The truth of this statement hits deep. It brims with beauty, poignancy, hope, and a full measure of response-ability. I’ll be holding onto it going forward. Thank you.🙏🏻
I am so thankful for your writing! It expresses so well how I have felt as a Christian that doesn't fit into any Christian box. Not just this, but so much of what you write speaks to my spirit as TRUTH. I have been searching for truth my whole life and reading you makes me feel like I found my people.
"The Christly life is not one of sprightly nonsense, or willed blindness, but of tragic joy, joy in the midst of darkness. If we dwell on the beauty of creation, we must do it with full awareness of what that beauty has become. The forgiveness this requires, the letting go, the love — these are not things you speak into being. They are woven slowly and intentionally into the fabric of the soul by practice, prayer and ritual, until it learns to see the often bitter truth and yet rejoice. If that seems a sorrowful sort of rejoicing, I will paraphrase my favorite poet and remember that veiled melancholy has her sovereign shrine in the very temple of delight."
I’m currently in Trento and therefore can only deal in beauty right now. What a beautiful city. My son and I went into the catacombs under the Duomo into a church from the second century. Just beautiful art everywhere. When did everyone become bored with beauty? Are we just not capable anymore without creating parodies? It bothers me as this stuff won’t last forever. Maybe that’s the art conservatives should be learning to create?
“Christianity, then, is the art of life”
The truth of this statement hits deep. It brims with beauty, poignancy, hope, and a full measure of response-ability. I’ll be holding onto it going forward. Thank you.🙏🏻
To me, leftist art lacks spirit in such a way that it only deals with psychic forces.
“Man makes money illegally to cure his disease and becomes a violent drug lord.”
“Politician senses corruption around him and sacrifices everybody to secure his own position.”
“Utopian theme park exalting freedom leads people into the chains of sin.”
I watch these stories and think, “What does this suggest I’m created to do?”
On the other hand, a story like Crime and Punishment shows R perform real courageous acts of charity and problem solving (in the b plot at least).
And I’ll tip my hat to your books too, from what I’ve read (Werewolf Cop, Empire of Lies, Another Kingdom, the Cameron Winter saga, etc.).
Art is good when it conserves a stable societal fabric of love at the end, a living truth that inspires the reader towards a life worth inhabiting.
Perhaps that is sappy, but it is to say I prefer a corny movie like The Sound of Music to an intelligent movie like The Godfather.
I am so thankful for your writing! It expresses so well how I have felt as a Christian that doesn't fit into any Christian box. Not just this, but so much of what you write speaks to my spirit as TRUTH. I have been searching for truth my whole life and reading you makes me feel like I found my people.
"The Christly life is not one of sprightly nonsense, or willed blindness, but of tragic joy, joy in the midst of darkness. If we dwell on the beauty of creation, we must do it with full awareness of what that beauty has become. The forgiveness this requires, the letting go, the love — these are not things you speak into being. They are woven slowly and intentionally into the fabric of the soul by practice, prayer and ritual, until it learns to see the often bitter truth and yet rejoice. If that seems a sorrowful sort of rejoicing, I will paraphrase my favorite poet and remember that veiled melancholy has her sovereign shrine in the very temple of delight."
Example
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTRU-yUUO1ArIDQTcdIY4EIMec8r0DEaqyPIA&s
Oh, how I love this.
I’m currently in Trento and therefore can only deal in beauty right now. What a beautiful city. My son and I went into the catacombs under the Duomo into a church from the second century. Just beautiful art everywhere. When did everyone become bored with beauty? Are we just not capable anymore without creating parodies? It bothers me as this stuff won’t last forever. Maybe that’s the art conservatives should be learning to create?