Hi friends.
If you’ve been following what’s been going on in Tennessee politics at all, then you know this has been a rough week for us. Today’s issue was written before all of these events transpired, so we wanted to take a minute an acknowledge that today you might be feeling a little tender. Things might feel overwhelming and bleak. We get it.
If you are able, we want to encourage you to take some time and space from the current events cycle. Even just 24 hours. Eat some food, talk to a friend, go on a walk, take some time to nourish yourself so that you have some reserves in the tank. Even Jesus took a nap.
Sending lots of love to this community this week and beyond,
Chris + Gabby
Can Religion Bind Us Together?
Chris Llewellyn
I don’t know if there’s a better indicator that you are moving into the back half of your thirties than being genuinely excited to click “buy now” on an etymological dictionary.
(I guess this is who I am now).
For those of you who haven’t yet given up on yourselves and maybe have better things to do on a Friday night, an etymological dictionary tells you the history of how a word was formed - where it came from. And I LOVE that stuff.
I love the fact that the word “radical” - for all its association in our minds with trail blazing cultural icons - actually shares its roots with the humble radish. Yep, the vegetable.
That the word “charisma” is a distant, more domesticated cousin of “dynamite”.
And that “religion” comes from the same source as “ligament”.