Brett McCracken's Blog, page 4

Advent, Time, and God-Centered Rhythms in a Me-Centered Age

When every moment of our iWorld existence conditions us to celebrate the self, the church boldly celebrates something bigger and grander and more compelling. In an age of nauseating narcissism where everyone clamors for stardom and Instagram likes, the church humbles us and weekly reminds us: this is not about you. This is about God. You are welcome here, you are wanted, your presence in the body is important. You are part of the story. But God is the star, not you. What a freeing and wonderful ...

Wisdom Lost in Information

How were the election polls and experts so wrong for the second election in a row? The analysts and pundits predicting a “blue wave” or “Democratic tsunami” were wildly wrong. Even conservative commentators like David Brooks predicted a big Biden victory (“This election won’t be close”), though after the election he admirably owned his error (“Pretty massive failure”). How were professional political pundits so off? Why did no one foresee the scenario that appears to be unfolding, where Biden ek...

‘The Wisdom Pyramid’ Endorsements

I don’t think I’ve been as excited to release a book as I am to release The Wisdom Pyramid this coming February. I believe it will be timely and immediately helpful to people on a practical level. We’re all feeling ourselves become sick (spiritually, mentally, maybe even physically) in this ever-more-toxic digital age. We know something needs to change. We feel wisdom slipping away—not only in the broader society and in the “other side” of cultural dividing lines, but in ourselves. We need to re...

Book Announcement: The Wisdom Pyramid

I’m excited to announce that my fourth book will be coming out in February from Crossway: The Wisdom Pyramid: Feeding Your Soul in a Post-Truth World.

Birthed out of a 2017 conference presentation in which I first presented the Wisdom Pyramid visual aid, the book offers guidance for how to daily navigate the glut of information available to us—an ordering framework for navigating the noise and the mess of our cultural moment.

Even though I finished writing the book before 2020, this year has unde...

Easter Sunday, 2020

Resurrection is written into the script of creation. 

Every morning, we see it with the dawning sun. Every spring, we see it with the budding trees. Vibrant green after barren brown. Day after night. New life after death.

Death and destruction are almost always prerequisites for renewal. Forest fires seed the soil for a renewed ecosystem. Demo clears a way for new construction. Plants and animals perish so humans can live. Jesus Christ died so we can live eternally with him (1 Thess. 5:10).

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Holy Saturday, 2020

Ours is the long days journey of the Saturday, George Steiner wrote in Real Presences. Between suffering, aloneness, unutterable waste on the one hand and the dream of liberation, of rebirth on the other.

Saturday is where we live. Its the space between death and resurrection, destruction and reconstruction, fear and love, grief and joy, the already and the not yet. 

Saturday is the waiting room. 

COVID-19 has put all of us in an especially traumatic waiting room. Perhaps the hardest part of the...

Good Friday, 2020

In retrospect, the horror of watching the spire of Notre-Dame de Paris collapse into billowing flames was just a foretaste of horrors to come.

Live news coverage of the fire at Notre-Damewhich happened a year ago this monthfelt like something out of an apocalyptic movie. It was the bracing experience of watching centuries of human achievement, beauty, and resilience come crashing down into a pile of ashen rubble.

But that experience is now the new normal. I feel it almost dailythe surreal,...

Recent Writings / Winter 2020

A collection of some of my publications (movie reviews, essays, book excerpts, etc.) from September 2019 to March 2020.

The New Indie Film That Might Make You Worship (September 7, 2019, THE GOSPEL COALITION)

A review of the film Peanut Butter Falcon

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The Best New Worship Songs of the 2010s (September 21, 2019, THE GOSPEL COALITION)

My picks for the best newly written worship songs in the 2010s

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As in Eden, So in Ad Astra (September 27, 2019, THE GOSPEL COALITION)

A review of the film Ad Astra...

Favorites of 2019

I maintain a Google document each year that keeps track of the best music, movies, and books I've enjoyed that year. As we close the book on 2019—let alone the 2010s decade!—and as I prepare to create a blank 2020 Google document in a few days, here's a look at what I appreciated most this year.

15 FAVORITE FILMS

A Hidden Life (my review)

The Irishman (my review)

Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood (my review)

For Sama

1917

Parasite

63 Up

Knives Out

Waves

Peanut Butter Falcon (my review)

Little Women

The...

Best Days of the Decade: 10 from the 2010s

According to the Greeks, time is not just time. Some time is chronos time: the hours and minutes and seconds of constant progression. Other time is kairos time: the moments that seem to step out of lockstep march and take on a more transcendent shape. Chronos is about quantity. Kairos is about quality. Chronos is objective duration. Kairos is subjective significance. Chronos time happens the same for everyone. But everyone has different experiences of kairos time.

I’ve reflected on time a lot...