№ 26: 2023 in Review

Another full year!

Alastair: What a year 2023 has been, packed with events and occasions, with travel and adventures! Indeed, without this Substack, I sometimes wonder how we could keep track of it all. Looking back through our posts from the past year is a reminder of how much we have been blessed and how much we have done.

Following our Substack, I imagine some of you might have a slightly misleading impression of our lives: all the photos of delightful places we have visited might lead a few to wonder whether we are on a continuous holiday! We have certainly done more than our fair share of travelling over the past year: besides our migratory movements between Stoke-on-Trent and New York, we have had a veritable whirlwind of trips to an assortment of places, including Birmingham AL, Charleston, Washington DC, San Francisco, Venice, Durham, Shrewsbury, Fox Hill, Darvell, Mystic, London, Oxford, upstate New York, Greensboro, and Greenville. We have visited several of these places more than once over the year. In addition to these, we have had an array of shorter outings. Most of the travelling is work-related, however, and, even when we have had events that are not work-related, we have had to get used to working while on the move.

We have enjoyed some memorable hospitality, made many new friends, and reconnected with dozens of old ones. We have attended five weddings and two engagement parties over the past year, speaking or having other wedding-party duties at four of them. We have entertained visiting friends on both sides of the Atlantic.

While being on the road so much of the time undoubtedly has its downsides—most notably extended periods of time where we are separated from each other—we have had repeated reminders of how blessed we are to have so many incredible friends and such loving families. One of the disadvantages of so much travel and so many demands upon our time and energies is the constraints it places upon the time we can give to people we care about very deeply. With ties in and pulls to so many locations, we frequently feel the wrenching feeling of having to leave people who are very dear to us for too long of a season.

Although the excitement of our travel, events, and outings is very apparent from our Substack, it is only one aspect of our lives and far from the most dominant part. Most of our lives consist of the quiet, largely solitary, and relatively unglamorous work of research and study, of writing, editing, and recording, of planning and brainstorming, of teaching and supervising, of organizing events, and a host of other such activities. These things have been extremely absorbing and rewarding for us, especially as we collaborate with each other and bounce ideas off each other constantly. Being married to someone with whom you can share a multifaceted and expansive project is a wonderful gift.

Over the past year, I have delivered dozens of talks and dozens of lectures, at conferences and other events. I have taught two courses for Theopolis (Numberology, The Exodus Course) and four for Davenant (An Introduction to Biblical Wisdom, Exodus and the Shape of Biblical Literature, A Biblical Theology of the Sexes, John and Revelation). I have recorded well over one hundred podcasts. I have written a dozen or so articles for various publications (not counting my material in the nineteen Substack posts we have published). I have written hundreds of pages for several book projects. I have read scores of books. I have preached nine (?) times. I have taught a series for adult Sunday school. I have taught or led at almost a month of residential programmes. I have supervised several student projects. I have also participated in colloquia and other similar events. I have had countless meetings with people at which we have exchanged ideas and assisted in each other’s vocations and projects. Much more of my work occurs behind the scenes nowadays.

With so much happening on a host of fronts, it is impossible to be bored, even though I have felt overstretched at points! That said, besides reading during downtime, we have watched several superb TV series (more recently The World at War and Little Dorrit), I have played a number of computer games (often while listening to audiobooks or lectures), walked a lot (not quite the average ten thousand steps a day I would hope for, but close), and worked on a variety of knitting projects, most recently a nautically themed blanket for Susannah. I’ve knit three baby blankets before; this will be the largest blanket that I have made to this point (I had to purchase forty-five balls of wool for it).

The following is a brief monthly overview of some of the highlights of our goings and doings over the past year.

January

We visited Davenant House, where Alastair taught for a fortnight, delivering twenty lectures on wisdom, in addition to other material. After years of involvement with the Davenant Institute, it was Susannah’s first visit.

Alastair attended the Mere Anglicanism conference in Charleston.

February

We started the month with a visit to Susannah’s father and stepmother in upstate New York and were in New York City until the 16^th, when Alastair flew back to the UK.

Susannah gallivanted to Venice for Carnivale.

