“100 Writers of Faith”: Several years ago, Image journal compiled a list of the top 100 Judeo-Christian-faith-inspired literary works of the twentieth century. I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve read only one on this list! (Night by Elie Wiesel) I don’t read much fiction these days, but I know it has a lot to offer us spiritual folk. Maybe I’ll start by making my way down this list. . . . Do you have any specific recommendations, whether included here or not? Silence and Gilead have been on my to-read list for some time, but other than those?
“26, Unmarried, and Childless” by Amanda Bast: Bast questions whether life really starts and ends with getting married and having kids: “What if my ultimate goal has nothing to do with marriage or kids or a career? What if my aim was to love people well, and to fully embrace the gifts I’ve been given? Would that be enough? What if my life goal was to simply run the race, to be called a good and faithful servant at the end of it all? Maybe that would mean marriage and children and a thriving career, but maybe it wouldn’t. Is it ok if it doesn’t?”
“Why I Decided Not to Have Kids” by JaJa Yang: This article is similar to the one above but is written with firmer conviction from the perspective of one who has purposefully chosen not to have children. “This assumption of child-bearing as the default for all women is troubling,” Yang says. Not all Christian women are called to be mothers; God has not given all women this desire, this gift, and we need not be ashamed if we don’t have it. Yang says she wishes the church would recognize the important role that childless women (even those who fill this role by choice) play in the body of Christ.
“Dumb, Directionless, Defenseless” by Tim Challies: A few weeks ago I posted a hymn about the Lord as our shepherd, based on Psalm 23. Challies digs into this biblical metaphor to better understand what it means.
“Why God Is Not Vain to Seek Praise”: God wants us to tell him how great he is. Isn’t that a bit egomaniacal? C. S. Lewis says no, God has our enjoyment in mind. In the video below, John Piper reads the passage that changed his life, from C. S. Lewis’s Reflections on the Psalms. See also “God Is Not an Idolater,” a short devotional by Piper on the same topic.
If you visit St. Mary’s Iffley using public transportation, you will happen upon it from the back. To get there from the Oval bus stop (end of the number 3 Rose Hill line), you will have to loop through a neighborhood and then step onto a narrow, tree-lined footpath, which will spit you out at the churchyard.
This small Norman church, built in 1170, is not a popular tourist destination, but I knew it would be worth the bus ride outside Oxford’s city center because of its two modern stained glass windows, which I had seen in photographs and wanted to see in person.
When you enter the church, immediately to your right is the South Window, designed by John Piper (the late English stained glass artist, not the American Christian author and speaker associated with DesiringGod.org!) and made by David Wasley. It was created in 1982 for an exhibition in Bristol and installed in St. Mary’s Iffley in 1995 after being gifted to the church by Piper’s widow, Myfanwy. Wasley added the blue border and the bottom inscription panel at this time so that the window would fit into the church’s original aperture.
John Piper (design) and David Wasley (execution), The Nativity, 1982. South Window, Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Iffley, Oxford, UK. (Installed in 1995.) Photo: Victoria Emily Jones.
The subject of the window is the Nativity of Christ—and it’s the most unique treatment of the subject I’ve ever seen. Instead of showing the babe in the manger, it shows a cast of animals announcing his birth in Latin, their respective utterances echoing the natural sounds they make. For example, “Ubi, ubi” sounds like the hooting of an owl, and “Christus natus est” has the same rhythm as “cocka-doodle-doo.” Continue reading
I recently finished reading the book Works of Mercy, a select compilation (by Robert Ellsberg) of Fritz Eichenberg’s wood engravings from The Catholic Worker newspaper. The art is supplemented with essays, article excerpts, and quotes relating to social justice.
I’ve really enjoyed learning more about the Catholic Worker movement and its founders, Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, who believed in the God-given dignity of every human person and fought for it with all they had. And about Eichenberg, whose visual communication of Catholic social teachings impels us to see with new eyes—both what is and what can be. Take his Labor Cross, for example.
Fritz Eichenberg (1901-90), The Labor Cross, 1954. Wood engraving, 16 x 12 in.
It affirms work as a moral good, as something that God instituted so that through it we can serve our neighbors. The figures in the woodcut labor diligently to produce food, clothing, shelter, and fuel, cultivating the resources that God has already provided. Just consider how much you benefit from and depend on the work of others in your daily life—when you turn on a light or a faucet, when you make a phone call, when you drive to the store, when you eat a chocolate bar. Think about all the labor that went into designing and building roads and pipelines and cell phone towers and car parts, that went into growing, harvesting, processing, packaging, transporting, and selling the food you eat. And be grateful for it. Continue reading
Found at LadyLiberty.com.
This hymn, based on Psalm 23, was written by Scotsman James Montgomery (probably best known for his Christmas carol “Angels from the Realms of Glory”) and published in 1822. The above performance is by The Lower Lights (whom I’ve featured before). They recorded the song on their 2010 album, A Hymn Revival.
Here are the lyrics:
The Lord is my Shepherd, no want shall I know;
I feed in green pastures, safe-folded I rest;
He leadeth my soul where the still waters flow,
Restores me when wand’ring, redeems when oppressed.
Through the valley and shadow of death though I stray,
Since thou art my guardian, no evil I fear;
Thy rod shall defend me, thy staff be my stay;
No harm can befall, with my comforter near.
In the midst of affliction my table is spread;
With blessings unmeasured my cup runneth o’er;
With perfume and oil thou anointest my head;
O what shall I ask of thy providence more?
Let goodness and mercy, my bountiful God,
Still follow my steps till I meet Thee above;
I seek by the path which my ancestors trod,
Through the land of their sojourn, thy kingdom of love.
“He is a path, if any be misled;
He is a robe, if any naked be;
If any chance to hunger, He is bread;
If any be a bondman, He is free;
If any be but weak, how strong is He!
To dead men life He is, to sick men health,
To blind men sight, and to the needy wealth;
A pleasure without loss, a treasure without stealth.”
—Giles Fletcher the Younger, excerpt from “Christ’s Victory and Triumph” (1610)
The Jesus Question 