August 3 for 3: the Prophetic Resistance of Flowers edition
A curated list of what I've been up to lately plus work from other creators and cultivators who are helping us worship God, love people, and enjoy beauty.
First, a photo from the past week
This neighbor plants flowers on the other side of her fence just so those of us walking by on the way to the Farmer’s Market, say, can soak up the beauty. Thank you, neighbor!
I love late summer flowers.
Don’t get me wrong, I love flowers all year. In spring, I drive out of my way to see patches tulips, daffodils, and dogwoods in the Northeast or, in Austin, bluebells and Indian paintbrush multiplying like crayons in a crayon box along roadways and garden paths. In summer, I consider carrying garden shears with me on my walks, hoping that neighbors might take pity and share the various hues of roses and hydrangea creating an ombré effect all over town.
But in late summer?
Something about late summer flowers just get me. If my soul were a flower, it would be the messy cacophony of informal blossoms spilling out of unweeded gardens. It always feels like they’re a little bit apologetic for showing up late; that they spent the last couple months noticing the earth and thinking deep thoughts about beauty all summer and now they want to make up for their tardiness by being extra friendly and abundant. That old saying “the earth laughs in flowers” makes me think the earth in late August has been hanging out with a few girlfriends over a bottle of wine and has reached the stage of snort laughing over stuff that’s not even funny.
What beauty are you noticing in this season? What seasonal blooms seem to most reflect your nature?
I know the world’s gone mad, and it might seem trifling to talk about late August coneflowers. I’ve been carrying the tension between the beauty and goodness surrounding my small patch and the devastating, crippling grief impacting friends, neighbors, and entire communities of folks near and far. I’m learning bit by bit to articulate the outrage of it all into the face of God. The shadow of death seems to have grown into one of those oversized grotesqueries that loom lopsided across the sidewalk when the sun’s at a certain point in the sky. There’s nothing friendly about this shadow. And nothing fake either. Real people are dying, being maimed, having their breath knocked out of them for the rest of their lives. Real people are living with the threat of random brutality that might send them to the pavement in front of their children at any given moment.
What can flowers dare offer us in the atmosphere when even a stray bit of spittle could send us to our graves?
I choose to look at them as prophetic resistance to the ugly reign of all that’s anti-beauty, anti-love, anti-Christ in this world. They remind us in every season (even in winter when we think about them in our dreams and nurture them in pots in our homes) that death doesn’t have the last word.
In one of his most prophetic poems, the one Wendell Berry invites us to practice resurrection, he also calls us to a specific kind of resistance - laughter.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
Tomorrow’s lectionary passages lead us straight into this tension that Jesus has defeated death and at the same time calls us to pick up our own cross and follow him. This is the reality of our lives, the in-between of what’s been, what is, and what’s to come. And along the way, we have the beauty of flowers to remind us the earth knows its Creator and invites us to join in the riot of beauty.
May you sense the love, beauty, and peace of Christ around and within you this weekend, friends,
Tamara
Some of what I’ve been working on the past few weeks.
Announcing a new weekly feature for Stories and Daybook Patrons: Five-Minute Fridays
For the remaining weeks of Ordinary Time, I'll be sharing a five-minute written reflection on one word I've been pondering. (I'm literally setting a stopwatch for five minutes so that I can just write already!)
From the beginning, I've intended to share new writing with you here. The most accessible patron tier is called "Stories" for a reason!
At the same time, it's been a brutal eighteen months for my creative brain. The combination of global crisis and suffering and some extraordinary suffering within our family has pinned me down to the level of "groanings that can not be uttered" more days than not.
Still, I can't not write. And so, I begin again. Thanks for being a listening community and a safe place to offer stories from my everyday experiences and epiphanies. I'm grateful for your companionship.
All patrons can read my first two reflections here (with another coming later today):
2. Daybook Patrons: Ordinary Time Daybook posts
A Daybook devotional post each Sunday for the 22 weeks between Pentecost and Advent. Ordinary Time is the longest season of the church calendar - a season of working and resting with Christ as he brings God's kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
You can read here for a brief description of the liturgical season of Ordinary Time.
3. Coming in September for Daybook patrons! Calling Stories
What does it mean that we are all called? I’m expanding Work Stories, the popular series from previous autumns, beyond the workplace to the everyday ways we are called to love God and our neighbor. I’m excited to share with you an expanded series of guest posts on the subject of our everyday callings. Between September and the beginning of Advent, I’ve invited some folks to share a snapshot into their lives that will help us see what they know to be true right now about who they are made to be and who they are called to love right now.
Join us by clicking on the link below!
I’m working on a book review of The Minister’s Wife: A Memoir of Faith, Doubt, Friendship, Loneliness, Forgiveness, and More by Karen Stiller for Englewood Review of Books. I’ll keep you posted!
In the meantime, in case you missed them, here’s a few places you can find me published lately:
Seeing the World Through Flannery’s Heart and Soul : A Review of Andalusian Hours: Poems from the Porch of Flannery O’Connor by Angela Alaimo O’Donnell via Englewood Review of Books
A Reflection on the Lectionary, Proper 9 Year A (Zech 9:9-12; Ps 125:1-13; Rom 7:21-8:6; Matt 11:25-30) via Anchorlines [Note: You’ll need to scroll midway down the page to read the reflection.]
