Encanto and the Miracle of Empathy

One of the reasons I love fantasy as a genre is because of the inclusion of magic. In fantasy stories—the good ones anyway—magic can reveal the spiritual realities that we all sense in life but can’t see, and have no material frame to express.

Battle Hymn of the Body

[Editor’s note: As we enter into the celebration of Christmas, we’d like to share with you a profound piece from Shigé Clark that has grown more deeply pertinent since it was first published in 2019. In it, she explores the history of “Battle Hymn of the Republic” in tension with the ways in which the gospel testifies that peace will come to earth.]

Rabbit Room Membership: Our Hopes for 2022 & Beyond

This week, we’re sending membership gifts out to our new members. I used to be the one to pack those, and took a particular delight and care in it. I got to envision the joy on each face as they unpacked their mug, read their letter, and pondered the mystery of their member card. More than that, though, I reveled in knowing that each parcel going out represented someone who loved the Rabbit Room the way I love it.

Membership & The Rabbit Room

As we head toward Hutchmoot: Homebound and the rundown/roundup/hoedown/low-downs are sent out, you may notice some messages to our Rabbit Room members. For folks seeing those messages and wondering what this whole membership thing is about, I’d like to take a moment to tell you what it means to us. After all, there are gym memberships and club memberships—the term can come with a whole host of assumptions or misunderstandings, and it’s often associated with some sort of exclusive access you can buy your way into. But at the Rabbit Room, we approach things with a different spirit. We chose the term “membership” intentionally back in 2013, and I want to take a moment to expound on what it means to be a Rabbit Room member.

We Made You This Map

When I discovered the Rabbit Room, I was blown away that a group like this had existed in the world all this time without my knowledge.

Honestly, that hasn’t changed.

Unfulfilled Delight

I started a most fantastic book last week, but I’ll get there in a minute.

Eight years ago, I stood over a sliver of kitchen counter in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, pale and tight-eyed with lack of sleep in the blue light of a computer screen. I was still in my uniform, feet aching in subpar combat boots because I walked everywhere and didn’t know the good brands yet. Outside it was icy and dark, and I had to be up at 0530 to ride my bike to PT in the snow, but I was making breakfast. Because it was morning in Alabama, and I was straining to maintain a connection with my younger brothers from literally half a world away.

The Lost Art of Listening, Part 6: A Scarcity of Mind

[Editor’s note: click here to read Part 5: The Case for Nostalgia by Leslie E. Thompson.]

When I was twelve years old, my parents bought me the 10^th Anniversary Concert recording of Les Misérables on VHS. I’d begun to demonstrate a zeal for musicals, starting with the Phantom of the Opera soundtrack, which I listened to on repeat until I could sing you the entire thing through—with all its varying parts—from start to finish. The only other musical recording we had was a VHS of CATS (which I also watched repeatedly and will unabashedly defend), and my parents figured that they ought to guide my budding passion toward a higher quality of musical theatre. Hence, my introduction to Les Misérables.

Today is Giving Tuesday: In Support of Touring Musicians

Last week, we learned that the official Giving Tuesday website scheduled May 5th to be a new, global Giving Tuesday “as a response to the unprecedented need caused by COVID-19.” So today, each of us has a unique opportunity to give or get involved in whatever way we can.

Giving Tuesday: In Support of Touring Musicians

Giving Tuesday cometh.

No, we haven’t been transported seven months into the future. (Though, with everything that’s happened, would that really come as such a shock at this point?)

A Letter and a Poem

As Valentine’s Day came closing in, Jonathan Rogers sent out the following letter on The Habit Weekly.

Neglect in Reverse: A Review of Far Side of the Sea

Eric Peters has a talent for calling to lost and discarded things—as anyone who loves his music can attest. Turns out that gift extends beyond his skill as a songwriter. His photo collection in the recent re-publication of Far Side of the Sea: A Photographic Memory reflects twenty-five years’ worth of wandering and watching for fragments of civilization that the rest of the world has forgotten. Here, he gathers them like cast-off scraps and builds them into something new.

Hutchmoot 2019: Invitation to Volunteer

The time has come! The tenth anniversary of the great moot approaches. Speakers are readying their notes, decorations are being prepared, recipes are being set, and travel plans are being laid. Next month, folks from all across and outside the country gather together around a common vision: to celebrate the gospel through the lenses of music, art, and story, and to take that experience back to inspire their own communities.