miscellanies (8 Mar 2025)
not so random reads from the interwebs
miscellany [ mis-uh-ley-nee], noun 1. a miscellaneous collection or group of various or somewhat unrelated items 2. a miscellaneous collection of literary compositions or pieces by several authors, dealing with various topics, assembled in a volume or book
Only one quote and one article this week...I've let both simmer for a while but would like to share them.
This quote is from literary critic and professor Harold Bloom. He's not someone we're going to agree with on religious views, for sure, but he was an expert on the subject of reading. This quote is on the importance of reading—not mindless scrolling on news or social media, not the type of consumption that passes as 'reading' in our attention span starved society but real reading. This is the kind of reading that requires you to slow down, re-read things that maybe didn't sink in fully, and make notes in the margins or a notebook to come back to later. Sadly, I think this type of reading is largely a relic of the past for many.
There is nothing that is more profoundly healing than the act of solitary reading provided that what is being read is indeed permanent, deep, lasting work. Work that calls for all of your faculties in response. Work that calls you out of your own deep as it were. Work that transforms you.
Screens Work Against Community. Pr. Peters nails another one out of the park, in my opinion, this time taking up the charged topic of screens in our churches. Thankfully, we do not have any screens in our sanctuary...and I hope we never will. Why? “I am more and more convinced that churches should be technology free zones. It is neither helpful nor faithful to make churches into the religious versions of the digital platforms that already dominate our lives. The screens that we put up in the chancel and the apps we think so helpful to the faith only do two things. One is that they blur the lines between the church and the world. The other is that they assist in the individualization of things that works against the community (koinonia) inherent to the Gospel. Both of these ills are increasingly troublesome for the churches.”