Grahams, please, you have such a great gift, don’t stop writing! No matter your day job. Yes , we are witnessing a melting away of our humanity, our sense of wonder and God , a higher power other than our self obsessed selves . We have lost so much lately and it happens with the blink of our blinded eyes! Keep writing because you are a “ still small voice “ in a wilderness of liquid unreal void modernity . Remember Elijah.
Thanks for the encouragement, Leonore! If only I could support my family while writing full time, I would, but I can't, and so I'm doing something else -- but hope to get back to writing after things settle down enough to allow it...
I'll miss your writing here, but hope to encounter your work in book form someday. Your thoughts and poetic heart deserve the attention only a book or the spoken word can draw out, and that screens inevitably diminish. Peace as you make your way, Graham.
Hey brother—I had a busy week and just got to this one. I've enjoyed your series here, and all the best with the new adventure! You've got my e-mail, so feel free to stay in touch while you aren't active here.
Dear Graham, I'm SO with you on forgetting about setting out for other worlds without loving and caring for the one we've been given - and the other people here, too. I take so much of it for granted, even in the diminished condition we've made of it....
Do please continue to think and write. And perhaps also seek some advice as to how to maintain strength and fitness on this job - yes, you'll be walking a lot, but also driving, lifting and bending, and those muscles etc. need to be kept in good working order. You still need to be able to serve your family physically, along with serving by earning some money. A friend's (mother's?) instinct speaking here.
Thanks for this, Dana! Rest assured, it's impossible for me to stop thinking and writing -- but I look forward to doing so, while also making a living and getting outside and working hard and greeting strangers. I will definitely do my best to be wise, and to seek help, with staying fit and healthy -- I have no illusions about how physically intense the job will be, and that's why I wanted it. I've run two marathons and have been missing physical intensity....
Thank you for weaving us back into the world, Graham. I am so heartened to know you are out there, praying and listening, walking among the lilies. I will be hear, waiting for your next installment, listening and praying for your safekeeping. Adam
Thanks so much, Adam! I'm praying and listening, among the lilies, and it does my heart good to know the depths to which you're doing the same, and, more than that, growing food and sharing it, already living in the kingdom -- that is the way.
Bravo 👏 this was spectacular. I am so happy that I'm not alone on these sorts of thoughts. In my hope that Mother Church can come back to her embodied self, and not the theoretical, intellectual shell that she so often appears in this machine age of enlightenment. I wish you all the best with your new adventure and hope to read more from you in future.
I think there are a lot of us, Sam -- we just have to find each other, and figure out how to say what's in our hearts. I'll keep writing for us, rest assured--maybe not in this format, who knows, but certainly -- I have to write.
Graham, as always I find your writing touching and inspirational. I look forward to whatever you are moved to write in this next chapter of your life. Many, many blessings to you. I keep rereading and enjoying Sunlillies.
Graham, a truly wonderful last essay for this series. May God’s blessings be upon you in this next chapter of life, and I look forward to whatever you have for us next when the time comes. In the meantime, I’ll be re-enjoying your past essays/series.
I have been checking in here waiting for this last part (you are still my only reason to visit substack), I loved it! Thank you very much! Maybe i will be more specific later but that feels somehow unneccesary. I feel glad at the thought of you as a delivery driver (although id prefer some smart book agent gave you a fat deal... ).What a treat all these people have in store to share a joyful moment as you hand over a package!
Aw, thanks Lucy -- glad you liked it (and I hoped you would). And I'm looking forward to greeting people all day; it will be a joy for me, too. And also something equivalent to a marathon every day, it sounds like ;)
Ordering more copies of the Sunlillies while I can! Thank you, Graham. Your writing does matter. I wish you all the best with the new job and hope to see more missives from you in the future. God bless you and your family!
Thanks for ordering more copies!! They'll head out tomorrow, unless the blue screen of death interferes with that too ;) God bless you and yours as well!
Thank you, Graham, for sharing yourself with us, your readers, over time. Sending you wishes for only the best of luck in your future endeavors. If you're ever up near Winnipeg, you're definitely invited for a visit.
In my weekly book club at church we’re reading, “Modern Technology and the Human Future: A Christian Appraisal” by Craig Gay. In September we’re hosting a 2-day seminar on Technology and the Christian. I say all this because your comment toward the end of this post hits right inside the heart of what so many of us are wrestling with…are fighting with, that which at some level disgusts us if we’re honest…and first within ourselves.
“Christianity’s steady absorption into itself of alien and alienating technologies, which make this real Earth of ours—of the Holy One, who created it—seem less and less real, the most recent high point of which, in my mind, was the almost universal fallback non-solution of staying isolated at home and watching liturgies on digital screens during the relatively minor troubles of 2020.
