Scribblings

What I'm reading in print and on the web

My friend Katherine Wyma is writing about Spotify’s “Wrapped” Personalized podcast. She writes:

Spotify’s AI-generated podcast tries to implement this feeling through an interest in you, which is shared between “friends” because you’re so unique in your musical tastes. But instead of the intimacy that comes from a friendship in which interests are shared and discussed, you’re simply left listening to your smartphone alone.

Listening to this fake conversation about personal tastes and unseen moments can leave you feeling like you’re staring into the Mirror of Erised. In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Dumbledore warns Harry that the Mirror shows the gazer the “deepest and more desperate desire of [their] hearts,” leaving them incapable of making decisions or even moving. Instead, they yearn only for what is seen in the mirror. Their lives will pass them by as they long for that which can not be realized.

Interestingly, I listened to my “Wrapped” podcast and not a single artist or song that they mentioned made it to my “Wrapped Top Songs of 2024” report that Spotify put together. In fact, I didn’t know any of the songs they mentioned in my podcast review, and I’ve never listened to the bands that they listed (including one band whose name is written in Chinese?!).

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I’m reading Dan Alger’s book, Word and Sacrament: Ancient Traditions for Modern Church Planting. I appreciate that there’s a book on church planting that is explicitly Anglican and that does not tell the planter to downplay or abandon Anglican distinctives. So many church planting resources I’ve read assume that tradition and liturgy are a hindrance (at best) or completely antithetical (at worst) to planting a church.

Alger writes,

Take the liturgy, for example. I am going through great pains to show you that it is more than an aesthetic choice, but a foundational aspect of our Anglican way. You cannot rewrite it, tweak it, or rephrase it for the work of mission. The words that are in the current Prayer Book were not written by one person. Those who give us spiritual oversight in the College of Bishops have put these words through communal curation, writing, revision, review, and finally acceptance for our use. We do not have the authority to change them even if we feel that wording things differently better suits our context. This is not bureaucracy; this is communal life. If we were allowed to rewrite at our whim, we would be circumventing communal discernment and the authority of our bishop, and we would be in danger of inadvertently forming our people with erroneous theology and Christian practice.

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James Woods is over at WNG reviewing David Koyzis’ new book, Citizenship without Illusions:

This book builds upon Koyzis’ masterful earlier work exposing political ideologies by offering practical insight about how to comport ourselves politically in this world. It would benefit from more reflection on how our political allegiance to the kingdom of God and the political nature of the Church itself inform our loyalties to temporal polities. But as a practical guide for prudent political engagement in the various earthly cities in which we find ourselves, it’s an admirable introductory text.

This book is on my stack of books to read this spring.

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In case you missed it, my 11 year old son is an aspiring filmmaker and is currently learning how to write screenplays. He recently took one of Chuck’s published short stories and turned it into a screenplay. Pretty good for his first attempt!