August 30, 2021
Breaking some rules
I have a math problem for you.
A Seattle coffee shop allows 5 people indoors. 3 people arrive, as a group, and read the capacity guidelines on a sign posted on the door. They count 5 people inside the coffee shop. Obeying those capacity guidelines, they wait outside. A few minutes later, 2 people leave the coffee shop. The group of 3, standing outside, must make a decision. Do they:
a. Wait for 1 more person to leave in order to stay together and observe capacity guidelines?
b. Enter the coffee shop as a group of 3, assuming 6 is close enough to 5?
c. Separate, 2 entering the coffee shop, 1 continuing to wait?
d. Feel indignant and leave?
If you are the conscientious rule-follower that I tend to be, you will have chosen c. And your two colleagues will have found it amusing when they looked over their shoulders and realized you waited outside.
I have a thing for following rules. An obsessive thing, sometimes. I’m sure there are many rules I break, but as I told someone recently, “I do guilt really well.” I follow rules, not because I’m such a morally scrupulous person, but because I’m afraid of the guilt I might carry if I break them. It’s all a bit pathological, and if you don’t know my Enneagram number, now you can take a very well-informed guess.
If you’re new to reading Post Script, you might not know the “rules” I’ve set for myself around here. Originally, Post Script was a monthly letter. More recently, it’s become a weekly letter. Because I haven’t wanted to drown you in content, I’ve tried sticking to offering the same content—of the monthly letter—in smaller portions. On the first week, I write about habits; on the second week, I reflect on a biblical text; on the third week, I share book recommendations; on the fourth week, I offer some curated odds and ends from around the web.
This month, I’m breaking these rules. Quite honestly, I’m not even feeling bad about it. Rules can serve an important purpose. They can act like a fence—and fences are good when you need to keep your chickens penned. But after my month away, last week’s letter and this week’s letter have seemed to need a little more room to roam.
Here, then, are some books to read and recommend, plus some additional curated content I hope you’ll find helpful. Next week, I’ll return to my regularly scheduled monthly content.
BOOKS
Recommended
A Spacious Life: Trading Hustle and Hurry for the Goodness of Limits by Ashley Hales. Ashley is one of the wonderful friends I’ve made virtually, and I appreciate the thoughtful work she’s doing in the world. She and her husband are in church ministry, and if you’re unfamiliar with her podcast, check it out. (Here’s a link to a conversation Ashley and I recorded about my own book, A Habit Called Faith.)
A Spacious Life is Ashley’s second book, and you can preorder it now for its early September release. Here was the endorsement I offered: "In this wonderfully meditative book, author Ashley Hales rescues us from the siren seduction of self-help. Her vision of the spacious life isn't something to chase after but receive. It's a life modeled by Jesus—a sacramental, attentive, inescapably human life. If you're running breathless, A Spacious Life will help you slow down, look up—and breathe."
Reading
The Burning Word: A Christian Encounter with Jewish Midrash by Judith M. Kunst
The Liars’ Club: A Memoir by Mary Karr
8 Habits for Growth: A Simple Guide to Becoming More Like Christ by Darryl Dash
Counterproductive: Time Management in the Knowledge Economy by Melissa Gregg
Wayward: A Novel by Dana Spiotta
Received
What God Has to Say about our Bodies: How the Gospel is Good News for our Physical Selves by Sam Allberry
The Wild Land Within: Cultivating Wholeness through Spiritual Practice by Lisa Colón Delay
Happy Now: Let Playfulness Lift Your Load and Renew Your Spirit* by Courtney Ellis.
I endorsed Courtney’s book: “I’m afraid that serious, humorless grown-ups like me won’t immediately think they need this book. But they would be wrong.”
ODDS + ENDS
Through this interview on the Ezra Klein Show, I discovered the work of L.M. Sacasas and his newsletter, The Convivial Society. Sacasas writes on technology and moral formation, and in his interview with Klein, they discuss the 41 questions we should ask of the technologies and tools that shape our lives. I spoke to Michael recently by phone, and he mentioned the important influence of Mars Hill Audio Journal in his own formation. He might be the 20th person to mention this audio journal, and I’ve finally subscribed!
With so much division around mask and vaccine mandates, I found this a helpful response by Dr. Russell Moore, specifically in relationship to the question of religious liberties. “Religious freedom has always recognized, as with any other freedom, that no liberty is absolute. Religious liberty means, among other things, that a government restricting liberties should demonstrate a compelling public interest and should show that it has followed the least restrictive path to getting to that outcome.”
I’ve mentioned before the good work Rooted Ministry is doing for students and the parents of teenagers. I recently had a lovely conversation with Rooted Blog Editor-in-Chief, Anna Meade Harris, and founding chairman, Cameron Cole, about faith habits and family life.
Thanks, as always, for reading Post Script.
Yours,
Jen