Practicing Revolution One Link at a Time

In the next installment of that which I have no plans of making into a series, I wanted to share a practice I’ve adopted over the last several months as I endeavor to think and act more helpfully around social media in my own life.

When I asked myself what I missed out on by either leaving certain spaces altogether or by minimizing who I followed, the biggest loss I anticipated apart from connection with other writers, was the ease of clicking on links shared. My typical practice has been to resist most links shared until I see them shared a few times. I assumed since cream and heat rise, so would the good pieces. This has worked well for me but it never occurred to me that someone somewhere was the first to share that cream and heat, meaning someone somewhere was going right to the source instead of waiting for peer pressure to tell us what everyone else was reading and liking.

In the absence of social media over the past few months, I created a little (and growing) bookmark folder I idealistically named “Daily Reads.” Of course I do not click through the bookmarks daily, nor do I read every new piece on the sites I saved; it’s aspirational and I’m okay with that.

A good thing must be shared, though, right? If I was endeavoring to spend less time on social media, I’d have to find some other way to get others in on the goodness that’s just floating around the World Wide Web waiting for more people to love it. I’ve been doing Link Love for probably a decade here, though with no sense of regularity or schedule (and I don’t anticipate changing that), but I stumbled across Instapaper recently and I like the format there. I simply add pieces I’ve read or want to read, and when I heart them, they go to my public page, where anyone can view them.

Of course it isn’t as flashy as sharing on social media, where likes and retweets and shares are the currency of one’s merit, but if we’re going to be revolutionaries, we have to do the uncommon things. So this is one uncommon thing I’ve begun doing. I will still share the best of what I’ve read here on my occasional Link Love, but the bulk of what I’ve read and liked, will show up on that page. If you’re interested, you can bookmark this page and view it on your own time. Remember, it’s not more of my writing—which I hope will interest you even more than if it were!—but it’s some of the thinkers and writers who are influencing me as I muddle through faith and works and theology and formation here on Sayable.

“The Large Piece of Turf” by Albright Durer, 1503

Speaking of muddling through. We got the first review back on A Curious Faith and they called it “meandering and muddled,” which made me feel really great inside (sarcasm), until I realized, well, that’s exactly what practicing a curious faith is. It’s not neat or incisive or very polished at all—and I’ve never endeavored to be any of the above. In fact, I think most of you probably hang around because of that very quality about me. So while the review was disheartening, I’ve had to swallow that disappointment and trust that there is someone out there who very much needs someone to meander along with them through the mushy and muddy middle of wherever they are. I hope the book, and so I, can be that for them. It releases on August 2nd, but you can preorder wherever books are sold.

Here’s what a few wonderful folks have said about it so far:

“Stepping into the beleaguered shoes of the prophets, the psalmists, and the perplexed disciples, Wilbert invites readers into the human experience of faith. Her words are a salve to those of us who wonder, who wait, who impatiently watch for the One who is—and is yet to come.”

— Jen Pollock Michel

“We need more writers like Lore Ferguson Wilbert, ones who gently guide us into the grooves of a well-worn faith, the kind acquainted with doubt. Her words invite us to spread our arms out wide beneath the canopy of curiosity, to take a walk along the curved pattern of the question mark, and to breathe in deep the mystery of God.”

— Emily P. Freeman

“In a world filled with people who think they have all the answers, we desperately need more individuals who know the importance of asking the right questions. Lore Ferguson Wilbert is just such a person. As Lore shows both through her life and in these pages, a strong faith doesn’t just allow questions; it demands them.”

— Karen Swallow Prior

“A Curious Faith is a beautiful culmination of Lore’s ministry. For years she has invited readers to probe the depths of God—and to engage in self-reflection—with a courage that could only be Spirit-led. This book does not provide definitive answers on every musing but does offer a winsome theology of curiosity, of questioning, and of faith that the answers will come.”

— Jasmine L. Holmes

“Lore is innately curious, unafraid of hard questions. She follows her curiosity like a sort of map, sometimes discovering firm and solid answers, sometimes discovering more questions. But time and time again, her curiosity seems to lead to the same conclusion: even in our uncertainty, or doubt, our confusion, there is a God who welcomes us into his love—questions and all. That’s what this book is all about.”

—Seth Haines