That, generally speaking, the virtual consumption of our religion from the infinite distance of a disembodied internet was all we could imagine as a solution to a crisis that will most definitely pale in comparison to what we’ve got coming in the years just ahead, means perhaps the space ark of the Church is colder, more intellectually and artistically inert, than we usually like to imagine.
But if so, it’s still possible (so to speak) to crashland it into the Earth, and walk away from the wreckage (leaving it there, as a monument), and begin relearning our own planet with fresh eyes and ears, as if we’re the aliens this time—which is what we’ve made of ourselves, and can just admit it, so we can on keep moving into our earthly future.”
The idea of the true need to “crashland” and “walk away from the wreckage” seems more and more right to me. Why do we think we can dance with this alien fire and walk away whole as God intends for us? The history of the last 1,500+ years doesn’t support such an assumption. We keep looking for that proverbial “line” (of where evil begins) so we can get right up against it. How close can I get to the line Lord? I’ve learned that the heart that asks this question is in constant danger of losing (and is losing) what is real as you say….what is true, what is good and what is beautiful. Seeking after that line, desiring it, only gets you “absorbed” by evil. Solzhenitsyn is right about the line.
Thank you Graham as always…May God bless you and keep you as you make sacrifice in support of your family and for your home. May God guard you against that which is unreal at big Brown and encourage you in the real…namely all the image bearers you will encounter each day…and maybe an occasional, surprising landscape filled with “stars.” Peace.
Beautiful thoughts here, Chris. This is a struggle we're all in together, and which will take us a long, long time -- it's good, important work. And the call to remember first of all the image bearers -- amen, amen. I will take that to heart & try to remember it always!
Good luck with your new job Graham. You're responsible for me getting my shoes off in the morning and praying to Yeshua in the dew. It's refreshed my faith I sincerely thank you for that. Take as long as you need, your writing matters x
So good to hear, Liam! I'll be joining you in spirit getting out there barefoot in the fresh, starry dew in the way, way early morning in the new routine ;)
I feel like this is where transcendence is best understood as depth rather than a second story utopia.
Amen to that.
https://substack.com/@stevenberger/note/c-71944482?r=1nm0v2
Grahams, please, you have such a great gift, don’t stop writing! No matter your day job. Yes , we are witnessing a melting away of our humanity, our sense of wonder and God , a higher power other than our self obsessed selves . We have lost so much lately and it happens with the blink of our blinded eyes! Keep writing because you are a “ still small voice “ in a wilderness of liquid unreal void modernity . Remember Elijah.
Thanks for the encouragement, Leonore! If only I could support my family while writing full time, I would, but I can't, and so I'm doing something else -- but hope to get back to writing after things settle down enough to allow it...
I'll miss your writing here, but hope to encounter your work in book form someday. Your thoughts and poetic heart deserve the attention only a book or the spoken word can draw out, and that screens inevitably diminish. Peace as you make your way, Graham.
Hey brother—I had a busy week and just got to this one. I've enjoyed your series here, and all the best with the new adventure! You've got my e-mail, so feel free to stay in touch while you aren't active here.
Dear Graham, I'm SO with you on forgetting about setting out for other worlds without loving and caring for the one we've been given - and the other people here, too. I take so much of it for granted, even in the diminished condition we've made of it....
Do please continue to think and write. And perhaps also seek some advice as to how to maintain strength and fitness on this job - yes, you'll be walking a lot, but also driving, lifting and bending, and those muscles etc. need to be kept in good working order. You still need to be able to serve your family physically, along with serving by earning some money. A friend's (mother's?) instinct speaking here.
Keep safe in Christ, his peace in your heart-
Dana
Thanks for this, Dana! Rest assured, it's impossible for me to stop thinking and writing -- but I look forward to doing so, while also making a living and getting outside and working hard and greeting strangers. I will definitely do my best to be wise, and to seek help, with staying fit and healthy -- I have no illusions about how physically intense the job will be, and that's why I wanted it. I've run two marathons and have been missing physical intensity....
Thank you for weaving us back into the world, Graham. I am so heartened to know you are out there, praying and listening, walking among the lilies. I will be hear, waiting for your next installment, listening and praying for your safekeeping. Adam
Thanks so much, Adam! I'm praying and listening, among the lilies, and it does my heart good to know the depths to which you're doing the same, and, more than that, growing food and sharing it, already living in the kingdom -- that is the way.
From what I can tell, the kingdom is here, everywhere, patiently awaiting our surrender.
Amen, brother.
Bravo 👏 this was spectacular. I am so happy that I'm not alone on these sorts of thoughts. In my hope that Mother Church can come back to her embodied self, and not the theoretical, intellectual shell that she so often appears in this machine age of enlightenment. I wish you all the best with your new adventure and hope to read more from you in future.
