I’ve finally caught my breath …
I’ve caught my breath a bit since the election.
For quite a while, I have felt unusually quiet. I've wanted to listen and learn more than speak and teach ... to question and revise some of my pre-election assumptions, to rethink a lot of things in light of what happened ... and is happening since the inauguration.
I’m getting a clearer sense of what is mine to do ... of how I can best endure and resist and persist in the never-ending work of overcoming evil with good.
One thing that is clearly not mine to do … and that’s being glued to cable tv and social media to maintain a constant state of outrage. That is not good for my soul, and I don’t think it’s good for my work either. I’ll tell you more about what I'm sensing -- for myself, primarily, but perhaps for many of us -- in a future post.
I have developed a simple policy regarding news intake: I turn off any show that normalizes Donald Trump and his main accomplices. I have no desire to hear him lie and spout ignorant foolishness again and again.
The truth is, he has become so boring and predictable in his behavior that it feels like a sickening rerun of a show that was terrible the first time around. I just don't want to give him any free real estate in my brain or subject myself (any more than is necessary) to his authoritarian bullying and arrogant bloviation.
Not only that: it’s a well-known authoritarian and fascist strategy to "flood the zone" with BS … It's a predictable strategy for crooked authoritarians to try to distract us from big crimes with the shiny objects of constant scandals, "weapons of mass distraction" they're often called … It's a predictable strategy to try to exhaust us all with so many daily outrages that we're too tired to act when the strategic moments come our way. I don’t want to fall prey to any of those strategies.
But I do want to stay informed. Very well informed, in fact.
So here are the people/places I’m paying attention to on a daily or weekly basis to keep me informed.
I turn to these sources to get important news that is concerned with reality rather than propaganda, so we can be prepared to show up when needed, in the ways we're needed.
Some of these resources provide me with grounding and wisdom and centering, which I need in these times when so much harm is being done so fast.
Some of them help me learn to communicate more graciously, clearly, and boldly with the 49.97 percent of voters who freely and fairly elected Trump. Right now, most of them are ecstatic and thrilled with his every move. But I believe the time is coming when more and more of them become disillusioned. They'll begin to see through the deception that they have been sold. I hope many of us can help many of them reorient themselves before the next elections.
You might find these resources helpful too, so in that spirit I share them. These aren't all the excellent resources -- not by a long shot. But they're ones that have been helping me in recent weeks. I should add - try to financiallyt support as many of your trusted resources as you can.
Spiritual Resources
Diana Butler Bass, The Cottage - https://dianabutlerbass.substack.com/
Process This, Homebrewed Christianity Podcast, and anything from Tripp Fuller - https://processthis.substack.com/
Jacqui Lewis - the person I would nominate for America’s Pastor, except that her influence should be international, not just national: https://jacquilewis.substack.com/account/
Dante Stewart - one of the very brightest young leaders out there: https://substack.com/@dantecstewart/
I enjoy Daily Meditations delivered to my inbox from The Center for Action and Contemplation and from Matthew Fox: https://cac.org/category/daily-meditations/ and https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.org/
Jim Finley and Kirsten Oates help me stay rooted in the Turning to the Mystics Podcast: https://cac.org/podcast/turning-to-the-mystics/.
