Fr. Jon R. Jordan

Slowly but surely, my Run Thy Neighborhood project continues. Today’s run completed the outer frame of a neighborhood and a half, and a few missing street portions. Still a long way to go: I have completed 29/1240 Richardson streets so far.

One step at a time.

→ 7:04 AM, Oct 2

Three years ago today I was ordained a Priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas.

→ 10:40 AM, Sep 28

The USAMNT proceeded to cough the ball up 54 times inside their own half in the first half alone. Think about that for a minute and it becomes almost impressive: they gave the ball away 1.2 times per minute. Unfathomable.

Ouch. But it’s just a friendly, right? RIGHT???

→ 10:59 AM, Sep 24

My Run Thy Neighborhood goal hit a first milestone today: Heights Park (my actual neighborhood) is complete. On to Arapaho Heights next!

→ 9:43 PM, Sep 21

A change I made to my work email last week has proven quite fruitful:

Emails that I am copied on now skip the inbox and go directly to a CC folder. I check that folder once or twice a day. With this one change, my work inbox has has gone from hundreds to dozens of daily emails.

→ 8:28 PM, Sep 14

Tottenham’s “win or tie even when it’s ugly” approach has finally caught up to them. I would not want to be sitting near Antonio Conte on the flight back to England…

I still think they wind up on top of their Champion’s League group, but this is a much needed wake up call.

→ 9:28 PM, Sep 13

One of the benefits of following the Church calendar is the nearly constant reminders that it brings. Holy Cross Day (September 14) is a great example of this: squarely on the other side of the calendar from Good Friday, we are reminded again of the centrality of the Cross.

→ 3:42 PM, Sep 13

O earth, how like to heav’n, if not preferred

The opening line of Satan’s soliloquy in Book IX of Paradise Lost.

→ 3:43 PM, Sep 12

Grass: the great American contribution to world soccer this fall.

The seed, developed by a Georgia-based company, has been selected by FIFA, which has instructed Qatar 2022 organisers to use it for playing surfaces at all stadiums and training grounds.

→ 6:47 AM, Sep 12

Introducing Rhythms of Habit - a newsletter about approaching the church calendar as an apprenticeship in holiness
I am thrilled to introduce Rhythms of Habit, a newsletter about approaching the Church Calendar as an apprenticeship in Holiness.

In addition to (hopefully) being a helpful and informative newsletter, this project is also a means of finalizing the draft of my next book, called Rhythms of Habit: The Church Calendar as an Apprenticeship in Holiness.

If you are already sold, head on over to Substack to join as a free or paid subscriber. If you need to hear more, read on!

A little more about the Rhythms of Habit project:

As we live out the Christian Year together, three types of posts will be published:
- Introductory: these posts explain how following the calendar is good for your growth as a Christian. The first three of these are free to everyone, and help give a foundation for why you might want to start following the Church Calendar.
- About the Church Calendar: these posts share the history of the church calendar, some things that are helpful to know, and help answer common questions. Why do we celebrate saints? What is Epiphany really about? How did these seasons develop? What is a Triduum?
- Holy Day / Holy Season Reflections: these posts are the real core of the newsletter. As we encounter Holy Days and Holy Seasons throughout the year, you will be given habits to consider adopting that are rooted in who or what is being celebrated by that day or season.
If you are new here or new to the Church Calendar, you may want to explore the free introductory posts. Think of these as the introductory foundation of the newsletter.
More of these Introductory posts, along with many About the Church Calendar posts will be sent throughout the year to subscribers.

But here is the real core of the newsletter: Holy Day and Holy Season reflections.

As we progress through the Church Calendar year after year, reflections on major and minor Holy Days will be shared. Yes, you will learn more about the calendar itself. But more importantly you will be given daily or seasonal practices and habits to adopt, in hopes that these habits will help you grow in Christ. You can find a free preview of these sort of reflections here: Feast of St. Joseph.

Why Subscribe?

Free subscribers have access to some of these posts throughout the Church Year. If you like what you are reading, consider becoming a paid subscriber to make sure you receive all new reflections as they are published, and gain access to reading all old reflections, too.

The first Holy Day reflection will be on September 14th, when we celebrate Holy Cross Day. Subscribe by then to make sure you don’t miss a post!
→ 9:11 AM, Sep 10

Rest in peace, and rise in glory, Elizabeth II.

