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The Long Longing
An Advent devotional I wrote for the Fleming Rutledge-oriented site Advent Begins in the Dark by the folks behind the Crackers & Grape Juice podcast… https://crackersandgrapejuice.com/the-long-longing/ →
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How to Hunker Down for Advent: A Review of Fleming Rutledge’s New Book
It’s Advent! In liturgically-oriented churches, tables and pulpits are draped in purple. (Or perhaps a dark shade of blue, which to my mind is a nefarious invention of the liturgical-industrial complex.) Four-candled wreaths tick off the Sundays before Christmas. In homes, Advent calendars adorn walls. And yet so much is missing. “I have never seen… →
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Bitter is Better: The New Bitter Southerner Podcast
A few months back I had the privilege of interviewing Chuck Reece, one of the masterminds behind the great Bitter Southerner site. Now Chuck is hosting a new podcast which you can subscribe to at your favorite podcast watering hole. It’s all the things you’d expect from such a thing: wry, rye, and an ongoing celebration of… →
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What’s It Going to Take to Fix and Free the UMC?
Warning: United Methodist inside baseball ahead. One of the strongest selling points for the One Church Plan, (and one that I’ve made), is that it takes off the table the contentious, divisive debate over LGBTQ inclusion and allows us to focus on making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world—the stated mission… →
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Check out Heartlands’ New Look
Heartlands got a make-over today. Come check out the site and review our Top 10 Best Reads of 2018! →
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#1 (& a Recap) Heartlands Best Reads of 2018: The Which-Way Tree
It’s difficult to choose the best ‘best read.’ One of my criteria, (to add once again to the list I outlined at the beginning of this countdown), is that if the book sticks with me in ways that feed my imagination and my own writing…if my world feels larger for having read the book…it has… →
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#2 Heartlands Best Reads of 2018: Fire Sermon
I gotta say I’m really proud of the title I gave my review for this book: “Praying with Fire.” See what I did there? OK, don’t let my humor keep you from Jamie Quatro’s Fire Sermon. Your own sense of propriety and tolerance for carnal mysticism might put you off this novel, but to me it… →
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#3 Heartlands Best Reads of 2018: Amity and Prosperity
The changing landscape of rural America. Big economic forces impacting big-hearted, sympathetic characters. New ways to look at the Great Divide. Interesting places and hints of God. Great writing. These are the things that make for a great Heartlands Read. Throw in fracking and you’ve got Eliza Griswold’s gripping and sometimes-terrifying book, Amity & Prosperity: One… →
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#4 Heartlands Best Reads of 2018: He Held Radical Light
Christian Wiman’s He Held Radical Light: The Art of Faith, the Faith of Art might qualify as the most beautiful book I read all year. Wiman wrote a memoir that reminded me about the compelling nature of calling and vocation, not only for the poets he so clearly loves, but for every person of faith. There’s… →
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