Lines in Pleasant Places

Psalm XVI: The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips. For the LORD is the portion of my inheritance and my cup; you maintain my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

Lord, we know that we are to look to you alone for refuge, and when we are safely in that refuge we are to praise you for what you have given. Our thanksgivings are to be a confirmation of your goodness. They are to be our testimony before the world that you are a God who answers, unlike all those silent gods who cannot even speak their own names. So we come before you to offer the cup of our praising hearts, back to the one who gave them in the first place.

Thank you for what has fallen in pleasant places: for our wonderful community of the saints, which may gather without danger or interruption for the gifts of the word and sacraments. And you do not bless us alone, but all your people in the West have this unappreciated gift. In particular, we thank you for the gathering of saints in Denver called Redeemer Community Church. May Pastor Rodland and their elders shepherd them well during a time of growth.

Book of the Month May 2023: Why Liberalism Failed

 “The cultivation of virtue requires the thick presence of virtue-forming and virtue-supporting institutions, but these are precisely the institutions and practices that liberalism aims to hollow and eviscerate in the name of individual liberty. In a deep irony, liberalism claims legitimacy based upon democratic consent, yet it ultimately hollows out the prospects for functioning democracy.”

If you pay any attention at all to my commonplaces for each month (and why would you?) you might have noted that most of the ones from last month were from one book: Why Liberalism Failed by Patrick J. Deneen. This is not a perfect book, but it is a good one. If I were pressed to name three books to help someone understand America's current political moment, they would be Carl Truman's The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, Christopher Caldwell's The Age of Entitlement, and this one.