Good morning. We have smoke from Canada and Alaska today. Minnesota has absolutely no drought anymore. It has been quite a while since that has been true.
Glad you are getting rain, Kathaleena, to help clear the air of smoke.
We had a gully washer yesterday just as I had to get into my friend’s SUV to go to an evening Bible study across town. I had ‘Jersy Hair’ for real!
I sat beside the blind lady again who’d been to the Center for the Visually Impaired. She did not have the helpful experience I had. They told her she could go online to sign up for Marta Mobility. I will now try to put her in touch with my new church friend who helps people get signed up. God provides.
At thd program, I also met the new friend who went to my elementary school. I still find it hard to believe how my social world keeps expanding as my physical world seems to be collapsing.
Weather announcer said humidity will be down and temps more pleasant for a few days. Glad to hear that.
We continue with our uncharacteristic high humidity on the coast, every day it’s hovering in the 75% range. How is that even possible?
And late last night we received work emails about a major shakeup in our password security protocols. It’s likely to make my day complicated.
I finished the self-assessment for my homeowners insurance and turned it in, a day early. It required at least a dozen photos of various angles of my house, all from the outside.
Abby managed to be in two of the shots for the backyard/back of house views.
She’s going viral.
Two mosquito bites last night right before I went to bed, so I got the repellant out again. Dengue fever is on the rise in the US due to these new little black striped mosquitos that tend to bite multiple times, not just once.
I’m also running the mosquito catcher machine every night.
One of the most exciting action sequences in A Quiet Place: Day One ends with the protagonists climbing up from Manhattan’s underground subway network and into a cavernous, quiet church. Barely escaping the sound-attracted alien monsters (called “Death Angels” in the QuietPlace franchise), Sam (Lupita Nyong’o) and Eric (Joseph Quinn) find a haven in the hallowed, quiet space of a damaged-but-still-intact cathedral. They join dozens of other survivors who also found refuge there, some silently kneeling in the pews to pray.
This moment reminded me of a similar scene in John Hillcoat’s 2009 film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. In that scene, “Man” (Viggo Mortensen) and “Boy” (Kodi Smit-McPhee) share a quiet space of safety in the ruins of a cathedral. Having built a fire to warm them in the cold night, they huddle together under a large cross in the church’s apse.
Both A Quiet Place: Day One and The Road offer sometimes bleak but ultimately hopeful visions of how to live when the world is falling apart. And the church—as a distinct eschatological community—is a key part of it.
Skeptics might interpret the imagery of these crumbling “haven” cathedrals as emblematic of religion’s last gasp in an increasingly godless world. But I find the imagery beautiful and galvanizing: a reminder that the church should lean into its countercultural distinctives and hold fast to its transcendent identity (see also The Crown Season 6). As the world darkens into dog-eat-dog brutality, the church will carry the light of true humanity (Matt. 5:14-16). As the world’s chaotic noise grows deafening, the church will remain a quiet refuge of hope for the weary and worried. …
… A Quiet Place and The Road also underscore the church as a place of rest and shelter. The characters in both films sleep and replenish their health in the church. Momentarily free from the terrors outside—monsters, marauders, and an exhausting pursuit of salvation—they can recalibrate and tend to one another, taking deep breaths and being still. For them, the church is a hospital for healing and a hospitable inn for resting—a dwelling place built on the words of (Matt. 11:28-30).
Does the church have this reputation today? Arguably, no. Because in far too many instances, dangers are inside the church too. This is why it must be a perennial concern for churches to guard against wolves, ensuring God’s house is a haven of health defined by Jesus-centric worship and the collective pursuit of holiness, rather than self-serving interests and individual power grabs. …
… Our world is noisier than ever. A chorus of frenzied voices surround us online, shouting with the megaphones of social media or through the siren-song enticements of Lady Folly algorithms. The nonstop noise is killing us, numbing our ability to hear truth and eliminating all silence from our lives—the silence essential for prayer, contemplation, and growing in wisdom. …
… The best way to draw Gen Z and Gen Alpha to church will not be adding to the ways they’re shouted at constantly, via apps and ads and influencers; rather, it will be to invite them into an escape from all that, into a sacred space of unhurried presence, quiet reverence, embodied worship, and collective encounter with the living God.
In an ever-more brutal, harried, and loud world, Jesus Christ’s church can be the quiet place we so desperately need.
Wandering Views 
Good morning. We have smoke from Canada and Alaska today. Minnesota has absolutely no drought anymore. It has been quite a while since that has been true.
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Glad you are getting rain, Kathaleena, to help clear the air of smoke.
We had a gully washer yesterday just as I had to get into my friend’s SUV to go to an evening Bible study across town. I had ‘Jersy Hair’ for real!
