Hillside Views

 

I wrote this as a response to a post I saw on IG. Putting this here as reminder of where I'm going.

Thanks for asking about my thoughts surrounding the lament, common good, etc. My thoughts are not fleshed out at all but this is a very brief outline of what I hope to work through more fully. A bit of background to set it up. I’ve been in a lamentable situation for about 6 years with no end in sight at this point. It has been an extended period of lamenting. I’ve read a few books, have a couple of close friends with whom I can share, but other than that I have been at a loss as to live in this period. And yes, part of the reason is the loss of the practice of both corporate and individual lament. We grieve, but that is short-term.  Last year, at Hopewords writers conference, Andy Crouch’s keynote address was how our best creativity is born out of lament. Yep, there was my key. I practically tackled him after the address to thank him and to pass on another resource.

All that to say this is my current outline for understanding how the topics below are integral to one another.

1)      Understanding what the phrases “common good” and “flourishing” mean. Are they universal and/or local? Does the beatific vision guide us here? I’ve read Jake Meador’s book, In Search of the Common Good, and plan to work through James K. A. Smith’s Kingdom series.

2)      When flourishing/common good are lost due to sin/fallenness what does our grieving and lament look like? Does the loss tell us, show us what has been lost, tell us something about the good that has been lost? Does experience of loss precede knowledge of the good? Does the practice of lament help us to name the loss and the good? If it does, then perhaps the loss of corporate lament has been a larger factor in our loss of common goods. More here: https://fisherlane.blogspot.com/2019/09/recently-i-was-asked-about-lament_30.html

 Working with books by Tim Keller, Wendy Alsup, Kelly Kapic and other essays on suffering, grief, lament.

3)      Creativity, as Andy illustrated, is a natural outworking of those who seek shalom while working from a place of lament. Unfortunately, I can’t lay my hands on my notes, but when I do, I will send you more details on this. (why am I so disorganized when I’m home all the time? 😉 ) Creativity is needed to recognize, repair, recover as best we can the good. I’m compiling a list of books about creativity, theological anthropology, etc.

4)      To recognize, repair, recover will require struggle and sacrifice.

5)      And now to the question that is more difficult for me at this point. Can we come to an agreement on the common good, or that fact just one common good, that we can all agree on and all struggle and sacrifice for? If so, what? If not, how do we go forward?