March

Back in Stoke-on-Trent. We went for a walk with Tim Vasby-Burnie and others in Shropshire.

Susannah had a Bruderhof event in Cambridge. We visited Manchester and experienced the cathedral to consumerism that is the Trafford Centre.

April

In Stoke-on-Trent. Alastair attended the Psalm Roar in Shrewsbury.

May

We went down to London for the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III.

We enjoyed a visit from some American friends. We went to Lyme Park with them for our first wedding anniversary.

We went down to London again.

We returned to Forest Hills, New York.

Alastair became a member of our New York church.

We went down to DC and then to Davenant House for the National Convivium Irenicum.

June

After the Convivium in Davenant House, Alastair stayed on for the Davenant Hall Staff Retreat and to teach the Protestant Wisdom Summer Programme.

Lots of house-moving work.

Susannah went to Mystic for a cousin’s wedding.

We returned to New York and then went to San Francisco for a wedding.

July

We enjoyed the wedding in San Francisco and an extra half-day afterwards.

We completed the move from Forest Hills to the Upper West Side. We watched Hadestown and celebrated Susannah’s birthday.

Susannah attended the Plough Writers’ Weekend in Fox Hill.

Alastair attended the Theopolis Ministry Conference, Psalm Tap, and the Theopolis Fellows Program in Birmingham, Alabama.

We attended a performance of Hamlet in Central Park.

August

We enjoyed a visit from Alastair’s friend Paul Bishop and made the most of the summer weather in New York.

We attended Ryan and Brittany Hurd’s wedding in Greensboro.

We enjoyed a visit from Esther Lightcap Meek.

Alastair returned to the UK and had a family reunion.

Alastair went for a walk with Tim Vasby-Burnie.

Susannah had a family get-together in upstate New York and walked the length of Manhattan.

September

Alastair preached at a wedding in London.

Alastair returned to the US.

Alastair spoke at a conference in DC on a Protestant Theology of the Body and we both attended and spoke at a Davenant tenth anniversary event.

Had a visit from our friend Paul Shakeshaft and visited the 9/11 Memorial.

Alastair gave his Theopolis intensive course on the Exodus in Birmingham.

Susannah gave a talk on St Monica for the Dead Ladies Show.

October

We attended the launch of a new book from Plough.

We attended the wedding of some friends in New York.

Alastair returned to the UK and caught up with his parents and family.

Susannah stayed on and enjoyed lots of time with our newest niece, first in Los Angeles and then back in New York.

November

Susannah arrived back in the UK.

We visited Manchester on the way up to Durham.

We spent a glorious week in Durham, experiencing the Lumiere Festival, meeting up with a lot of friends, and celebrating Thanksgiving.

Alastair spoke in York and we spent a day in the city.

We visited St James Clerkenwell and went on the March Against Antisemitism in London.

December

Susannah visited Darvell for a Bruderhof Christmas celebration.

We spent a day and a half in Oxford.

We visited Little Moreton Hall.

We went to Lichfield Cathedral for a carol service on Christmas Eve.

We spent Christmas with Alastair’s family in Stoke.

Alastair went to Conwy with his brother and some others.

And we have been greatly enjoying our continuing Christmas season.

Thank you all for your friendship, your prayers, and your interest in our work. We look forward to 2024.

Happy New Year!

Bible Reading for 2024

Alastair: I am sure that some of you have Bible reading plans for 2024. My largest project over the last few years has been a chapter-by-chapter commentary on the whole Bible, initially in audio format and, Lord-willing, to be published in book form by Lexham Press.

The project was originally designed to work with the daily lectionary for the 2019 ACNA edition of the Book of Common Prayer (the commentary for the morning lectionary is available here and those for the evening here). I have subsequently published separate audio files for each chapter, accessible in an easily searchable format or as a single playlist. I also have videos with complete commentary on biblical books on YouTube, bookmarked by chapter. Someone also produced artificially generated transcripts for each recording, which are searchable here. Joshua, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Psalms, and Ezekiel still have a few chapters left to be completed, but everything else is done.

If you are intending to start a new Bible reading plan tomorrow, my commentary may be a helpful companion in your studies.

Much love,

Susannah and Alastair