David Lyle Jeffrey says, “God is a poet” and quotes John Donne, saying ours is “‘a very figurative and metaphorical God.’ How he speaks, not just what he says, becomes an important measure of who he is.” This week, I’m thinking about how poetry, and the arts in general, are practiced by Jesus, and given to us as a means of making our imaginations more roomy for Himself and the things His love makes impossibly possible.

A few days back, my friend Amy Lee introduced me to the Greek New Testament word “splagchnizomai”, which is a kind of gut-wrenching ache of compassion and longing for someone. That helped me think about my newest release “Gone Too Long”. So, this week, I’m ruminating on “splagchnizomai” as it relates to the story behind that song, and I’ll share the song itself to close the episode.

Last night, my friends and I that meet weekly started reading one of my favorite books – Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton. This is one of the main books that I go back to again and again when I get stuck and can’t believe in joy. There are few books I find as refreshing. So in this episode, I’m thinking about how easy it is to get stuck in a world that’s no bigger than the globe of my own head. How I need a revelation – I need someone to open the windows and let in some fresh air.

On this Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, I’m wondering about the ingredients that make seemingly impossible healing possible – how did Dr. King point to a Resource greater than any human as he proclaimed a dream for humanity? I’ll close with two prayers written by Dr. King. All of that somehow relates to apple pie, obviously, right?

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Welcome to Year Three of the podcast! I’m excited to get things started up for this season. In this episode, I’ll share one of my “quirky loves”, and explore three analogies – jazz improv, storytelling, and sailing – as we talk about how to discern reality in the midst of so much confusion. Please subscribe, comment, and share.

Read the essay text: www.matthewclark.net/onethousandwords

The title of this season’s finale is a play on words: “Radiant” as a noun is the source of light, and “radiant” as an adjective is whatever is being illumined by that Radiant. Jesus is Creation’s Radiant, the Light and Logos who makes it radiant. This is too often a lost connection that must be remade again and again, since without it, the wisdom of God that signals life’s dignity is broken.

This week, special guest essayist Amy Baik Lee shares about her “personal quirk”: grapheme-color synesthesia, and how its “joint perceptions” may offer an encouraging clue toward developing faithful sensitivities. How do the body God has given us and the world we live in intermingle so that God’s promises and presence “make sense to our senses”?

Lately, life has been a landslide and I’ve felt exhausted by the false-light of information and the apparent darkness. A people without vision perish, says Proverbs, and Jesus in the sermon on the mount appeals to those whose lamps (eyes) have gone dark without their realizing it. This week, I’m writing as a sort of prayer for renewed vision – a vision of God alive and at work in the world giving faith to those who seek the light of his face, a face that remains at peace amidst the storm.

This week is a departure from the normal podcast. I decided to revisit an old, familiar nursery tale and it went in a direction I hadn’t planned.

As an artist and in everyday life, perfectionism can be paralyzing. Afraid I’ll fail to do the best thing, I wind up doing nothing. Of course, I believe in excellence, but there’s no way around the fact that there will always be a “gap” between what we hoped to do and what we were able to do. But, in grace, Jesus invites us to bravely, humbly offer up whatever we can, and he will fill in the gaps.