All the Creative Inspiration You Could Ever Need. Maybe.
PLUS: Introducing the Slow Faith Book Club!
New to this newsletter? My name is Drew Brown, I’ve got a BA in Theology and an MA in English, and I am fascinated by the idea of faithful intentionality in a world that’s hyper-connected and hyper-productive—thus, Slow Faith. I send emails once-to-twice a month and am discovering new ways of writing and creating an online community. I’d love to have you hop on board!
Constable, John. Extensive Landscape with Grey Clouds. ca. 1821, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection.
Introduction
Hey friends!
You’ll find this email is a bit different than what will normally occur each month. To be honest, I don’t have anything profound to add to the conversation surrounding COVID-19. I tried to write something for a while, but it felt disingenuous—I’d rather give those words to doctors and pastors.
However, what I do know pretty well is creative inspiration. So this email is a bunch of creative inspiration. I’ve included lists of books, music, and miscellany to inspire (or re-inspire) you while discovering the new rhythms of this season.
—Also, I WANT TO START A BOOK CLUB!—
Okay, so here’s where we’re headed:
A brief devotional.
The Slow Faith Book Club!!!
Give Me the Playlists!
Books and Music for those Books!
Stray Thoughts and Miscellany!
Constable, John. The Gleaners, Brighton. 1824, Tate, London.
(All of the paintings throughout this email are by John Constable, who became famous for his detailed and beautiful cloud work. I’m spending the remainder of this crisis at home in Oklahoma, so I’m looking at a lot of clouds. Thus, my friend John Constable.)
1. A Brief Devotional
I can’t begin to imagine what this season looks like for you—I really hope you have community. I hope you have someone checking in on you. I hope the Coronavirus has kept its distance from you and your loved ones. I hope, I hope, I hope.
I know the country will reopen, I know the rhythms of this season will change back to normalcy, I know the sun will come up again over the horizon. I know, I know, I know.
But that doesn’t change how scary this time can be.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest.Yet you are holy…
-Psalm 22:1-3a
The Psalms can speak for us. They exist as billboards reminding us it’s okay to feel our feelings; God wants our feelings. Our desperation, our loneliness, our angst. God can handle it.
Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
The Lord has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy.-Psalm 126:2-3
And God also wants our joys. He wants our celebrations of silver linings and newfound creativity, of beauty and excitement.
We live as nomads between Psalm 22 and Psalm 126. Our lives and our creativity exists within this tension. Creations of sorrow and creations of joy both exist in the Kingdom of God.
And all of it, all of it, all of it, is draped and encompassed and permeated by the love of God.
cheering for you,
drew
Constable, John. The Sea near Brighton. 1826, Tate, London.
2. INTRODUCING: THE SLOW FAITH BOOK CLUB!
I miss talking to people about books. I miss comparing favorite quotes and discovering new angles and perspectives. I could really use a book club right now.
So why don’t we? Why don’t we read some beautiful words and talk over Zoom about them in a month?
I spent a lot of time thinking about what the right book would be to begin this, and I think I’ve found it:
(I actually took this picture in the middle-of-nowhere New Mexico about fifty miles from the Texas border.)
“But Drew, why this book?”
Good question! Crossing to Safety is a novel about the lifelong friendship between two couples: Sally and Larry Morgan and Charity and Sid Lang. Larry Morgan, a writer and the narrator of the book, at one point wonders,
How do you make a book that anyone will read out of lives as quiet as these? Where are the things that novelists seize upon and readers expect?… Where are speed, noise, ugliness, everything that makes us who we are and makes us recognize ourselves in fiction? (195)
This is the type of book I want to read right now, when the world is spinning a few degrees off its axis and burrowing under the covers of isolation feels so tempting. I want to read a book about good people—people with issues and hang ups and tragedy—but people whose goodness shines through them. And I want to read it with friends.
(You can check out the original New York Times review of Crossing to Safety if you need more proof.)
“So, the plan?”
Buy the book (it’s $4.39 on Thriftbooks, $9.99 on Kindle, or this could be a great listen over at Audible) and just start reading. We will plan to Zoom at the end of May. After you sign up, I’ll email you more information and a playlist I titled “Crossing to Safety (The Musical)” and more fun things (as I think of them). So stoked!
If you’re now convinced and wanting to join, you can click below:
If you’re not interested, no worries! Since people will sign up with the link, I’ll email them separately so that your inbox will still only receive my semi-monthly emails!
Constable, John. Yarmouth Jetty. After 1823, Tate, London.
3. Give Me the Playlists!
Okay, so I’m going to be making two ongoing playlists—trying to add about fifteen songs every month.
Ongoing Playlist #1: Calm My Soul
My brain is often going a million miles an hour, so the worship music I most often play is quieter in nature, reminding me of God’s peace and intimacy.
Ongoing Playlist #2: Call It What You Want, I Call It Good Music
Pretty self-explanatory.
Constable, John. Hove Beach. 1824 to 1828, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven.
