“Some readers by now are looking for my theory of the way to produce Christian art or write Christian fiction, since theories are what people believe govern the world. They don’t, and I have none. I am working out my aesthetics (and perhaps salvation) with each book—with this one—and each book poses unique problems. But I can assure you that you will not begin to form your own aesthetics or way or writing unless you first belong to a church that teaches you fellowship and unity within Christ, and then begin to see writing as your daily humble job within that community. . . .

“The time has come for Christian artists in their communities to begin building that City on a hill again, and I hope that one young student, or even a middle-aged one, will understand what I’m saying and perhaps at this moment sense the stirrings of a first novel. If that student takes scripture seriously, he should know that the more he immerses himself in a particular communion and comes to understand the ways in which each person within it is essential, the more distinctive and original his writing will be. And I hope that some young woman has begun to visualize her lifework, a shining series of interlocking narratives that will provide the material to repair some of the buildings of the centuries-old tradition of Christian writing. These were left unfinished when the writers of my generation turned aside to imitate our culture rather than turning first to the community that always should be available in Christ.”

Larry Woiwode,  Acts

HT: Justin Taylor

I’ve been making another trip through G.K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy. I’ve found reading this book both incredible and overwhelming. There is so much. So much to think about, enjoy, react to. Just the language and word choice alone is a delight. He uses words and ideas like Robin Hood uses a bow and arrow. It’s overwhelming because there is just so much. I need to reread sections to stay with it. But it’s well worth it.

Chesterton was a Roman Catholic who despised Calvinism, but this Protestant lover of God’s poetic providence receives his words with deep gratitude.

Chapter 4 of Orthodoxy, The Ethics of Elfland, is one of my favorites. This is for lots of reasons. I won’t go into them all here, but wanted to share a section that touches on gratitude. Chesterton is very quotable and we see quotes from him everywhere. That’s great and I am one who loves to post them. But I’m going to try to post some slightly bigger sections –a paragraph or so– to give some context and see how that works. I hope you’ll read and enjoy.

 But though (like the man without memory in the novel) we walk the
   streets with a sort of half-witted admiration, still it is admiration.
   It is admiration in English and not only admiration in Latin. The
   wonder has a positive element of praise. This is the next milestone to
   be definitely marked on our road through fairyland. I shall speak in
   the next chapter about optimists and pessimists in their intellectual
   aspect, so far as they have one. Here I am only trying to describe the
   enormous emotions which cannot be described. And the strongest emotion
   was that life was as precious as it was puzzling. It was an ecstacy
   because it was an adventure; it was an adventure because it was an
   opportunity. The goodness of the fairy tale was not affected by the
   fact that there might be more dragons than princesses; it was good to
   be in a fairy tale. The test of all happiness is gratitude; and I felt
   grateful, though I hardly knew to whom. Children are grateful when
   Santa Claus puts in their stockings gifts of toys or sweets. Could I
   not be grateful to Santa Claus when he put in my stockings the gift of
   two miraculous legs? We thank people for birthday presents of cigars
   and slippers. Can I thank no one for the birthday present of birth?

From CCEL.org

“But I feel that I have lived on the edge even of my own life. I have made plans enough, but I see now that I have never lived by plan. Any more than if I had been a bystander watching me live my life, I don’t feel that I ever have been quite sure what was going on. Nearly everything that has happened to me has happened by surprise. All the important things have happened by surprise. And whatever has been happening usually has already happened before I have had time to expect it. The world doesn’t stop because you are in love or in mourning or in need of time to think. And so when I have thought I was in my story or in charge of it, I really have been only on the edge of it, carried along. Is this because we are in an eternal story that is happening partly in time?”

Wendell Berry, Jayber Crow

Quoted in “Fiction and The Big Picture,” a post by Robert Sagers.

You can, as I indicated earlier this week, get this fine book in audio format for a mere $5 from Christianaudio. Or get it from The Rabbit Room to read in the traditional fashion. It’s another excellent read from Mr. Berry.

Everybody and Andrew Peterson’s brother is talking about the free audiobook this month from www.Christianaudio.com: Wendell Berry’s magnificent Hannah Coulter. I’ll add my voice to the chorus. This is an amazing book. I would download it for free if I hadn’t already paid $15 for it a while back. I love this book. So very much.

Christianaudio is offering many of Berry’s novels this month for a mere $5. It’s a good time to invest in a great depth of pleasure.

Russel Moore’s comments on it are worth reading in their entirety. But here’s a part of his exhortation, particularly aimed at Christians –often preachers– reluctant to read fiction, to read Hannah Coulter.