I sat beside the blind lady again who’d been to the Center for the Visually Impaired. She did not have the helpful experience I had. They told her she could go online to sign up for Marta Mobility. I will now try to put her in touch with my new church friend who helps people get signed up. God provides.
At thd program, I also met the new friend who went to my elementary school. I still find it hard to believe how my social world keeps expanding as my physical world seems to be collapsing.
Weather announcer said humidity will be down and temps more pleasant for a few days. Glad to hear that.
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The remnants of Beryl arrived here last night and are expected to hang around until this evening, so we’re pretty soggy today.
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Good morning, all from beautiful sunshine, expecting ninety eight.
Dad took a fall this morning, or, as he says, a bounce. Appears fine.
mumsee
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Sog can be good for summer crops!😀
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We continue with our uncharacteristic high humidity on the coast, every day it’s hovering in the 75% range. How is that even possible?
And late last night we received work emails about a major shakeup in our password security protocols. It’s likely to make my day complicated.
I finished the self-assessment for my homeowners insurance and turned it in, a day early. It required at least a dozen photos of various angles of my house, all from the outside.
Abby managed to be in two of the shots for the backyard/back of house views.
She’s going viral.
Two mosquito bites last night right before I went to bed, so I got the repellant out again. Dengue fever is on the rise in the US due to these new little black striped mosquitos that tend to bite multiple times, not just once.
I’m also running the mosquito catcher machine every night.
LikeLiked by 3 people
I feel for you, Dj, on the humidity. It’s like we are on a see-saw, up in the West, down in the East, down in the West, up in the East . . .
I just got an invite for lunch with yet another new friend connected to my Marta Mobility friend.
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Just posted an update on the fire on the prayer thread.
Jo
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From politics run amok to wildfires and other dark forces, I found this piece interesting and calming:
From The Gospel Coalition today:
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/church-quiet-place-deadly-noise/
One of the most exciting action sequences in A Quiet Place: Day One ends with the protagonists climbing up from Manhattan’s underground subway network and into a cavernous, quiet church. Barely escaping the sound-attracted alien monsters (called “Death Angels” in the QuietPlace franchise), Sam (Lupita Nyong’o) and Eric (Joseph Quinn) find a haven in the hallowed, quiet space of a damaged-but-still-intact cathedral. They join dozens of other survivors who also found refuge there, some silently kneeling in the pews to pray.
This moment reminded me of a similar scene in John Hillcoat’s 2009 film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. In that scene, “Man” (Viggo Mortensen) and “Boy” (Kodi Smit-McPhee) share a quiet space of safety in the ruins of a cathedral. Having built a fire to warm them in the cold night, they huddle together under a large cross in the church’s apse.
Both A Quiet Place: Day One and The Road offer sometimes bleak but ultimately hopeful visions of how to live when the world is falling apart. And the church—as a distinct eschatological community—is a key part of it.
Skeptics might interpret the imagery of these crumbling “haven” cathedrals as emblematic of religion’s last gasp in an increasingly godless world. But I find the imagery beautiful and galvanizing: a reminder that the church should lean into its countercultural distinctives and hold fast to its transcendent identity (see also The Crown Season 6). As the world darkens into dog-eat-dog brutality, the church will carry the light of true humanity (Matt. 5:14-16). As the world’s chaotic noise grows deafening, the church will remain a quiet refuge of hope for the weary and worried. …
… A Quiet Place and The Road also underscore the church as a place of rest and shelter. The characters in both films sleep and replenish their health in the church. Momentarily free from the terrors outside—monsters, marauders, and an exhausting pursuit of salvation—they can recalibrate and tend to one another, taking deep breaths and being still. For them, the church is a hospital for healing and a hospitable inn for resting—a dwelling place built on the words of (Matt. 11:28-30).
Does the church have this reputation today? Arguably, no. Because in far too many instances, dangers are inside the church too. This is why it must be a perennial concern for churches to guard against wolves, ensuring God’s house is a haven of health defined by Jesus-centric worship and the collective pursuit of holiness, rather than self-serving interests and individual power grabs. …
… Our world is noisier than ever. A chorus of frenzied voices surround us online, shouting with the megaphones of social media or through the siren-song enticements of Lady Folly algorithms. The nonstop noise is killing us, numbing our ability to hear truth and eliminating all silence from our lives—the silence essential for prayer, contemplation, and growing in wisdom. …
… The best way to draw Gen Z and Gen Alpha to church will not be adding to the ways they’re shouted at constantly, via apps and ads and influencers; rather, it will be to invite them into an escape from all that, into a sacred space of unhurried presence, quiet reverence, embodied worship, and collective encounter with the living God.
In an ever-more brutal, harried, and loud world, Jesus Christ’s church can be the quiet place we so desperately need.
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we are now up to 103 and will probably go up to 105. This is a long heat wave. My ac is on and it was cooler last night
Jo
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