I know, it’s been a terribly long absence. I really have no excuse for my lack of writing and reflecting. Most of my thoughts have taken oral form in various speaking engagements and conversations.
You know how the the longer you stay away from doing something, the harder it is to pick up again? I wonder if sin works that way! In any case, my deepest apologies to those of you who waited with baited breath for my next musing and thoughts.
To be honest, I took some time away from the blog in order to get my bearings straight. I felt like I had lost the original vision and purpose behind echoes of the myth. I started out wanting to keep up the discipline of writing regularly, and I wanted to help readers to consider the echoes of the gospel in the everyday comings-and-goings of life. The longer I walk with fellow sojourners, the more I recognize that people need and want hope. We want to be awed by the wonder and majesty of the divine in the everyday. It’s why certain movies seem to resonate across generations and time periods. They point us back to a deeper story, a deeper longing, or as C.S. Lewis put it, “a deeper magic.”
When I talk about the gospel as myth, I don’t mean fairy tale or something untrue. Rather, I mean the commonly understood notion that not all is as it seems, that there is a deeper explanation for the longings, actions, and motivations of our heart. I believe that we see evidences – echoes, if you will – of this myth everywhere. It’s as common as the themes of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. In other places, it’s nuanced by the depravity of men or the innovation and ingenuity of a culture. You can hear echoes of the myth in the self-sacrificial acts of a hero or the devotion of a father to a son. You can hear the faintest echoes in the whispered prayer of someone who is longing for the supernatural, hoping that a sickness is curable or a loved one is ok.
That’s what this blog is about. Listening to the echoes of the myth. Have you ever been in a recording studio or a sound chamber? Where it’s so quiet that you can begin to hear the air rushing into your ear? You’ve got to be very still and silent. You’ve got to pay attention if you want to hear that echo. Consider this site a sound chamber of sorts, a place to reflect and pay attention to the echoes all around us. I know, it’s somewhat ironic that I’d choose the most distracting and deafening media available to talk about listening for the echoes, but it’s the easiest medium to curate regularly, especially for those of you who are not in my local area. I’d much rather prefer to meet a local coffee shop and talk about the places we are seeing and hearing the gospel, but this will have to do.
So here goes echoesofthemyth.com 2.0! I would love to hear from you. Are there any topics that you’d like to me to write about? Please leave a comment/suggestion below!
Silence is a blessed event as the rattle of the world is hard to stop. Working through a difficult personal issue at this time makes my mind race at a pace I wish I could stop. The peace acceptance would be a cleansing moment, but the pain in may heart just will not stop. How does one shut out the rattle and know the truth?
Hey Brother,
I was blessed to see an email notification from your blog this morning. God bless you and yours. I am preaching and growing through Daniel.
djyun75
Psalm 131, brother. Hope in the Lord. Calm and quiet your soul. Sometimes we have to preach to ourselves instead of listening to ourselves. I think it is a discipline to be learned and submitted to. In fact, I think it is needed now more than ever – not just because of the audible noise that fills our world, but the digital and media “noise” that ever distracts us. Richard Foster has a good chapter on the discipline of silence in his book, “The Spirit of the Disciplines”.
What a solid thought, preach to ourselves versus listening to our selves, a difficult skill but should serve oneself well, bless you.
It sounds like the Inklings talked about this a good deal. It reminds me of Tolkien’s writings on fairy-story. Talk of this in college is what finally help me to appreciate literature—and to see God’s work in the narrative of the world.
I like reading anything you write about…. As mentioned in an earlier comment, the “The Spirit of the Disciplines” is one of my favorite books. It changed my spiritual journey – took me full circle.