Please excuse my mess!

There's been a few changes...

Over the past few days, my substack has gotten a bit of a makeover. Fall’s around the corner and it’s a good time to make things a bit more user friendly.

Here’s what’s new:

• New logo - the old one was not legible due to small font size.

• Some new tabs at the top, including a new “About” page.

• Finally, you may also notice fewer overtly Orthodox components in my logo and other visuals. This is part of a conscious effort to extend greater hospitality to folks who encounter this space, particularly to those who may be recovering from spiritual trauma. I believe the visual and sensory fabric of Orthodoxy has much to offer when it comes to our healing, and I will continue to weave this into my writing in intentional and deliberate ways. However, I don’t want folks to be hit over the head with “Orthodox branding” every time they’re on my Substack.

• Also now there’s a dandelion in the logo! This gives it some visual continuity with my coaching logo, plus dandelions are *SUPER SYMBOLIC* for me (here’s why).

What do you think of the new look and feel?

I’ll leave you with a little excerpt from the new About page…

What’s in a name?

All these things…

For years, this phrase has been an anchor for me.

It’s lifted directly from the words of the “offering” or “lifting up” prayer from the Orthodox Liturgy that speaks of remembering “all these things” that have come to pass for us and for our salvation. It goes on to recount a handful of “saving” events of the Gospel message, some of them (like the Cross) extremely dark, before offering the whole narrative—and ourselves—up to God for sanctification.

Remembering … all these things which have come to pass for us: the cross, the tomb, the resurrection on the third day, the ascension into heaven, the sitting at the right hand of God the Father, the second and glorious coming.

Thine own of Thine own we Offer unto Thee, in behalf of all and for all!

From: The Anaphora Prayer of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom

To me, this prayer is an icon of what human memory—such as it is in a deeply wounded world—can be oriented toward. It reminds me that memories from the past—even those that are painful and bitter—are not to be erased, silenced, minimized, glossed over with a smile or platitude. No, they are to be remembered, re-encounter, offered, lifted up for the sake of transformation, returned to the same God who gave us the mysterious gift of Life-through-death in the first place. And in making this journey—in learning to inhabit the holy dimension of memory—we can begin to encounter wholeness.

But “all these things” is also an apt description of writing—or mine, anyway. I often write about trauma and theology, but I also write about anything I see fit to explore—the “all these things” of my life.

To be a writer is to enter into a life-long scavenger hunt for the unlikely connections between disparate objects, events, and thoughts. To gather “all these things,” whatever God brings my way, together for the sheer delight of awareness. And to offer them back to Him, the giver of all good things.

So, thanks for joining me in all these things. Feel free to say hello by dropping a line in the comments!