We did it! Thank you to Ed Goode of Imago Scriptura for trying something new with me, and for the wonderful chat. Watch the recording right here, or check out the episode of What Now with Trevor Noah which inspired our conversation. I appreciated Ed’s connecting Putnam’s work with Peter Block, and am now thinking about the triad concept as a model for ministry. What would it look like to say we don’t go with something—an idea, a new program—without three people at the helm?

There are some truly alarming things taking place these last few days. In some ways, this conversation may seem frivolous in light of these emergencies. But I am more and more convinced that we’re in the current morass partly because we’ve been so focused on the immediate and short-term that we’ve neglected deep, decades-long work. Wendell Berry says to plant sequoias. Hey, we’ve tried everything else, haven’t we?

There’s so much more to this topic, including how online interactions both help and hinder the work of community. Including right here! Let us know your takeaways and continued questions. The work of rebuilding communities and combating social isolation will require both patience and urgency. Where do you feel moved to start?

And lastly, check out Ed’s book, Ordinary BenchMarks. Steady on.

Join me for my next live video in the app

“The way we make change is as important as the change we make.” -Valarie Kaur

This moment feels different than eight years ago, and I reflect a bit on why that might be.

Whew, y’all. What a tough couple of days. Sending love to my friends in SoCal.

Some thoughts about finding light wherever we can.

Steady on.

A few thoughts about an Internet scam, and the incoming head of the Office of Management and Budget. How we get hooked, how we can do better. I think it’s worth your time, even though I kept saying it was Tuesday and not Wednesday 🤦‍♀️🤣

Here’s the article I mentioned by Thomas Zimmer:

Steady on…

Hey there,

I’ve had something nagging in my brain for the last week or more. Rather than take the time to write it out, given that I have a book to write, I decided to record my thoughts on video (my first live video on Substack!). This is not going out to subscribers, but for anyone who finds it, I submit it as musings that I hope you’ll engage with, consider, and correct and challenge where needed. I’m not sending it out to subscribers—with anxieties and tensions high, and given my role, it’s not my place to inject this into people’s email inboxes.

Whatever happens on Tuesday, the way forward will require us to understand one another better—not to agree or to acquiesce, but to influence and be in community, because we’re stuck with each other. This is shared in that spirit.

Here’s the transcript of the Ezra Klein podcast I mentioned.

The Blue Room podcast is back--sort of--with something new this week! I’ve been wanting to play around with audio here on Substack, the platform that hosts the Blue Room. I thought I’d give it a try using the audio from last Sunday’s sermon.

Nothing fancy in this prototype, not even an intro or outro, just the sermon audio. Let me know how it works for you!

The scripture text: Mark 4:26-34

Jesus also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”

He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

It’s the season two finale! Today, we wrap up our series of conversations about Hope: A User’s Manual.

Section six of the book is Hope Beyond Hope. If you’ve read the book, we hope this conversation will enhance that section. If you haven’t read it, the conversation stands on its own.

This section is a bit of a catch-all, wrap-up section. It’s about how we persevere amid everything or despite everything, when we’re feeling hopeful and even when we’re not.

Our guest is Tim Beal, Distinguished University Professor, Florence Harkness Professor of Religion, and Director of h.lab at Case Western Reserve University. His latest book is When Time Is Short: Finding Our Way in the Anthropocene. The book starts with the question, “what if it’s actually too late to save ourselves from the climate crisis? What then?” It’s an alarming question on its face, but Tim’s exploration of that question is robust and provocative, and ironically hopeful. Which is exactly where the final section of my book strives to land.

~

Tim’s website

Tim’s Finding Our Way in the Anthropocene Spotify playlist (brilliant idea!)

Contact MaryAnn McKibben Dana at maryannmckibbendana.net. 

Order Hope: A User’s Manual

Editor and Producer: Mel Dana