My Commonplace Book

Christian Wiman reflects on the existential reach of humor.

Christian Wiman on poetry’s power to rouse us from the slumber of familiarity.

Noel Crowe, a 78-year-old man, reminisces about his life in a small Irish village nearly 60 years before. He marvels at the strange new acquaintance sitting beside him all those many years ago.

Rainy, the narrator in Leif Enger’s novel I Cheerfully Refuse, throws a birthday party for his wife, Lark. Friends, neighbors, and even strangers have gathered at Rainy and Lark’s home to celebrate. While his band performs for the gathering, Rainy reflects on what he once hoped the church might be like.

Michael Goheen argues that suffering is a mark of a faithful missional community seeking to follow Jesus in the world.

Lesslie Newbigin describes the church as a pilgrim community on mission to the ends of the earth.

Lesslie Newbigin understands the Church to be the inaugurated end-time new humanity on mission.

Kathryn Greene-McCreight takes up the challenging task of putting her lived experience of depression into words. She does an admirable job, using a mixture of description and metaphor.

Kathyrn Greene-McCreight says religious platitudes like “Pray harder” offer little in the way of help to those who live with mental health challenges. In fact, such trite advice might actually cause a depressed person more hurt.

The British preacher Charles Spurgeon lived with depression. Being a public figure, he often received well-meaning but insensitive advice about his condition from fellow Christians.

Wendell Berry sees vital connections between practicing solitude, cultivating personal wholeness, and participating in community.

Charles Spurgeon was well acquainted with depression. He spoke often to his congregation about his experience with it.

Want to write a memoir? Become a custodian of memory, says William Zinnser.

Todd Wilson argues that many Evangelical approaches to spiritual formation fail because they don’t foster integration or wholeness.

Poet Christian Wiman prescribes awe as the only true antidote to the despair that characterizes the modern world.

Research shows that experiences of awe have a greater impact on mental well-being than contentment, amusement, gratitude, and joy.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau recognized a connection, at least in his own case, between cognition and locomotion.

Christian Wiman reflects on the ways art helps us process fear, pain, and loss rather than being paralyzed by them.