I think there are a lot of us, Sam -- we just have to find each other, and figure out how to say what's in our hearts. I'll keep writing for us, rest assured--maybe not in this format, who knows, but certainly -- I have to write.
Graham, as always I find your writing touching and inspirational. I look forward to whatever you are moved to write in this next chapter of your life. Many, many blessings to you. I keep rereading and enjoying Sunlillies.
Blessings to you and your family,
Cleo
Thanks so much, Cleo!
peace,
-g
Graham, a truly wonderful last essay for this series. May God’s blessings be upon you in this next chapter of life, and I look forward to whatever you have for us next when the time comes. In the meantime, I’ll be re-enjoying your past essays/series.
Your brother in Christ,
- Lee
Thanks, Lee -- that means a lot!
-g
I have been checking in here waiting for this last part (you are still my only reason to visit substack), I loved it! Thank you very much! Maybe i will be more specific later but that feels somehow unneccesary. I feel glad at the thought of you as a delivery driver (although id prefer some smart book agent gave you a fat deal... ).What a treat all these people have in store to share a joyful moment as you hand over a package!
Aw, thanks Lucy -- glad you liked it (and I hoped you would). And I'm looking forward to greeting people all day; it will be a joy for me, too. And also something equivalent to a marathon every day, it sounds like ;)
Ordering more copies of the Sunlillies while I can! Thank you, Graham. Your writing does matter. I wish you all the best with the new job and hope to see more missives from you in the future. God bless you and your family!
Thanks for ordering more copies!! They'll head out tomorrow, unless the blue screen of death interferes with that too ;) God bless you and yours as well!
Thank you, Graham, for sharing yourself with us, your readers, over time. Sending you wishes for only the best of luck in your future endeavors. If you're ever up near Winnipeg, you're definitely invited for a visit.
Thank you so much!!
The verses that came to mind thinking of your new brown exterior.
First the “spiritual” one 2 Corinthians 4:6-7
And the “practical” one 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12
Blessings on your continued walk as a God in your bod, temple of the Holy Spirit
Ah, yes -- I will meditate on those, BeardTree, and they seem exactly right. Peace to you, brother!
Graham,
In my weekly book club at church we’re reading, “Modern Technology and the Human Future: A Christian Appraisal” by Craig Gay. In September we’re hosting a 2-day seminar on Technology and the Christian. I say all this because your comment toward the end of this post hits right inside the heart of what so many of us are wrestling with…are fighting with, that which at some level disgusts us if we’re honest…and first within ourselves.
“Christianity’s steady absorption into itself of alien and alienating technologies, which make this real Earth of ours—of the Holy One, who created it—seem less and less real, the most recent high point of which, in my mind, was the almost universal fallback non-solution of staying isolated at home and watching liturgies on digital screens during the relatively minor troubles of 2020.
That, generally speaking, the virtual consumption of our religion from the infinite distance of a disembodied internet was all we could imagine as a solution to a crisis that will most definitely pale in comparison to what we’ve got coming in the years just ahead, means perhaps the space ark of the Church is colder, more intellectually and artistically inert, than we usually like to imagine.
But if so, it’s still possible (so to speak) to crashland it into the Earth, and walk away from the wreckage (leaving it there, as a monument), and begin relearning our own planet with fresh eyes and ears, as if we’re the aliens this time—which is what we’ve made of ourselves, and can just admit it, so we can on keep moving into our earthly future.”
The idea of the true need to “crashland” and “walk away from the wreckage” seems more and more right to me. Why do we think we can dance with this alien fire and walk away whole as God intends for us? The history of the last 1,500+ years doesn’t support such an assumption. We keep looking for that proverbial “line” (of where evil begins) so we can get right up against it. How close can I get to the line Lord? I’ve learned that the heart that asks this question is in constant danger of losing (and is losing) what is real as you say….what is true, what is good and what is beautiful. Seeking after that line, desiring it, only gets you “absorbed” by evil. Solzhenitsyn is right about the line.
Thank you Graham as always…May God bless you and keep you as you make sacrifice in support of your family and for your home. May God guard you against that which is unreal at big Brown and encourage you in the real…namely all the image bearers you will encounter each day…and maybe an occasional, surprising landscape filled with “stars.” Peace.
Beautiful thoughts here, Chris. This is a struggle we're all in together, and which will take us a long, long time -- it's good, important work. And the call to remember first of all the image bearers -- amen, amen. I will take that to heart & try to remember it always!
Good luck with your new job Graham. You're responsible for me getting my shoes off in the morning and praying to Yeshua in the dew. It's refreshed my faith I sincerely thank you for that. Take as long as you need, your writing matters x
So good to hear, Liam! I'll be joining you in spirit getting out there barefoot in the fresh, starry dew in the way, way early morning in the new routine ;)