Category: Blog

I once birthed a blog called Somber and Dull.

I described it as an online journal, a collection point for my random thoughts. For a long time it satisfied my growing impulse to write. I’m proud of what appeared there – from what felt like a lonely critical take on Eric Metaxas’ Bonhoeffer to a preliminary development of my fundamental understanding of a Christian’s personal role in God’s sanctifying work which I came to understand as “standing in the way of grace.”

Years passed, and my baby Somber and Dull grew up to become RandyGreenwald.com.

As pretentious as that sounded, it was the way to go, I was told, if I were to get more serious about my writing. By then I was writing not only for the blog but also for other projects for which I had dreams of publishing. I’m a slow writer, a ponderous one, so as more projects clamored for attention, others, like this blog, received less.

And then the unthinkable happened. A publisher agreed to publish the book I had christened Something Worth Living For.

Suddenly all my attention bore down on getting that book out there before the world. Projects related to drawing attention to the book spun off from that. As a result, this blog became the largely neglected child.

Now that the book is out there, what is next? The book has not vaulted me to fame, and publishers are not beating down my door to see what else I have in my back pocket. Though I might have worthy projects in mind and a proven track record of being able to execute those projects, as long as I’m an obscure, unknown (and uncontroversial), small church pastor in Florida publishers remain uninterested.

Which, I’ve decided, is fine. I get it.

So what’s up currently? In March of this year, in conversation with a variety of friends, a new “child” was birthed. It is a combination newsletter/podcast for “pastors and those who care for them,” called Greatheart’s Table.

My intention with this is to be a voice of encouragement for pastors, that they might take heart and press on. This is something of a test, a running a flag up the pole to see if any who do not know me have interest in what I have to say. Early feedback suggests that though the posts are written for pastors, non-pastors are benefiting as well. I have committed to producing three posts each month for a year before reevaluating it. I am proud of Greatheart’s Table, to be honest. I invite you to subscribe to either the print newsletter or the podcast on any platform like Apple or Spotify.

In addition to Greatheart’s Table, I’ve been encouraged to write for publication an essay on the intended audience for the Westminster Shorter Catechism, as I reject, with good support, the popular notion that it was written primarily for children. I’ve written a longer essay on the stunningly wrong and harmful way Christians use the Bible to justify spanking their children which needs, I and some others think, wider attention for the sake of confused parents and battered children. I have another book largely complete, and one or two in my head.

And I have a day job (and a moonlighting gig).

Though RandyGreenwald.com has been neglected, it is not forgotten. In addition to occasional content of a general interest, I will try to post updates here on what my various other “children” are doing. Thanks for hanging around for the ride. It has been the readers of this blog who pushed and urged me to write more (a fact noted in the acknowledgements of Something Worth Living For) and so my relative absence here is the fruit of your encouragement. My appreciation is deep.

For a man who wants to maintain a blog, who believes that this is part of his calling, and who actually enjoys (mostly) doing so, five months between posts seems to belie it all. Nevertheless, as has often been pleaded to my patient and faithful readers, life has intercepted these desires.

Lack of presence does not reflect lack of concern. The things I write about matter to me. This blog’s tag line (a reference to Cornelius Plantiga, Jr.’s book, Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be) comes from a deep place in my heart. The things I see and often experience are far from what I want to see. Many feel a deep dis-ease that cries out for some orientation toward hope. I want to point, as far as I am able, in the direction where I sense such hope lies. I want to be a part of shaping a vision for the way things are to be.

My goal in these posts is to share my heart with clarity and with brevity. I value your time as well as your attention and so most posts will hover around 500 words. If I can honor Strunk and White’s challenging rule #17 (“Omit needless words.”) all the better. And if I can do this with a sense of joy and fun along the way, then that is a small step, at least, toward the way things are supposed to be.

All has not been inactivity these few months. I have continued to generate ideas, some of which will be developed and published (and some of which will be unceremoniously buried). I have in process two longer and larger projects of serialized content that I’m looking forward to releasing when I think they are ready. I hope you stay around to read, to react, and to pass what is valuable on to others. All of this is a great encouragement to me.

Contrary to what you might have imagined, this blog is not dead. At least not all dead. If it were all dead there would be nothing left to do but to go through its clothes and look for loose change. As it is, it is only mostly dead, which we all know means slightly alive. And we hope, soon, that it will be again fully alive.

Life for its author has taken on a busy-ness that cannot be averted, delayed, suppressed, or avoided. This has left little room for ruminating much less for writing. So, don’t change the channel or unplug your set. We will in due time return this blog to its regularly scheduled programming.

