Minifigs, Appreciations, and Ryan Gosling

this week's Light Show

Joy on my desk: a Lego minifig Mel gave me for my birthday, complete with laptop, Bible, and background image of my actual office; and a D&D minifig of the half-orc barbarian character I’m playing in a campaign with Robert, James and family friends

Last month I wrote about “Light Show,” inspired by Melody Beattie, who encourages us to take note of those moments of serendipity and/or divine guidance, so when we need a reminder to trust, we have it handy. It’s a variation on the question I like so much, popularized by Barbara Brown Taylor, “What’s saving your life lately?” Here are a few recent things to share:

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I was away for a few days at a retreat center that will host pastors for up to six nights a year at no cost, subject to availability. The center has its roots in the Benedictine tradition, which prioritizes hospitality. That means the space is comfortable, and being there is full of ease and warmth. I’m grateful for the colleague who mentioned this resource in passing a few weeks ago, and for the planets that aligned—an  accommodating spouse and kids, a relative lull at the church, and some frequent flyer miles—to allow me to be there for some resting and writing. It was November that I last got away for a few days of solo retreat; wondering if I can manage a short writing getaway every quarter? Or three times a year?

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Anything that makes us feel less alone is worthwhile. This Note got a big response recently:

I see you, you see me.

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This quote I can’t stop thinking about, from anthropologist Roy Grinker’s book Nobody’s Normal:

Consider that when children have difficulty sustaining attention in school, our first thought is to change the way they behave rather than to question the way we organize our classrooms and schools. When someone is homeless, our first thought is that the person has failed as an individual rather than to question the historical legacies of discrimination and inequality. When a person does not fit a preexisting or assigned sex or gender, our first thought is that the person has a mental or physical disease rather than to question our definitions of normality. …The challenge is to learn from the past, and from other societies, and harness the creative power of culture to reduce both stigma and fear of stigma. If culture put stigma and mental illness together, culture can surely begin to take them apart.

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After eighteen months of hosting the Blue Room on Substack, I’m still learning things about the platform. This week’s discovery was “paid subscriber notes,” little comments people submit when they upgrade to a supporting subscription. I’m sheepish that they’ve been sitting here all this time, and touched by what I found there.

If you’ve got an artist, musician, or writer whose work means something to you, let them know, today. (It doesn’t have to be me!)

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I recently learned a new term, sensory self-care. I understand it to be an offshoot of physical self-care, which includes things like hydration, sleep, exercise, visiting the doctor, good nutrition, etc.

Sensory self-care tends to the five senses—letting chocolate melt on the tongue, indulging in aromas that help you get calm, taking in visual and auditory beauty, enjoying a warm bath.

This week’s sensory self-care included: 

• The Ted Lasso score: perfect for writing, but full of the gentle good vibes so many of us appreciated in the show

• The crunchy, spicy homemade granola I brought with me on retreat (I made it chai spiced this time: half the amount of vanilla extract; with ¾ teaspoons each of cinnamon, ground cloves, cardamom, and ground ginger)

• A walk on the Wisconsin prairie around the retreat center, soaking in the run, bundled up for the 20-degree weather, and leaning into the wind.   

Sensory self-care helps remind ourselves of our creatureliness when we’re tempted to take ourselves too seriously or to see ourselves as mere machines of productivity.

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Last May, I spoke on the topic Hopepunk and the Gospel: Narrating Hope When All Seems Lost at the Festival of Homiletics, and I’ve finally gotten around to writing up a version of that talk in the form of two articles for supporting subscribers. It was fun to revisit that material, and I continue to see echoes of it all over the place.

One example: I’m really excited about the film adaptation of the novel Project Hail Mary, which has a lot of hopepunk in it. It’s going to be really tough to adapt, but I’m excited about the team at the helm: Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who created the outstanding Spider-Verse movies, with Ryan Gosling as the lead. (I always pictured Mark Ruffalo.) Lord and Miller showed they understand the book when they described the story as “radically benevolent,” which is my new favorite phrase.

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Your Turn

• What does your light show include this week? And/or what’s saving your life lately?

• What’s your favorite form of sensory self-care?