Political Resources
Judd Legum (Popular Information Substack) - https://popular.info/
Anand Giridharadas, The Ink on Substack) - https://the.ink/
Brian Kaylor, A Public Witness on Substack - https://the.ink/
Peter Beinart - on current events, especially Israel/Gaza/Palestine - https://peterbeinart.substack.com/
Jennifer Rubin and Norman Eisen - The Contrarian on Substack - https://peterbeinart.substack.com/
Gaslit Nation will light you up. Andrea Chalupa’s podcast is on fire with righteous fury https://www.gaslitnationpod.com/about-us
Heather Cox Richardson strikes me as an actual stable genius, every single post: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/
Sojourners offers this excellent truth and action roundup for the first 100 days of the current regime: https://act.sojo.net/page/email?mid=5835a9d9b0bf4ab291d3a80292a5dc73
Ecological Resources
Semafor - the latest news on climate action - https://www.semafor.com/
Britt Wray is wise and especially focused on the intersection of climate and mental health - https://gendread.substack.com/
Heated brings together excellent writers on climate, overshoot, and related realities: https://heated.world/
Outrage and Optimism - the title says it all. Solid, interesting, international in scope - https://www.outrageandoptimism.org/
Uncategorizable but Important resources for me
Cassidy Steele Dale is a futurist with zest. He helps me have foresight - https://cassidysteeledale.substack.com/
Padraig OTuama’s Poetry Unbound substack and podcast helps me politically, ecologically, spiritually, all wrapped together. https://poetryunbound.substack.com/
Speaking of poetry, I always appreciate the gifts of poetry (and prose) from Maria Popova. I highly recommend her newsletters - Sunday and midweek: https://www.themarginalian.org/about/
Finally, I've been immersing myself with all of Jacob Collier's music. I literally have been dreaming about his songs. Here's one of my favorites to get you started if you're interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQvzX0Z3HE4
You may wonder why I left some of your favorite resources out. They may actually be on my longer list, but this is the shortest list I could bear to share. I hope you'll share with others what's helping you ... and if I happen to be one of those people who is helping you resist and persist in the way of love, peace, and joy, please know I'm grateful. We're in this together.
There are so many people doing such good work out there … and if we put all our good work together, encouraging one another and being merciful rather than critical, if we each make our little contributions with a great big heart of love and sincerity ... if we keep sowing seeds of kindness and justice and humility left and right ... and if we don’t grow weary in doing good, we shall reap a harvest, I do believe, deep in my heart ... we shall overcome.
It won't be easy. It won't happen fast. There will be many difficult days ... many "dangers, toils, and snares." And the struggle is never over. But something beautiful is trying to be born, even in the midst of so much ugliness.
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Discovering Renewal – for clergy and … everyone need renewal.
Several years ago, my friends at Montreat Conference Center contacted me to talk about an idea. (I may have proposed it to them, or not ... I can't remember.)
The weeks leading up to Easter are full of meaning for clergy ... along with a lot of hard work. What if we had a week in the North Carolina mountains for church leaders to gather for rest and renewal. I would offer a reflection each morning to encourage spiritual renewal and rest, and the rest of the day would be free, with a variety of options for activities that would help people unwind and simply enjoy being alive, being human.
But then we thought, Why restrict this to clergy? Why not have a week where everyone is welcome, just being people, human beings, normal folks, relaxing and enjoying life together?
Each year has been a delight, one of a few events that shape my year.
This year (April 22-25, 2025), there will be eight activity tracks:
- Larry "Grey" Mitchell and Daniel Rogers will lead Contemplative Hiking ... enjoying the beautiful spring flora and fauna in the mountains that surround Montreat.
- Mary Carroll Dodd will lead Yoga, inviting people of all levels to find their inner smile.
- Tanner Pickett will lead Fly Fishing, enjoying the areas beautiful streams (that are rebounding with resilience the floods of last year).*
- Sue Dolamore will lead Plein Air Sketching, helping you see and explore your artistic side.
- Rev. Thomas Wesley Moore (T. Wes) and Dora Rowe will lead Tabletop Gaming ... a great way to socialize and enjoy a wide array of challenges.
- Kelley Weber and Greg Durham will lead the new Contemplative Track, helping you learn and actually practice contemplative practices.
- Jessica Vazquez Torres will lead the new baking track. What is more renewing and enjoyable (and delicious) than creating culinary delights?
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Sarah Akin will lead the new Mixed Track, where you'll sample yoga, hiking, and contemplative practice.
And of course, if you'd rather create your own solo track (bring some books or simply watch the creek flow by), you're welcome to do that too. It's a no-lose situation: there are very few if any more beautiful places in Spring than Western North Carolina.
Want to learn more? Check out https://montreat.org/events/renewal-2025.
*If you're a newbie, you're welcome too, and we'll have loaner equipment available and a patient veteran to help you learn.
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Grief and Relief
These are two words I hear again and again from people who have read Life After Doom. Here is a recent email that came in (as always, lightly edited for anonymity) ...
