"Our ravaged world cries out for hands that bear a radical gentleness." You don't often read a heart-stopping line in an Instagram post, but Sarah Clarkson (@sarahwanders) has a way of matching a golden heart with golden words, and her post spoke to the longing in my heart this morning. One of my neighbors hung … Continue reading Seeking Christ’s Radical Gentleness: Sparrowfare Selections for Holy Week
The Bible came up in conversation the other day. Didn't I know, I was asked, that the gospels were written a hundred years after the death of Jesus Christ? Why on earth would I believe the gospels were true? It's a fair question, so it's essential to know that compelling evidence for gospel historicity is … Continue reading Gospel Historicity and Resurrection Hope
This Year, Will 'Hallow' Be Thy App? the blog post I'd stumbled on asked. Indeed it will, I smiled. It already is. A friend shared Hallow with me during Lent two years back. I downloaded the free version, "Hallow Lite" right away. I liked what Hallow offered: meditations, prayers and chant at the ready whenever … Continue reading Why “Hallow” Is my App (Plus Two More for Searching Minds and Growing Souls)
It is the people you meet and the books you read that change you most in a year. Whoever said that forgot to include experiences, invited or not, that change our lives in a moment. But that line about books and people has stayed with me since I read it sometime in my teens. While … Continue reading Fiction, Politics and Spiritual Physics: Sparrowfare’s Most Surprising 2021 Reads
Sarah Clarkson, in her incredibleThis Beautiful Truth: How God’s Goodness Breaks into Our Darkness, describes her Holy Saturday during the Covid 19 lockdown of 2020. She’d been out for a walk on the downs near her English home, where in the first phase of the pandemic she was allowed only one walk a day. “The … Continue reading Halloween, Holy Time and our Longing for “Days that Are Different”
“Midway upon the journey of our life, I found myself in a dark wilderness, for I had wandered from the straight and true." These, the opening lines of Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy (Anthony Esolen translation) speak to the inner journey of the soul. They confront us with the voice of a man who knows … Continue reading Dante’s Divine Comedy: Links to Lead You through History’s Greatest Poem
I read it in two days. I'd received an email notification that Sohrab Ahmari would be the first guest on this summer discussion series. I wanted to know more about him before listening to the conversation with the author, editor and essayist. My husband and I were going camping and I relished the thought of … Continue reading Why I Couldn’t Put Down Sohrab Ahmari’s From Fire by Water
"Play the real way." I can't identify the moment I noticed that when the children I counsel in my rural school told me about a game they liked to play they no longer meant tag or UNO or imaginary pirates, but a favorite video game. I do remember suggesting a board game as a fun … Continue reading Picture Book Biographies: Childhoods of Self-Discovery Lead to Meaningful Lives
Back in 2017, Bill Gates included Hillbilly Elegy among his summer reading recommendations. Having come from an advantaged home in Seattle, Gates said he reads memoirs like this to understand another side of America. "Through deeply personal stories like these, 'Hillbilly Elegy' sheds light on our nation's vast cultural divide — a topic that has … Continue reading Hillbilly Elegy’s Window into Addiction and Disfunction Rings True
My kid brother Mark was a huge Billy Joel fan and there was one afternoon in our parents' home when he defended his hero in words I'll never forget. I had nothing against Billy Joel; he was spellbinding then as now. But I do tune in to the messages conveyed in lyrics. On the day … Continue reading Government, Grace & the God of the Gaps
