{"id":515,"date":"2017-12-30T23:52:29","date_gmt":"2017-12-30T23:52:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/divergence.blog\/?p=515"},"modified":"2017-12-30T23:52:29","modified_gmt":"2017-12-30T23:52:29","slug":"year-end-round-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2017\/12\/30\/year-end-round-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Year End Round-Up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I look back at 2017 with some ambivalence.\u00a0 For me personally, it was a difficult year in many ways.\u00a0 Good friends passed to the next life.\u00a0 Close family lost homes in the northern California fires.\u00a0 We still struggle with a move to an area we would rather not be.\u00a0 I still struggle with my friendships tied to my prior evangelical\/fundamentalist (FG) life.\u00a0 It is still awkward.\u00a0 However, I also feel I am now being much more authentic and true to myself, than perhaps I ever have.\u00a0 I have been humbled in this last year\u2014learning how the darker sides of myself still come to the fore too easily.\u00a0 I have also been encouraged, in that in some areas, I\u2019ve seen personal breakthroughs I never thought I would see.\u00a0 Overall, I am at peace with this past year.\u00a0 If we were doing pass\/fail, I give it a pass.<\/p>\n

On a larger scale, nationally, politically, I can\u2019t see the past year as anything other than a complete disaster.\u00a0 We seem to have lost our collective minds.\u00a0 The only positive I can take away is that it has birthed a resistance movement and made many thoughtful evangelicals re-think their allegiance to the Republican Party and, hopefully, Foxnews.\u00a0 Still, I give it an F.<\/p>\n

Culturally, I saw some good movies and read some good books\u2014ate some good food.\u00a0 The best three movies I saw were \u201cThe Lost City of Z<\/a>\u201d \u201cThe Big Sick<\/a>\u201d and \u201cWonder Woman<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 Television, Netflix, gets increasingly better with shows like \u201cStranger Things<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two best books I read this year were \u201cThe Submerged Reality<\/a>\u201d by Michael Martin and \u201cUnderstanding Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism<\/a>\u201d by George Marsden\u2014highly recommend each.<\/p>\n

I had the best dungeness crab I\u2019ve ever eaten at Capurros<\/a> and some of the best pasta I\u2019ve had in a long time at Trattoria Contadina<\/a>\u2014and recommend each.<\/p>\n

We welcomed a new grand-baby this year and the other three continue to bless me, make me laugh, and confound me\u2013all at once.<\/p>\n

I continue to be blessed by the fellowship, friendship, and discipleship I experience each Sunday evening with our merry band, my fellow travelers, my gypsies souls who meet on the bridge, betwixt and between, or out by the alley dumpster, as we take up together what Pastor Eugene Peterson calls the \u201cLong obedience in the same direction\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

All in all, again, not a bad year in many ways.\u00a0 We are blessed.\u00a0 I will be thankful<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t really do New Year\u2019s resolutions, so I have none to share.\u00a0 If you do, I wish you all the best as to keeping them (although I say that without hearing them; I\u2019ve heard some I\u00a0 hoped the person broke immediately\u2026life is too short people\u2026live a little).<\/p>\n

As I wish you all a Happy New Year, I know much of the country is experiencing an extremely cold winter.\u00a0 Here in sunny California, we have it pretty good.\u00a0 Still, even here, perhaps the cold winter is still present, left over from this past year, or from something else.\u00a0 Winter is both a season and a frame of mind.\u00a0 If it was\/is a cold winter for you, in whichever form, I leave you with this wonderful poem by Jane Tyson Clement:<\/p>\n

Winter<\/strong><\/p>\n

The dark emerging trees<\/p>\n

from the new-winter wood<\/p>\n

are lovelier than leaves,<\/p>\n

as cold is also good.<\/p>\n

The heart\u2019s necessities<\/p>\n

include the interlude<\/p>\n

of frost-constricted peace<\/p>\n

on which the sun can brood.<\/p>\n

The strong and caustic air<\/p>\n

that strikes us to the bone<\/p>\n

blows till we see again<\/p>\n

the weathered shape of home.<\/p>\n

No season of the soul<\/p>\n

strips clear the face of God<\/p>\n

save cold and frozen wind<\/p>\n

upon the frozen sod.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I look back at 2017 with some ambivalence.\u00a0 For me personally, it was a difficult year in many ways.\u00a0 Good friends passed to the next life.\u00a0 Close family lost homes in the northern California fires.\u00a0 We still struggle with a move to an area we would rather not be.\u00a0 I still struggle with my friendships […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3524,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nYear End Round-Up<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I look back at 2017 with some ambivalence.\u00a0 For me personally, it was a difficult year in many ways.\u00a0 Good friends passed to the next life.\u00a0 Close family\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2017\/12\/30\/year-end-round-up\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Year End Round-Up\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I look back at 2017 with some ambivalence.\u00a0 For me personally, it was a difficult year in many ways.\u00a0 Good friends passed to the next life.\u00a0 Close family\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2017\/12\/30\/year-end-round-up\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Divergence\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-12-30T23:52:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darrell Lackey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@darrelllackey1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darrell Lackey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2017\/12\/30\/year-end-round-up\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2017\/12\/30\/year-end-round-up\/\",\"name\":\"Year End Round-Up\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-30T23:52:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-12-30T23:52:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#\/schema\/person\/d88a32b8d4b5f40fbd6ccbfce4e0f813\"},\"description\":\"I look back at 2017 with some ambivalence.\u00a0 For me personally, it was a difficult year in many ways.\u00a0 Good friends passed to the next life.\u00a0 Close family\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2017\/12\/30\/year-end-round-up\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2017\/12\/30\/year-end-round-up\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2017\/12\/30\/year-end-round-up\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Year End Round-Up\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/\",\"name\":\"Divergence\",\"description\":\"Commentary Regarding Fundamentalism - Evangelicalism\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#\/schema\/person\/d88a32b8d4b5f40fbd6ccbfce4e0f813\",\"name\":\"Darrell Lackey\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/333bbffd8a9f931197abc00b19242031?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/333bbffd8a9f931197abc00b19242031?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Darrell Lackey\"},\"description\":\"Darrell Lackey has served as a lead pastor and currently works in the private sector. 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