The Gift of Spiritual Direction in Liminal Moments with Tamara Hill Murphy, part of their series “Missional Leadership in a Time of Uncertainty” with Bishop Todd Hunter and host Erik Willits via The Intersection Podcast
Seeing the World Through Flannery's Heart and Soul: A Review of "Andalusian Hours: Poems from the Porch of Flannery O'Connor" by Angela Alaimo O'Donnell
My latest review for ERB plus some bonus material from my own visit to Flannery's front porch. Enjoy!
3 for 3: the Catching Up edition
The theme for the last 3 for 3 newsletter was “catching up”. While so much important news requires our sober and prayerful attention, I’ve been saving some other truth, goodness, and beauty to share at some point. It felt like the week to do that. I also shared the annual Hill Family Vacation photos which have become a tradition on this blog!
In case you missed it: What I Read January - July [From the Book Pile 2020]
Some of the online truth, goodness, and beauty, I’ve enjoyed the past few weeks.
Back to School Prayers from Rev. Dr. W. David O. Taylor via Diary of An Arts Pastor
Our friend David offers this gift right on time for so many of you navigating this weird and frightening season.
“I was grateful for the opportunity and ended up writing six prayers: prayers for kids schooling at home and going off to school, a prayer for high school and college students, and prayers for parents, teachers, and school administrators.
Christianity Today offered to re-publish these prayers and requested a few new ones. I added a "Prayer for a New Day," a "Prayer for Nightly Care," a "Prayer for a Time of Pestilence," and a "Prayer for Teachers" that they might pray for themselves. My favorite perhaps is the "Prayer for Frustrated School-Related Relationships," of which there are plenty today and there will be plenty more, I imagine, in the weeks to come.”
Plus, “a Prayer for the Bewitching Hour, which in our house is usually 5:00 PM, when our children magically turn into feral creatures and refuse to think logically or practically about anything whatsoever. I figured a few of us might need such a prayer in our hour of need.”
An American Lament via The Repentance Project
I’ve mentioned this series before and have included several excerpts in the Lent Daybook series the past couple of years. I’m mentioning it again because a group from our church spent 7 weeks this summer going through this together and it was a fruitful, challenging, and hopeful project to participate in together. We highly recommend it!
In a summary email following our seventh week, my husband Brian highlighted two recordings in particular:
A sermon by David Platt entitled “Let Justice Roll Down Like Waters: Racism and our Need for Repentance.” Filmed April 2018 at Together for the Gospel, Louisville, KY.
Veritas Forum with Esau McCaulley hosted by Zachary Lee entitled, “Notes on Race, Justice and the Gospel. “
Everyday Justice (formerly The Road Map), a weekly a weekly digest on faith and justice with hope and humor by Sarah Quezada
It’s been a while since I’ve mentioned one of the voices I listen to most often on issues of immigration. Sign up for Sarah’s weekly newsletter right now and then read and respond with the following three things:
Read: AP Exclusive: Migrant kids held in US hotels, then expelled by Nomaan Merchant via AP
Sign: Protect Children and Asylum Seekers via KIND (Kids In Need of Defense)
Call: How to Call Your Lawmakers by Sarah Quezada
Tuesday Taste: Platters and Trays and Boards by Christie Purifoy via Black Barn Online
”When the weather is too hot for cooking, and the produce is delicious and fresh, nothing could be easier (or more appetizing!) than scattering compatible and contrasting flavors and colors on a big platter.”
One of my favorite posts in the newly-formed community inspired by the black barn at Maplehurst, the home of one of my favorite placemakers, Christie Purifoy. The Black Barn Online is a free, virtual community providing weekly rhythms of listening, sharing, and celebrating. Join here!
Art History 101: Intro to the Visual Arts - An Examination of Power (Fall 2020) by Dr. Hannah Wong
“Do you ever wish you’d taken an art history course? Do you wish you could RE-take the one from college? Experience the joy and discovery of a university art history class, minus the exams!”
I’m so impressed with this new offering from our Austin friend, Hannah Wong. I joined a free introductory session this week and was delighted to learn about the sophisticated and surprising architecture in a particular prehistoric community (think mammoth bone-inspired shelters) and am seriously considering taking one or all three of the course units this fall! Read more details and registration information here.
Artists paint murals in Bridgeport to spread positivity across city via News12 Connecticut
Huzzah for hope in Bridgeport!
“Organizers say it’s a great way to promote Bridgeport’s thriving art community while highlighting some of the most positive aspects of Bridgeport. Their goal? To create an art hub that will be recognized around the world.”
- Bonus -
Three short videos that captured my imagination the past few weeks. Enjoy!
Beavers and Wildfire: a stop-motion story by Emily Fairfax via The Kid Should See This
Making of MINIATURE CALENDAR via Tsh Oxenreider’s newsletter, Books & Crannies
The Flying Train, Germany, 1902 via MOMA
Three books I’m currently reading:
Soul Care in African American Practice by Barbara L. Peacock
Read a great review by Ope Bukola at ERB here: The Crucial Practices of Soul Care.
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
Thanks to our friend Dennis for mailing me this gift out of the blue! I read Wilkerson’s Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration and am once again stunned by her ability to create page-turning stories from complicated, broad histories.
Read a helpful review by Justin Worland at Time here: ''Racism' Did Not Seem Sufficient.' Author Isabel Wilkerson on the American Caste System.
Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman
I’m catching up on some primary sources for the Civil Rights movement and the intersection of faith and justice and I’ve highlighted on almost every page. “In this classic theological treatise, the acclaimed theologian and religious leader Howard Thurman (1900-1981) demonstrates how the gospel may be read as a manual of resistance for the poor and disenfranchised.”
Read a thoughtful review by Adam Shields at Bookwi.se: Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman.
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