The late Queen Elizabeth II played the hand she was dealt about as well as it could possibly have been played, and this required her to exercise virtues that few of our public figures today even know exist: dutifulness; reliability; silence; dignity; fidelity; devotion to God, family, and nation. We shall not look upon her like again; her death marks the end of a certain world. Its excellences, as well as its shortcomings, are worthy of our remembrance. (Alan Jacobs)

→ 8:54 PM, Sep 8

This is the moment George W. Bush heard that a second plane had crashed into the WTC.

→ 7:49 PM, Aug 27

FWIW: amateur comes from the Latin (via French) amatorem: lover.

An amateur does a thing primarily for the love of that thing.

→ 7:13 PM, Aug 27

More than a few friends have slowly become fans of The Beautiful Game by way of two things:

(1) My own peer pressure / love for the game

(2) My introduction of @ayjay’s review of The Language of the Game

→ 3:30 PM, Aug 26

Or put another way: what we need most in moments of conflict are the humanities, and what we are offered instead is a dangerous parody.

My latest essay for The Living Church.

→ 3:10 PM, Aug 26

Two Football Notes
1. With more Americans playing in top flight European leagues than ever, and performing especially well in the Premier League, it is hard to not let USMNT World Cup anticipation and expectations grow every weekend. Sure, it could all be a set up for an extremely disappointing winter. But it could also be the preface to a thrilling run deep into the knockout rounds.
2. The Premier League is off to a fascinating start. (Come on you Spurs!) Yes, we won’t be through August until this weekend’s matches, but it is an interesting opening month to say the least. Leeds, Liverpool, Man U, and Man City all with welcomed surprises. Things are just getting started. Remembering back to last season: Tottenham at the top and Arsenal at the bottom at the end of August. They finished the season 4 and 5, respectively.
→ 3:06 PM, Aug 26

Rich Mullins was the greatest of the 90s era evangelical musicians. (If you know the era, you know the era…)

I often find myself thinking through lines still engrained in my head from songs like this one.

→ 3:43 PM, Jul 23

After the year-long run streak finished in March, I fell off the bandwagon for a couple of months. Picking it back up by trying to run every street in my neighborhood (Heights Park) and then city (Richardson). Progress map after a few runs this week.

→ 3:53 PM, Jul 14

There are 82 years between these two: my daughter (2) and my grandmother (89), both hiking Red Rocks on our annual two week vacation.

→ 10:58 PM, Jul 8

My article on social media and virtue that recommends M.b as a viable alternative to Big Social was published today by The Living Church.

Social Media that doesnt shrink your soul?

→ 9:39 AM, Jun 2

Our ancestors sharing what they saw when they checked in on our “progress”:

They have dwellings, but they often pay people to destroy them because they are outdated. And then they pay those same people to put them back together in a style that will soon be outdated.

→ 8:05 AM, May 26

There are a few pivotal moments recorded in the Gospels that give us a glimpse into Jesus’ life after the resurrection.

But this Sunday’s Gospel is different: it is an Easter-themed flashback to before the Passion that helps us make sense of both the full and the empty tomb.

→ 7:49 AM, May 21

Began reading these two books today; one for professional and the other for personal reasons. I suspect both will have an impact in both realms.

→ 1:25 PM, May 13

Glory, glory, Tottenham Hotspur!

→ 7:48 AM, May 13

On End of Year Academic Awards Ceremonies

An excerpt from my opening remarks at our Rhetoric School Awards Ceremony.

The most important things in life cannot be captured on a certificate.

When my wife gave birth to our children, she was not handed a certificate. (Oddly enough, each of them were!) When a man dies at the age of 93 having lived a life of faithfulness to his wife and family, he does not win an award. The reward of these two examples of faithfulness is not any sort of certificate or recognition, but rather the thing itself. Sacrificial service to another person is the reward. Faithfulness is the reward. Those of us who have experienced glimpses of these things know this to be true.

But many of you have not experienced these things. I know you don’t like to hear this, but it is true: you simply have not lived long enough to experience all of what life has to offer, at least not in its fullest sense. But you will. And what do you now affects the way you will approach the rest of your life.

Which leads me to my second point:

It is worth recognizing—on paper and in front of your peers—those things you have done this school year that are pointers towards the really important things in life.

Grades, in the end, do not matter. But Faithfulness matters a great deal; it can make or break entire families, communities, and nations. And being diligent to give your best effort on homework, even when no one is looking, is a pointer towards the sort of faithfulness you are called to walk in throughout your life. A practice of regular faithfulness now on things that carry little weight is precisely what prepares you for faithfulness when it matters most.

→ 9:56 PM, May 11