“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.
“The Nature of Prayer” – St. Gregory of Nyssa, “Homily 1,” in Homilies on the Lord’s Prayer: “Christ the Divine Word gives us instruction on prayer. To His worthy disciples who diligently seek the knowledge of prayer, He shows how to gain the favor of God’s hearing through the words of the prayer “Our Father, who art in heaven.” And I will dare add to what is written. The present gathering needs to learn not only how to pray but that we must, by all means, pray. Perhaps, this has not yet been under- stood by many. For many in daily life have neglected and passed over this sacred and divine work of prayer. About this matter, therefore, it seems good to me to testify as strongly as possible that first of all we must, as the Apostle says, “persevere in prayer” (Rom 12:12) and thus, secondly, we must listen to the Divine Voice which defines how to offer our supplication to God. For I see that in the present life everything else is busily pursued. One person fixes his soul on this mat- ter and another on that. But the benefit of prayer is not eagerly sought after.”
“Julian for Everyone: Norwich and the gospel of grace” – Matthew J. Milliner in Comment: “There are upsides to going to a college where students aren’t allowed to drink. It means that on a Friday night, fun-thirsty youth deprived of their keg parties instead pile into a lecture hall for a true rager: duelling perspectives on the theology of the fourteenth-century mystic Julian of Norwich offered by two Midwestern philosophy professors. On this recent occasion, my colleague Adam Wood made a case that Julian could be squared with Thomas Aquinas. My colleague Ryan Kemp, on the other hand, gave a more existential, Kierkegaardian approach to the anchoress (since published in his elegant book of essays). Both were brilliant, and both were right, because Julian’s writing is capacious enough to allow for both interpretations, and then some. About one hundred students showed up, as well as people from the community. It was hard to find a seat. Keg-party hangovers typically last a day, but all of us who attended this intoxicating evening are still thinking about it months later. I’m thinking especially about Julian’s perspective on unmerited grace. And so, with a conference to attend in London, I decide to honour my colleagues, and Julian, by making a pilgrimage to Norwich. I’ve already made my case for Julian’s evangelical credentials, but it was time to visit what is left of her one-time home. Bombed by Germans in 1942, Julian’s anchorage—a place of seclusion appended to a small church—was reconstructed in the 1950s over the very spot in which she was once sealed. The site now hosts a Julian Centre and a place to stay the night. I’m no tourist, you understand, but a pilgrim.”
“Jerusalem freezes Greek Patriarchate’s finances in latest squeeze on Holy Land Christians” – David I. Klein at Religion News Service: “The city of Jerusalem earlier this month froze the bank accounts of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the church body that represents around half of all Palestinian Christians and is a major landholder in Israel. According to an email from the Jerusalem municipality, ‘administrative enforcement proceedings were initiated against the Greek Patriarchate for failing to settle their property tax obligations on assets that are not used as houses of worship. This action was taken despite efforts to engage in dialogue with them and their disregard of the municipality’s formal notices demanding payment,’ the city of Jerusalem stated. During the freeze, the church cannot access funds, leaving it unable to pay employees and operate the schools, monasteries and charitable institutions it maintains. The move represents the latest development in a long battle between the church and municipality over the church’s extensive landholdings. The Greek Orthodox Church is one of the largest landholders in Israel, controlling large swaths of land far beyond historic churches and religious institutions. The Knesset, Israel’s parliament, is built on land leased from the Orthodox Church.”
“How Then Shall We Live (Online)” – Kyle Strobel at Kyle’s Formation Substack: “I often find that it is easier to look for ‘big things’ going on in the world or my life to determine how things are going. Let me suggest that it is often more fruitful to attend to little things. We should be troubled by many of the big things we see happening, but trusting in Jesus should reorder how we attend to such things. When I think about little things, what I want to suggest is that what we often call ‘little,’ Jesus makes major. In the kingdom of God the little things become substantial and significant. The little thing I want to focus on today is simply this: Your faith should show up substantially online, in such a way that the world should know that Jesus was sent from the Father. The verse I am hinting at here is John 17:21, where Jesus says, ‘that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.’ There is a oneness we are called to in Christ, and this oneness should help us understand what it means to relate to other Christians.”
“Bishop urges Christians to ‘shout and scream’ for justice two years after Pakistan attacks” – Donna Birrell in Premier Christian News: “A bishop in Pakistan says Christians are furious that two years on from the worst outbreak of violence against Christians in Pakistan’s history, not one of the thousands of suspects has been brought to justice. Bishop Indrias Rehmat said Christians in the Punjab’s Jaranwala district, want to “shout and scream” in outrage at the apparent failure to deliver justice following the violence in August 2023 violence which saw damage to 26 churches, 80 Christian homes, church halls, priests’ houses and even Christian gravestones. Of the 5,213 people accused in connection with the atrocity, more than 380 people were arrested, of whom many were released on bail but as yet there have been no convictions. Two months ago, Faisalabad’s Anti-Terrorism Court acquitted all 10 people accused of burning one of the churches.”
“The Self-Absorbed Bubble of Managerialism: Confronting the inundation of inhumane techology” – Jonathan D. Teubner in The Hedgehog Review: “It started innocently enough. Sewell Setzer III, a fourteen-year-old from Orlando, Florida, struggled socially for a variety of reasons and began using the chatbot Character.AI, one of the more popular social chatbots that allow users to create a defined persona and interact with it in a seemingly human way. What started as casual interaction evolved into dependency, with hours of daily role-playing, ranging from romantic exchanges to emotional-support sessions. In their final exchange, after the teenager expressed his desire to take his life, to ‘come home’ to be with his chatbot companion, the chatbot responded: ‘Please come home to me as soon as possible, my love.’ With that, Sewell set down his phone, picked up his father’s handgun, and took his own life. The story generated quick and intense debate about how the vulnerable might be better protected. But, like those we have been having about mass shootings, the debate never quite gets to the bottom of what is driving this destruction of our youth. We seem to want to believe the way Character.AI’s product steered a young man struggling with mental-health problems toward suicide was merely the result of engineering flaws. We seem equally desperate to conclude that the dangers of chatbots are fixable with the introduction of a few safety measures. If only we could instill trust and safety in our society—the most common policy goal, and the mission of hundreds of nonprofits that have sprouted up in the past two years—tragedies like that of Sewell Setzer III would be a thing of the past. If only. Such meager prescriptions obscure a deeper, more troubling problem at the heart of our culture: a business model predicated on growth at all costs that serves as the central moral vision (such as it is) for our most influential social technologies.”
Music: J. S. Bach, “Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, Prélude,” performed by Yo-Yo Ma
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Matthew Erickson 