“The Weekend Wanderer” is a weekly curated selection of news, stories, resources, and media on the intersection of faith and culture for you to explore through your weekend. Wander through these links however you like and in any order you like. Disclaimer: I do not necessarily agree with all the views expressed within these articles but have found them thought-provoking.
“Church in a Time of Brain Rot” – Jeffrey Bilbro in Christianity Today: “More of a good thing is not necessarily better. And what starts as a good thing may not stay that way. This is a lesson we’ve had to learn and relearn in recent years while living through rapid shifts in digital communication technologies. It’s vertigo-inducing how a given tool or platform can have one effect in its infancy and an opposite one in its maturity. But perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising: Scale and proportion matter. Our bodies need some salt, for example, but too much salt will make us ill. Communication technologies have a similar effect on the body politic. The same tool that at a low dose can contribute to mutual understanding and consensus can, when adopted on a wider scale, foment confusion and antipathy.”
“Church membership may be declining, but many churchgoers are double-dosing” – Yonat Shimron and Adelle M. Banks at Religion News Service: “After Becky Hope left the evangelical church she had been attending in Portland, Oregon, four years ago, she began watching online services at an ecumenical church in New York City — just for a little while, she figured, until she found something closer to home. But after a few months, Hope, 40, found that the digital experience was as fulfilling as any she has had, especially after the church — Good Shepherd New York — began a small group for people watching online from the Pacific Northwest. ‘I just fully fell in love and found a community within the digital space, which was not expected,’ said Hope, describing Good Shepherd as a place where she has has felt ‘seen and known.’ Even so, Hope, an educator who was raised Catholic, missed receiving the Eucharist. For that, she began attending Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Portland in person every Sunday, as well. ‘It really matters to me to be physically partaking in Eucharist with people sitting next to people.’ For Hope, participating in multiple churches neatly fills her needs. And it is increasingly common for others, too.”
“The god of small things: celebrating Arvo Pärt at 90” – Andrew Shenton in The Guardian: “In many ways Arvo Pärt and John Williams’s music couldn’t be further apart. One celebrates simplicity, purity, and draws much of its inspiration from sacred texts; the other captures strong emotions in sweeping orchestral scores. And yet the two men are today’s most performed contemporary composers. Bachtrack’s annual survey of classical music performed across the world placed Pärt second (John Williams is in the top spot) in 2023 and 2024. In 2022, Pärt was first, Williams second. This year, Pärt might return to No 1 as concert halls and festivals worldwide celebrate his 90th birthday, on 11 September. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Pärt has found a way to speak across boundaries of culture, creed and generation. In the world of contemporary classical music, where complexity and empty virtuosity often dominate, Pärt stands apart. His music eschews spectacle in favour of silence, simplicity and spiritual depth.”
“Vital Spiritual Experiences with John Ortberg” Dave Ripper interviews John Ortberg on the Deeper Experiences with God podcast: “Join Pastor Dave Ripper for a transformative conversation with bestselling author John Ortberg, a leading voice in spiritual formation. In this episode, they explore vital spiritual experiences, drawing from John’s book Steps: A Guide to Transforming Life When Willpower Isn’t Enough and the Christian roots of the 12-step program. Learn how to cultivate a deeper connection with God through practices like prayer, meditation, and scripture immersion, and discover actionable steps to overcome challenges and grow in faith. John shares insights from Dallas Willard, integrates psychology with spirituality, and leads a guided exercise to encounter God’s presence.”
“What Keeps the Lights On” – Charles C. Mann in The New Atlantis: “Put a bagel in a toaster oven and push a button. In a few seconds, heating elements inside the oven glow red and heat the bagel. The action seems simple — after all, ten-year-olds routinely toast bagels without adult supervision. Matters look different if you inquire into what must happen to make the oven work. Pushing the button engages the mechanism of an incomprehensibly vast multinational network: the North American electrical grid. The numbers are dazzling. The United States alone has more than 6 million miles of power lines, enough to stretch to the Moon and back twelve times. An average U.S. single-family home contains almost 200 pounds of copper wire — and there are more than 80 million U.S. single-family homes. The Empire State Building alone has more than 470 miles of electrical wiring. And all these miles upon miles upon miles of wire and cable and circuit are so routinely and reliably coupled that most of us think nothing of the fact that southern California gets power from hydroelectric dams a thousand miles away in northern Washington State. Constructed over more than a century, embodying entire political and economic histories, the North American electrical grid may be the most complex object ever created by our species.”
“The Liturgical Home: The Feast of the Transfiguration” – Ashley Tumlin Wallace at Anglican Compass: “The Feast of the Transfiguration, celebrated on August 6th, is a momentous event in the life of Christ and the Christian tradition. It holds profound significance as it reveals a glimpse of the divine glory of Jesus Christ. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke all recount the Transfiguration. In these accounts, Jesus, accompanied by Peter, James, and John, ascends a mountain. He meets with Moses and Elijah and undergoes a remarkable transformation. Unfortunately, the Transfiguration is one of those events that often is a victim of reductionism. There’s so much that occurs in such a short amount of time, so much meaning there, so much symbolism, so much beauty, so much emotion that it is difficult for us to process, so we make bulleted points. If you look up the significance of the Transfiguration, you’re often given a list:
- Jesus’ divine nature is revealed
- The Old and New Testaments come together
- It’s one of five major events in the Life of Christ
The list goes on and on, and while all of these points are true, they strip the event of its miraculousness and miss the enormity of the event. The Transfiguration cannot be reduced to a bulleted list!”
Music: Gregorio Allegri, “Misereri Mei (Psalm 51) “
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Matthew Erickson 