Thanks for your patience.

The Eagles and The Beatles and Chicago and Frankie Valli can get by with “Greatest Hits” albums because they in fact had sufficient “hits” from which to choose. Other bands can only release “Best of” albums, choosing favorites regardless of whether any were hits or not.

One of my favorites.

This post is a “Best of” listing. I’m at best a local band with a small, but quality, following.

That said, how can I choose even the best among the 70 posts of 2016? There are a couple of paths open to me.

If I were to base my choice upon those posts most viewed, the following three emerge.

• “A Lot of Jesus” – in which I muse on the importance of maintaining the regular practice of worship even on Christmas, especially in a year that has been hard.
• “A Bonhoeffer Bio Worth Reading” – a review of Charles Marsh’s Strange Glory and some reflections on what the church today can learn from Bonheoffer’s struggles in Nazi Germany.
• “The Post-Election Church” – written before the results of the 2016 presidential election and published the day after, considering the fact that the church’s essential calling and vision is unaffected regardless of who would win.

However, that method is somewhat skewed. I’ve found that if I refer to a post on FaceBook, those who at least click into the post rises astronomically. If in addition it’s the least bit controversial, it rockets to the top.

If, on the other hand, I were to choose the ones that I was most proud of, the ones I felt were the most important, I’d draw your attention to those below. This is kind of like picking one’s favorite child. But these are ones whose ideas continue to float around in my mind. I think they are important.

• “Possession or Profession?” – I really am not taking on R. C. Sproul here, but rather a stream of thought in which his words have been placed. HOW we hold onto the assurance of salvation is such an important consideration and often mishandled.
• “How to Experience Awe and Intimacy with God” – I really don’t want a career as an iconoclast, but after the post that referenced Dr. Sproul, I reviewed Tim Keller’s book on prayer. As much as I’ve benefited from Keller over the years, this book was a disappointment.
• “God Is Faithful” – The final post in my series on David’ Crum’s book Knocking on Heaven’s Door includes some personal correspondence with the author that I’ve been thinking about ever since. The entire series on that book was important to me.
• “A Lot of Jesus” – I would add this to my list because of how much of my heart’s desire is in it. Maybe that is why it’s received so many views.

If you missed any of these along the way, I invite you to check them out.

I may never have sufficient attention to put together a “Greatest Hits” album. Nevertheless, I’m proud of my “Best of.”

If I were to get serious about launching that career as a hip hop artist, my decision to do so would no doubt coincide with the time that hip hop would begin to slide into the sunset as a passé genre. I’m perennially late to the party.

So, this year, as I decided to focus more on my blog and be serious about it, I’m being told that blogging is fading from its novel perch. Of course, it’s clear that fashion has never quite been my thing. I wear Birkenstocks and I’m never quite sure whether I’m to wear them with socks or without and whether the socks should be white or black. So I’m probably the last to be concerned whether blogging is fashionable.

And yet, I do care about being read, and so I am grateful, deeply so, to those who have read this blog over the past year and encouraged me in significant ways along the way. I’m especially grateful to you who have taken the time to join the conversation in the comments section, and those who have insured the viability of the blog through your financial contributions.

At this time last year, I determined to re-boot what was then called “Somber and Dull.” In 2015 I had only posted 15 times, and not at all since May. Some of those posts were important ones, expressing things I needed to say, things I wanted others to hear. But the inconsistency was frustrating for readers and for me.
By contrast, in 2016, since the re-launch, I have published 70 posts, slightly less than my goal of two/week, but clearly a clip greater than the previous year. Given my life situation, that’s not bad.

Those of you who have followed this for a while are aware that the site transitioned recently into the narcissistically and pragmatically named randygreenwald.com. Since then, the site has experienced more visitors than ever before. I’m grateful in this for you readers who have pushed this site to others.

Although life sometimes causes the rate of posting to slow or threatens to shut it down altogether, I’ll continue plugging away. Upcoming in 2017, if able and God is willing, you can expect, among other things:

• some insight into why and what other people read.
• a reflection on the nature of ‘blessing’ and why the Aaronic benediction from the book of Numbers should be so precious to Christians.
• a walk-through of a book or two, including Cornelius Plantinga’s book Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be (appropriate for a site with a tag line like this one).
• a review of the movie Silence along with other movies and books as they strike my fancy (I’m open to suggestions).

I’m sure along the way there will be rants and raves and reviews all aimed at considering the way life is supposed to be.

Thanks for tagging along. Hang around and I’ll keep writing and probably not find the time for that hip hop career after all.