Yes, I would like to hear Matthew Loftus’s take as a missionary doctor in Africa after I saw he shared the article. And I enjoy reading Brad East’s take on things. My take on this Oct 7 Christianity Today article “You don’t have to be radical” from East is that it is okay for a thought-provoking magazine article on the word “radical.” But East is not clear enough that there are choices that are in keeping with following Jesus and those that are not. And the Christian is required to try to be faithful day-after-day. The gathering of the church is a time when we pore over the Scriptures together in order to better understand how we are to behave. But the goal is not to be “radical” but to be faithful. It is not only Bonhoeffer, Day, King, Yoder, Hauerwas, and Claiborne but Gregory the Great, Teresa of Avila, George Herbert, Richard Baxter, Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, who insist the Christian live a lifestyle of faithfulness. This serious life paradoxically is the path to joy. I think it is right for not just young idealistic Christians to be burdened by what it means to follow Jesus. I think that’s even for married ones who live in a house in the suburbs. Many of the older people I know like my parents and in-laws and uncles and aunts and the older people in the churches we have been part of are trying to be frugal and generous and serve others and pray and learn. They don’t feel like they have outgrown radical obedience to Christ.
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Teaching a Stone to Talk by Annie Dillard
I finished Teaching a Stone to Talk (1982) by Annie Dillard. She observes odd ways humans act when they travel to solitary places. She alternates between her observations and careful historical or scientific research. I read this to let her good writing wash over me. Yes, a number of these essays include brief reflections on church. What most helped me is her modeling that one can mix genres.
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Saint Maybe by Anne Tyler
Finished the novel Saint Maybe (1991) by Anne Tyler. Recommended by Eugene Peterson in Take & Read. Born in Minneapolis, went to Duke. Like Godric and The Diary of a Country Priest, another book about saints, or those trying to navigate life with only the weapon of meekness.
