain and showers, that we may receive the fruits of the earth to our comfort, and to thy honour; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
It’s a good prayer, right?
- It’s a good prayer because it is a pray to the Father through the Son; this the primary way God directs us to pray.
- It’s a good prayer because it seeks for something that is according to God’s will.
- It’s a good prayer because it is trusting and humble before the Lord; it recognizes God’s power over nature, and seeks God’s will and glory even above the immediate need.
- It’s a good prayer because it doesn’t think of our temporal needs as more important than our eternal needs and ends.
I know it’s hot, and for many it’s not a mere inconvenience. We can help others keep cool by sharing water, giving away Eegee’s, and donating fans to those in need. But there’s no better way to deal with the heat and lack of rain than to appeal to the Lord of rain himself.
