bonjour/hi

The prophet Jeremiah is, anachronistically, a patron saint for the ADHD disciple. I know the weariness of “holding it in,” the exhaustion at keeping my thoughts inside. Astute scholars will note that contextually he is speaking of proclaiming God’s Word, and I, on the other hand, do not always, even usually, proclaim God’s Word.

I do understand that feeling, though, that something has to be said.

Like many Bible verses that find themselves naked and contextlessly cross-stitched onto Christian wall décor, Jeremiah 20:9 ought not to be pure positive affirmation. Only two verses prior, Jeremiah admits the social cost of his bluntness. “I have become a laughing-stock all day long; everyone mocks me.”

As a museum lover who works in the church, this anti-museum cliché irks me.

Because it fundamentally misunderstands museums.

And churches ought to have a curious empathy for misunderstood cultural institutions resisting decline. It’s in our own best interest.

Get vaccinated. Wear seatbelts and helmets and life jackets. Eat vegetables. Don’t smoke. That all simultaneously matters and guarantees nothing.

Yet I felt the midlife crisis welling up inside me on my birthday. According to my life insurance company, I am not quite half-way done. I would be past that for the average Canadian man, but a combination of physical activity and being, as many have called me, “boring,” slightly stack my odds to live longer.