“I think fiction is good, necessary, and God-glorifying. I teach my theology students to read good fiction for the sake of their preaching, if for no other reason. Those without the imagination to read fiction usually lack the imagination to hear the rhythm and contours of Scripture, much less to peer into the mysteries of the human heart. I just think schlocky fiction does just the opposite of all of that. I also think human love is a more than worthy subject of writing, including Christian writing. I just think it should be done with authenticity and honesty, and should look at love, not the hormonal utopia our culture has taught us to long for. I can think of no better contemporary example of doing this well than Hannah Coulter.”

The setting for the story of our life is changing. We’re moving. It’s not the biggest, most daring move. We’re not traveling 8,000 miles to live in Africa (as my parents did with us when I was a kid). We’re moving about 100 feet. We are buying and moving into our neighbor’s house. (Insert coveting jokes here.)

Boring?

I hope not. The small story of our family moving is about more than more space, more than moving up the hill into a little bigger house. It’s about a dream, a vision, a story our lives are telling.

Overstating it?

We’re moving because we believe the setting of the new house will allow us to thrive in our passions. We believe it will help us be and do who we are and what we are called to.

Space, the final frontier. We did not need more space. We have said, “we need more space,” and have heard others say it many times. It’s sort of true, but not really. We have more space than most people in the world and in history have had. (A good measure, I think. Especially to gauge thankfulness.) We could have made it work.

We want more space. Why?

I want to set my beautiful wife up to succeed in everything she’s called to. I believe that’s part of my job (and one I’m slowly learning to do better, I hope, by grace). Gina has some hard jobs. These are jobs she loves, feels called to, and wants to do. Jobs like cooking every day to feed five…er, six, people. Jobs like teaching the kids about birds, sums, sentences, and czars. Jobs like sewing and writing, leading and loving. The new place enables her to more easily achieve success in her work. This is the leading reason for the move, in my view. But there are others.

We want to have people over. Hospitality has been on our hearts for a long time and we want to have a space that makes that possible/easier. The place we’re moving to is not huge, by any means. But the way it’s laid out allows for a lot more room to have people in our home.

The fact that there’s more opportunity for easier hospitality figures into our plans for our children. We plan to have a lot of “home games” with their friends. We want our kid’s friends of all ages to want to come to our place and to have room to operate and have a good great time. This house gives us more of that.

The place has a small hut that I plan to use for writing. A Writer’s Hut, which Chris Yokel –outstripping all competitors– has perfectly named “The Forge.” It’s kind of a dream-come-true. (Of course, it needs some work. Much like the novel I can’t wait to return to writing when things settle a bit.)

I could go on, but you get it.

We think this place will serve to aid us in our various vocations. And that’s the point of writing a little about this.

The setting changes, the story proceeds. I could go on about our situation in particular, but I mainly just want to connect the move (an ordinary thing) with our calling and our story.

I want our decisions, under God, to connect our family to the story we’re in, both in the common themes, and the plot lines particular to us.

So, here’s to the wild, wonderful adventure of moving next door!

What’s happening in your life? What is God doing to advance the plot of your story?

FYI: Gina took all these pictures. I steal things from her site a lot.The first pic is of what will soon be our “old house.” The last one is the mailbox my brother Will painted for me. It was a swell gift. The funny thing is (concerning the name on it) this was well before I, or anyone else, used “S.D. Smith” to refer to me, myself, and/or I. I remember thinking it was funny at the time. Now, literally tens of people know me by that name.

“The unpayable debt that I owe to him was not ‘influence’ as it is ordinarily understood, but sheer encouragement. He was for long my only audience. Only from him did I ever get the idea that my ’stuff’ could be more than a private hobby.”

J.R.R. Tolkien, on his friend, C.S. Lewis

So who fulfills this role in your life? Who encourages you in your art?

My list is pretty long, but includes many of you who I only know through the internet (for now). Thank you.

“Fairy tales, then, are not responsible for producing in children fear, or any of the shapes of fear; fairy tales do not give the child the idea of the evil or the ugly; that is in the child already, because it is in the world already. Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon.”

G.K. Chesterton, Tremendous Trifles

HT: James Grant

Consider me stoked. It took me about ten seconds to order this. This is maybe my favorite non-fiction book written in the last sixty years. Definitely way up there. Notes From The Tilt-A-Whirl is fantastic. The dvd series looks equally excellent. I shall find out soon. Anyone want to do this series with us?

Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl Movie Trailer from Gorilla Poet Productions on Vimeo.