4. Books and Music for those Books
No creative inspiration email can be complete without a list of books and playlists that match the theme/tone/voice of those books. Duh. So here are some books I’ve really enjoyed and music that pairs nicely with them!
*In an attempt to support non-gigantic online bookstores (aka You Know the One), I’ve linked books to (1) Thriftbooks.com (usually cheapest), (2) Powell’s Bookstore in Portland (new and used books), (3) Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena (only new), or (if no one else has it) (4) Barnes and Noble. I give priority to cheapest, but if it’s within two bucks, I’ll opt for the independent bookstore (Vroman’s and Powell’s).
Let’s Get Into the Faith:
Life of the Beloved by Henri Nouwen
Henri Nouwen knew how to make friends with solitude, isolation, and the faith. His words—especially in this book—serve as great, great comforts right now.
Album to pair: In This Pilgrim Way by Wilder Adkins
Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life by Tish Harrison Warren
All about learning to worship God in the dailiness of life—very appropriate!
Album to pair: Work Songs by The Porter’s Gate
Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading by Eugene Peterson
Buy this book and eat it; it helped me read the Bible with new eyes.
Album to pair: Psalms by Sandra McCracken
For Being Productive While at Home:
Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport
Straight-forward read focused on our consumption of technology. If you prefer to get to the point and don’t waste time, this is for you. It’s NPR’s Up First in book form.
Album to pair: Rock Creek Park by Oddisee
How To Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell
Written by an artist, and it shows. This is a deeper and much more philosophical dive than Digital Minimalism. It’s like if Digital Minimalism had a subscription to the New Yorker.
Album to pair: Kind Of Blue by Miles Davis
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
If you would define yourself as a creative and haven’t already read this book, please get on it. SUCH a classic.
Album to pair: A Boy Named Charlie Brown by Vince Guaraldi Trio
Let’s Talk About Some Justice:
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
This book helped begin my journey with justice. If you’re new to the conversation or maybe have some doubts about it, start here!
Album to pair: Save Me by Liz Vice
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in an Age of Color Blindness by Michelle Alexander
THIS BOOK RIGHT HERE. I’m halfway through; written ten years ago now, it’s already considered a classic.
Album to pair: The Narrative by Sho Baraka
Parting the Waters: American in the King Years 1954-63 by Taylor Branch
Fair warning: this is a LONG book, but I listened to it on audiobook and can’t say enough about how magisterial this is.
Album to pair: Gospels, Spirituals, & Hymns by Mahalia Jackson
Drew, Where’s the Fiction?!
Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
See above. And sign up for the book club.
Playlist to pair: Crossing to Safety (The Musical)
Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry
How long did you expect me to go without mentioning Wendell? If you haven’t become convinced to read him yet, I’m not sure what else to do. This book changed my life.
Album to pair: I and Love and You by The Avett Brothers—(My favorite album for my favorite book!)
Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
We covered this book in Modern American Fiction about two years ago, and it has sat with me as one of the most transformational books on my shelf.
Album to pair: A Seat at the Table by Solange
Constable, John. Study of clouds over a landscape. Unknown, Private Collection of Montgomery H.W. Ritchie.
5. Stray Thoughts and Miscellany!
We all deal with mental health in one way or another, and in this season—where isolation is necessary—we can feel alone in our minds. I read this amazing account and encouragement by Rachel Wathne that so beautifully welcomes others into her own journey and the healing she is discovering.
“We must…reject suggestions that it makes sense to prioritize the care of those who are young and healthy over those who are elderly or have disabilities. Such considerations turn human lives into checkmarks on a page rather than the sacred mystery they are.”
One of many beautiful passages from Russell Moore’s piece “God Doesn’t Want Us to Sacrifice the Old” in the New York Times.
Simply titled “LAMENT,” this piece by Hannah Geraci explores one of the most difficult words in the American Christian lexicon. As she writes, it’s a word we will be comforted and edified to discover all throughout the Bible.
I wrote a piece for More Love Letters, before COVID ironically, about learning how to slow down and be intentional in a world that feels chaotic: “For You, When the World Is Too Much.”
This piece in The Atlantic about how the craze of open concept homes is becoming a curse during Covid is SO interesting.
In preparation of all of us being amazed and misty-eyed by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit’s new album in May, Isbell recently did a long form profile for GQ. He is so incredibly vulnerable and honest about what it was like creating music before rehab and how living sober has dramatically increased his creativity.
“To stand by one’s word is everybody’s duty. To make words precise enough and clear enough to be stood by also is everybody’s duty, but I think that that has got to be the paramount duty of every writer.”
Wendell Berry has a new interview out, everyone. And he’s dropping truth per usual.
Finally, I leave you with a picture of my dog, Catcher. He and I spent two weeks by ourselves in quarantine before moving home to Oklahoma, and he’s laying down next to me as I write this. 10 out of 10 would recommend a dog like him.
Please know you are near and dear to the heart of God.
cheering for you,
drew