Deepening our Christianity

the Monday Newsletter of Paul Prins

Edition #16 · 28 August 2023

Blessings Reader,

Making Milestones

For at least a decade, I've known that I'm not good at this. I've been working on it. There may be some progress being made. Yet, I still struggle to celebrate. For any number of reasons, it feels like celebrations just don't happen.

I also know that this is a profoundly deep theological problem in my life. There are many facets to this problem, but the one I feel most strongly about is how toilsome it makes work.

One of the easiest ways to transform work is through appreciation. One of the main ways our culture motivates us to work is through fear. Fear that we will be replaced, that our work is inferior, and that we are the failure of our work. This fear can be even more insidious through collective indifference. As a way to possibly cope with the fear we feel around work, we numb ourselves to the work of others.

There is much to say about identity wrapped up in work. I've run two companies and have visceral experience and growth in this area. Yet if we return to celebration, we quickly discover a problem. There are too few prescribed milestones to celebrate in life! There are birthdays and anniversaries (marriage, work, etc.), and a few major events like receiving diplomas or having children.

So, let us discover and make milestones worth celebrating. Let us name them and invite others to celebrate with us. To create much-needed waypoints of celebration and joy in our lives. I hope that I can get to a point where I feel the freedom to ask others to celebrate me and my work. To embody and accept the many points in my life where I was shamed for wanting to be celebrated. So that I might reclaim my right to be seen, known, and valued for what only I can be and do. To experience the joy our Jesus takes in the work of our hands. I hope you do too.

Until Next Week

Posted since the last Edition

I Cried from the Depths – Translating Psalm 130

Sharing in the divine grief and emotion of the Lord, the soul of this psalmist is in the depths. Yet they continue to trust and cry out to the Lord. They know that the LORD is full of mercy and forgiveness. With Him, there is redemption in abundance.

Read the Reflection

Unpublished Photo for this Edition

This alley is a few blocks from our apartment. There is a gallery on the left installing their next exhibition, and a well weathered sign at the end of the path for a garage. It's always such a lovely view to see but I finally took a photo of it.
**Captured:** 23 August 2023

Curated Goods just for You

Sharing what I've come across from around the internet that may encourage or help you.

The Ecumenical Review and the Beginnings of the World Council of Churches ~20 Minutes
With the 75th anniversary of the World Council of Churches, they shared this reflection from 2018 on the founding of the WCC and its journal. From its inception out of other inter-denominational groups, interruption by World War II, and the many voices and seeds that made way for its founding, growth, and impact.

A Prayer for the Week to Come

Lord, your wonder and glory are boundless. And yet you see us, and you see me. You adore me and are with me in the midst of all things. You are with us throughout the highest to the lowest moments and in every breath we give to work. Help us to see and make moments to celebrate. To invite joy and celebration into our lives more frequently. For work that is done and as we continue to simply be.