Last year, I attended an event where you spoke in the midwest. I exchanged only a brief mumbled greeting with you, because I didn’t quite realize who you were until after I had continued on my way to my seat, and I was so disoriented and heavy with grief that I had none of my usual tools for connecting with new people in a sociable way readily available.As you spoke that evening, I remember feeling like I could breathe - nervous, tenuous breaths, not yet the full belly-breaths that can calm our nervous systems, but enough breath to keep me alive for a bit longer, then a bit longer. I came into the event shattered; as I witnessed your unflinching look at reality, both the steadiness with which you faced a truly terrible situation and the refusal to offer quick or easy answers, I felt the pieces of myself stop their fractured swirling and come to enough stillness that I could begin to imagine putting them back together.Fast forward a few months, and I am sitting now with your book, Life After Doom. I have found myself in tears a number of times - from grief, yes, and also from some kind of relief. Relief to hear from someone who shares a similar religious background, and can name the harm that has been done in the name of that tradition while also not throwing the whole tradition out entirely. Relief to be in the spiritual presence of someone who is, at least on paper, unflinching, while not denying the hard road ahead. Relief to feel the sanity that exists in acknowledging the dangerous stupidity of the world without needing to get into a gaslighting argument with anyone about whether or not that is real (“try not to be too surprised,” you said. I will try.)For many years I worked in ministry. I left a few years ago - both the vocational work and the institution of the church - when I could no longer stand in that space with integrity without doing or saying something that could cost me my job (introducing the concept of the feminine image of God, for example - the horror!)It has been a lonely road since then, as I am hungry for the sort of community, meaningful conversation, and supportive action that can be experienced through church, but have struggled to find or create something new. As I spent time with you, in Holland and through your book, I have felt less alone. And I will keep trying.The divine in me sees and honors the divine in you.
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A lot of people are feeling the relevance of my newest book …
I just got this email from a reader of Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart:
Thank you so much for writing this book! It helped boost me over the line to finally DO SOMETHING! It was good medicine to have to look at that ominous title every time I opened the book. Spelling out possible scenarios we face makes it concrete, no longer a theory, something imaginary. I felt guarded when you first mentioned yourself as a former pastor, but later I so appreciated your ability to reframe Bible characters and stories in terms of environmental change in ancient earth history and ancient indigenous struggles.As a Buddhist in worldview and practice I easily relate to your framing: Letting go, letting be, letting come and “maybe it’s good, maybe it’s not”.Your AA analogies are insightful.You include so many and diverse quotes that enrich understanding and insight.I’m in process of rereading it.Thanks again for sharing your journey and your wisdom!
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A few Christmas gifts from me to you
I have been unusually quiet on social media lately. For me, this has been a time of reflection, rest, recollection, realization, and preparation for what comes next. It has also been a time of quiet gratitude ... gratitude for the gift of life, of a loving family, of peace where I live, of enough to eat, of a beautiful home, of health, of meaningful work, of rich memories. None of these can be taken for granted, and while it is foolish to be in denial about all that is in peril in our world, it is even more foolish to let all that is wrong in our world overshadow all that is good, beautiful, and so worth celebrating.
I'm especially grateful for you, all my friends -- old an new ... for all my colleagues (at the CAC and elsewhere) ... for all readers of any and all of my books (especially Life After Doom, which came out this year) and listeners to my podcasts ... for my students and parishioners across the years ... and for my own teachers and mentors.
I've also been thinking of my parents and grandparents a lot lately, and feeling deep gratitude for them, and for all my ancestors.
And, of course, each morning I awaken in a majestic and beautiful living Earth, a web of life that continues to give generously even though our species has done it so much harm.
I want to share a few simple gifts that I have enjoyed recently ... in hopes that they will bring you some extra joy too.
First, one of my favorite Christmas pieces, something I return to each Christmas season:
(Here's a translation of the Latin into English, with some background: https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/o-magnum-mysterium-lyrics-composers/)
Second, this song from a group of children in Ramallah. It reminds us that the original Christmas story itself occurred against a backdrop of violence and agony (Matthew 2:16-18), and that (as Howard Thurman said) the work of Christmas continues each day.
Third, not directly related to Christmas, but a testament to human creativity ... and what can happen when we come together under wise leadership, in the creative Spirit, to give ourselves to beauty and harmony:
Fourth, links to two of my favorite "contemplative photographers" whose work helps me keep my eyes open for beauty and goodness:
https://www.instagram.com/christyberghoef
https://godandnature.asa3.org/oord-photoessay1.html
And finally, we'll let Linus have the last word:
Sending you defiant joy and deep peace this Christmas, dear friends ...
Brian
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