Greetings from the Porch,

This Thanksgiving week, I've had occasion to reflect on the many ways that the FPR community has been a blessing and encouragement over the years. We're in the midst of some changes right now, and we'll share more about those in the coming weeks, but for now I just want to express gratitude for all the Porchers who make FPR the joy that it is.

• In this week's Water Dipper, I recommend essays about consciousness, typewriters, and beef.

• Brandon McNeice praises the doorways, thresholds, and limits that make a place a place: "Practices that began as bounded places we visited have thinned into atmospheres we inhabit."

• T.M. Moore invites readers to enjoy the delights of poetry: "For most readers, like the disappointed folk of Mudville, there is no joy in poetry. With them, poetry is a consistent strikeout. Passing on verse is no more consequential than diners who refuse to take a serving of eggplant Parmesan from the buffet (and who can blame them?)."

• Sarah Reardon reviews Rachel Hicks's new book of poetry: "Hicks's voice is that of a mature seeker, a seeker of hidden beauties and of home in a variety of places."

• Mark Sheffler reflects on the significance of architecture as a way of conveying tradition, particularly for a college campus: "The endurance of the building itself reinforces implicit messages that foster good character."

• Philip Bunn reviews Phil Christman's new book Why Christians Should be Leftists and finds it provocative but mostly unsatisfying: "Ultimately, despite a title which promises something of an argument for why Christians should be leftist, the book offers little to persuade even moderately skeptical readers. Its primary use seems to be in assuring readers already comfortable with 'leftism' as a label that faithful Christianity is leftist by necessity."

• In a new episode of the Brass Spittoon, John Murdock talks with Russell Moore about his love of Port William and the AI infused world to come.

• Michial Farmer listens to songs about change, both good and bad, this week.

Kelly Kapic's newish book, You're Only Human is a thoughtful celebration of human finitude and limits. While we tend to experience our limits as sources of frustration, Kapic--in ways that will be appreciated by Porchers--explores the ways in which limits are a gift:

We are, by God’s good design, finite. For the purposes of this book, when I say “finite,” I will normally be focusing on good, created human limits: all creatures are limited by space, time, and power, and our knowledge, energy, and perspective also have always been limited. In other words, please do not necessarily read “death” into the word “finitude” as used here, since that raises a whole set of different questions. . . . This book focuses on the limits that are part of God’s original act of making us, which he called “good.”

Often when we rush to meet all the expectations that surround us and look at our bottomless to-do lists, we desire to become infinite in capacity. We think, “If only I had more time, energy, and ability, then I could get everything done, which would make me and everyone else happy.” But meeting endless expectations would require that we possess God’s infinite attributes and prerogatives as our own. Sometimes lurking under our desires to expand our abilities is the unspoken temptation: “If only I were the infinite Creator, not a finite creature…”

Thanks for spending some time with us on the Porch,

Jeff Bilbro