Sunday Stretch: Vol. 88

Start off your week with a grounded take on Bible, prayer, the world, and your life ...

Hi Readers,

Has anyone else seen the movie Inside Out 2 yet? I don’t think I ever did see Inside Out 1. I’m not a big cartoon person, and I admit I have a hard time focusing sometimes on actually watching movies (this is a problem)! But last week, with my younger son still recuperating from pneumonia and not quite ready for a pool trip, and the weather outside cool and rainy, I took both boys to see Inside Out 2, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since.

The one scene that really sticks with me is the one where the orange character of anxiety is just flying around the room, at the controls of teenager Riley’s brain and emotions. Anxiety isn’t some awful monster; she’s actually sweet and caring. But she can’t help but take control, and she’s whirling around with all of her plans and ideas and hopes, with the best of intentions. The scene shows Riley then buzzing all over the ice, skating faster and faster to the goal — and it captured really perfectly the way it feels to be under extreme anxiety, trying harder and harder without being able to find the shut-off valve.

Anxiety has definitely been at the helm for me these past few weeks. Hyper-vigilance is kind of a necessary state of being when your young child is sick enough to be hospitalized, especially when in the days leading up to it you had to advocate for him when things weren’t really being taken seriously — until they were, suddenly.

I am so grateful to all of you who sent up prayers for Josh, by the way. The best news of everything is that he’s well on his way to a full recovery: feeling great, super cheerful, even made a scavenger hunt for me yesterday. At the end was a Get Well Soon homemade card, with a tip to drink lots of liquids if I get a cough. That’s our Josh.

Unfortunately, as soon as Josh got better, my older son Jacob and I came down with strep throat. We’re on the mend, but Jacob has pretty much been in bed for three days now. And hey, in the midst of all that, America’s political picture became even more devastating and terrifying over the past few days, from President Joe Biden’s hard-to-follow and almost incoherent debate performance, to Supreme Court rulings that dismantled government oversight of corporations, including climate change offenders, and Monday’s ruling that former President Trump has at least partial immunity over his actions on Jan. 6, during the attempted insurrection, for an election he has yet to concede was legitimate.

It feels like we are careening down a steep hill, without working brakes or even seatbelts. I feel like I’m constantly bracing for impact.

And in the midst of that, too, I have a new book coming out (she says in a small, plaintive voice). The truth is, I’m very proud of the work I’ve done in Disciples of White Jesus, and I can’t wait to keep sharing the process with you. By the time you’re reading this, I’ve shared a cover reveal with Substack subscribers and even a pre-order link. I’ll tell you this because I feel like we’re in this community here together: I am so excited and I’m also scared. This is a weird part of the process: people are just beginning to read my work outside of me, my editors, and a few others. It means so much to me, and I want this work on men and boys to make a real difference in peoples’ lives, and in our ability to live together in community in our country and our world.

I don’t want to be just another voice on the Internet screaming: HEY LOOK AT ME I MADE SOMETHING. And also if I’m not proud to share my work - who else will be? So there it is. The Sunday Stretch will stay as it is over these next several months until the book launches in March, but I’d love if you’d pray for me and for the process in the midst. And as you’ll hear often, pre-orders are huge for making sure that the book makes it into bookstores and libraries, so I’d very much appreciate your support in placing a preorder wherever you prefer. More options on that coming soon … but thank you for your prayers and support.

Now, because we need them really, really badly … let’s get to the texts!

This is a great New York Times piece about the depiction of anxiety in the movie

Bible Stories

Ezekiel 2:1-5

Ezek. 2:1   He said to me: O mortal,^a stand up on your feet, and I will speak with you. ² And when he spoke to me, a spirit entered into me and set me on my feet; and I heard him speaking to me. ³ He said to me, Mortal, I am sending you to the people of Israel, to a nation^a of rebels who have rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have transgressed against me to this very day. ⁴ The descendants are impudent and stubborn. I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, “Thus says the Lord GOD.” ⁵ Whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house), they shall know that there has been a prophet among them.

Part of reading the news lately has me feeling like the very moment is approaching that so