Good Morning Everyone!
Thanks to Aubrey Sitterson mentioning Sabbath Sessions in his most recent newsletter, there are quite a few of you who are new here!
Welcome! I hope you stick around!
If you haven’t subscribed yet, or if someone forwarded this email to you, consider signing up below.
What Is This Newsletter?
If you have ever gone swimming in the ocean and spent any time facing away from shore, you have probably experienced the moment of turning around and realizing you’ve drifted considerably from your initial entry point.
This is how I have felt over the last week as it pertains to writing.
What is the aim of Sabbath Sessions?
Who is the audience?
I’m going to level with you here; I have no idea. However, in light of the recent influx of new subscribers, I’m willing to take a swing at describing the grand mission:
Encouraging Christians to embrace millennia of rich history, philosophy, and study that dwarfs the typical messaging of American evangelicalism.
Encouraging Non-Christians that the same millennia of history, philosophy, and study has practical applicability towards living a richer life, regardless of religious perspective.
For those of you firmly in category 2, I highly recommend David Perell’s essay The Book You Need to Read.
Subscribe To This: Sunday Candy
Full disclaimer: I absolutely, unequivocally, remorselessly have stolen the idea for this section of the newsletter from my aforementioned pal, Aubrey.
I’ve referenced other writers I met during Write of Passage in prior newsletters, including Jen Vermet and Matt Tillotson.
There is a throughline for writers that I enjoy reading, and that trait is vulnerability. Don’t just give me stats and data; I want to be able to understand you better from your writing.
My friend Sandra is genuinely exceptional in that regard, and Sunday Candy strikes a difficult balance of being light and fun to read while still being personal and illuminating.
A 🧵 That Resonated
Walking away from regular church attendance is a decision that prompts fearful and concerned reactions.
My wife and I decided to remove our family from the megachurch environment we had called home for over a decade in December 2020. (Maybe a newsletter topic for another day)
We didn’t see the benefit of an extended break from church at the time, and immediately rushed into a different environment, which also wasn’t fruitful.
From August 2021 until just recently, we have refrained from attending church. I believe both of us would say without reservation that there have been two positive outcomes of this season:
A renewed vibrancy and health within our family.
A clarification and strengthening of our relationship with God.
The Gamma Knife
One of the most fulfilling side-benefits of having a career in sales is sharing meals with a diverse array of people.
While there are certainly times when the conversations are superficial or singularly focused on business, there are also incredible uber-connected exceptions. The kinds of conversations where you check the time and are surprised to learn that three hours have passed.
I recently had one of those dinners where the person I was meeting with shared a story about being diagnosed with a brain tumor when she was nineteen. She described that after her initial diagnosis, and the planned treatment protocol, she was given 20% odds of having full brain function.
Did I mention she was nineteen?
Prior to beginning treatment, her doctor recommended she meet with another physician from the University of Virginia who was performing a novel at-the-time procedure dubbed Gamma Knife.
At this point in the conversation, I did point out that Gamma Knife sounds like an item The Avengers are attempting to retrieve, but I digress.
Gamma Knife is radiosurgery, or to put it more simply, highly targeted radiation. Instead of subjecting the healthy cells in the body and brain to radiation damage, this procedure allows the surgeon to only target those that are cancerous.
For my dinner partner, the procedure entirely altered the course of her life. The tumor began shrinking immediately and, after a year, was no longer detectable. Instead of surviving in a debilitated state, she could heal and live fully and freely.
I’ve thought about this conversation a lot, most recently in the wake of the SBC (Southern Baptist Convention) scandal. If you are unfamiliar, the SBC is the largest and most politically powerful Protestant denomination in America.
David French’s article The Southern Baptist Horror in The Atlantic is both a commentary and summary of the results released from an independent investigation.
It’s brutal. I’m not going to share the details here if you or someone you know has been the victim of abuse.
In summary, decades of sexual abuse, cover-up, and the bullying of victims in an attempt to minimize and suppress their trauma are all contained in the report.
This quote from French particularly hit home:
…it is past time to recognize that the culture of American evangelicalism is broken at a fundamental level. How many times must evangelicals watch powerful institutions promote and protect sexual predators before we acknowledge the obvious crisis?
Still too many Christians are in denial. Most churches are scandal-free, they’ll say. Most pastors are men of integrity, they’ll argue. But how many bad apples must we pluck before we recognize that the orchard is diseased?
American Christianity has a deep fear of treatment. There is a terror that any action taken towards reform and accountability will alienate the base and damage the brand of the church.
Pruning is a necessary action in keeping a vine healthy. I am fond of saying that Jesus spoke in agrarian metaphors not because they were timely but because they are timeless. Even today where most of us are removed from agricultural society, we still understand the rhythms of sowing, cultivating, and reaping.
Jesus says in John 15:2 - “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away.”
Pruning is the horticultural Gamma Knife. You have to cut off the dead branches to preserve and encourage vitality. Failing to do so only promotes the eventual death of the plant.
Christianity needs the Gamma Knife.
Churches that alienate others should fail.
Leaders who do not pastor and love people as Jesus did should fail.
Those who shield abusers and diminish the stories of victims should fail.
The business of American Christianity may suffer, but it is the targeted radiation of these elements that will prevent the tumors of chauvinism, misogyny, sexism, racism, nationalism, and greed from metastasizing further.
Thank you for reading, have a joyful week, and I will see you next Sunday! If anything here resonated with you, please share it with someone else!
I’d love to connect more! So follow me @beingdustin, and let’s chat!
Thanks for the shout, Dustin. Great to see your audience growing.