The Lectio Letter - Issue #68 - Fixated by Fear | Fixated on Blessing

“How very little can be done under the spirit of fear.”

— Florence Nightingale

“If the Lord be with us, we have no cause of fear. His eye is upon us, His arm over us, His ear open to our prayer - His grace sufficient, His promise unchangeable.”

— John Newton

“Love is the central command in Scripture and judgment the central prohibition. Indeed, judgment is the “original sin” in Scripture. This is why the forbidden tree in the center of the garden—the prohibition around which life in the garden revolved—was called the “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.”

― Gregory A. Boyd

"Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity."

— James Clear

Riverside Drive at Night - May, 2023

Welcome to Issue #68 of the Lectio Letter. This members-only newsletter is filled with music, film and food suggestions, links, and an article written by yours truly.

Whether you become a paid subscriber or not, I’m very grateful to each of you who read and respond to this newsletter.

The Lectio Letter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

PSA: I’ve heard a number of people have been missing out on the whole email if they use Gmail because the email gets ‘clipped’.

You can see at the bottom of the email if it says “message clipped”, then click “View entire message” to see it all.

You are not getting it all if you don’t see my signature at the bottom.

Alternatively, if you don’t want to read this in your email, you can use the substack app (where you can listen to the article read out) or read it online at LectioLetter.com

---

Introduction

Over the past few months, I’ve become convinced that a core skill (spiritual discipline) is the ability to pay attention. Last year I wrote about ADHD Christianity but this time I’m trying to explain how our attention gets ‘grabbed’ and then ‘fixated’ on things that lead us into less than the life God intends for us to live.

Fear, dislikes, and frustrations claim our attention like a few other things (this is what makes social media such a powerful tool). That is why we need to practise the kind of attention that attends or wakes up to God’s presence in the world in order that we can become the kinds of people that fulfil God’s call on our lives; as those who are ‘blessed’ to ‘be a blessing’.

Much of our Christian formation suffers when we don’t see our lives through the lens of being blessed. Much of our world suffers for not encountering the people of God who are called to take that blessing and give it away.

Before we get to that, there’s a short life update (complete with puppy pictures), Music recommendations from KXC in London and Khruangbin, a recipe for Italian Chicken Cacciatore, 2 movies and a TV series recommendation and of course a miscellaneous link section with articles on Tim Keller, Swedish culture and a book review of Nijay Gupta’s new book on women in the new testament.