Six Newsletters I Love
Last week Tsh Oxenreider shared Ten Great Newsletters she loves and recommends to others. And I thought, hmm, I love that idea. I have been off Twitter the past few weeks (and drastically changed the way I use Twitter over the past month period), so where I used to click on links from Twitter to read new things, I’m dependent now on the newsletters I’ve subscribed to to tell me what’s going on in the heads of people I like. Longer reads are my preferred reads anyway, so it suits me fine to see ideas extrapolated instead of just stated as shortly and pithily as they can (“The better to get Likes and Retweets, my dear.”). So here are some newsletters I love that you might love too.
P.S. “Newsletters” are the new blogs, not the trifold papers you got in the mail from missionaries and non-profits in the 80s and 90s. Just so you know. I didn’t know. Until I knew. Then I went into an existential crisis: “Should I be doing newsletters too? Is the blog dead?” Then I stopped and just kept doing what I’ve always done. Which is Sayable. Just as she is.
First, Seth Haines is doing something magical with his newsletter these days. He wrote a book, a short one, with short chapters, a very readable book. Then, when he had you where he wanted you (which, if you’re like me, means waking up), he began to do the deeper work on his blog. It’s genius. He’s shepherding and disciplining his readers in a way a book just can’t do. I love it. I’m here for it.
Next, John Starks is one of those pastors who is doing the work. Ten years ago he was my editor at a publication I wrote for and you could see the wheels churning in his head even then. He is a man discontent with fragmentation and I love it. He also has a new book that just came out, The Possibility of Prayer and I recommend it.
K.J. Ramsey’s newsletter Embodied is carefully worded and care-full too. She wants her readers to become whole people, fully formed through practice, Scripture, therapy, prayer, and community. I love what she’s doing and I especially love it because that’s who she is as a person. In real life she’s about the fully formed life and her newsletter reflects it.
Next, the old faithful, Brain Pickings never fails to deliver good art, poetry, song, and writing each weekend. I always learn something new and am encouraged to explore more widely.
Subscribe to Brain Pickings here.
Tim Willard always has something he’s thinking about and brings others along to experience, too. He calls himself a Spiritual Minimalist, and I like that. He’s all about considering the trappings we encapsulate ourselves in as Christians and rethinking them. I never fail to feel slightly convicted each time I read.
Abby King is a new addition to my reading list, but always a welcome one. She develops her thoughts well and includes great recommendations. I particularly love how she pulls from many seemingly disparate things and draws them together almost magically.
That’s it for now. That’s mostly what I’m reading in newsletter form these days. I try to keep my online reading to a minimum, but these each have captured and delighted me each time. I hope you find one or two additions in there that capture and delight you too.
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