The Available Believable

I’ll begin by noting that the image above is me gazing lovingly at Cory Bishop as he introduces me to a small crowd of new and old friends at Landmark Booksellers in downtown Franklin, Tennessee. Cory is the real deal every which way. Landmark is too. Both are important to me as sources for what I’ll term The Available Believable. Creatures, spaces, content, rituals, events, food, plants, soil, water, air. Julius Caesar and the Roman empire couldn’t conquer the blue sky. The Available Believable persists.

You can see and hear Cory and me talking together with others here. We go on and on.

Next up on The Available Believable front is a service of lament at St. Mary of Bethany Parish. I recommend lots of efforts in beloved community. But I recommend St. Mary’s to any and every one feeling spiritually homeless within driving distance of Nashville and who wishes to follow Jesus of Nazareth together with others without normalizing white supremacist terror or coddling bigots.

Here’s how Fr. Danny Bryant puts it:

Our pause to grieve and lament this Sunday is an attempt at reducing the numbness in our lives, feeling the pain of the marginalized, and believing the energy for dismantling the systems of death comes from the simple act of refusing to call them necessary, good, and normal.

In our work as educators across the centuries, Danny and I have lived and worked with many of the same families in the beautiful state of Tennessee. He is an endless encouragement to me. Danny holds space.

I also want to place before you a document from another, related effort in beloved community.

I love a good pastoral letter. It’s a starting point for discourse. I don’t have to agree with every word to find it helpful. That said, I agree with every word in this one.

I’d also like to share an amazing poem from my old friend Leigh Pettinger:

The first half of our life is a big mistake,

A Jungian psychoanalyst intoned on a podcast…

That’s actually just the first two lines of the poem (“Serviceberry Tree”) which can be found here. I find it energizing and calming and intensely believable.

Thanks for hanging in here with me, everyone.

Editor’s note: The photo of Cory and me was taken by my good friend Haskell Murray.

dd