A Request for Help

And Lots of Gratitude

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash

I want to start by saying thank you.

Over 350 of you subscribe to A Lover’s Quarrel, and while that pales in comparison to the audiences of some writers, it’s wildly flattering to me to know that there are a few hundred people out there who care enough about what I write to get it in their inboxes every week. And nearly 10% of you who subscribe to this Substack are paid subscribers—some monthly, some yearly, and some using the “Founding” category to offer the highest level of support, $150 a year, or more if the person chooses. I’m incredibly grateful—incredibly grateful—to those who have supported this work and continue to do so. The most recent paid subscriber signed up just yesterday—a dear colleague—and I’m so thankful that she and so many others of you are showing up for me in this way.

I’m convinced that most writing is done for one’s self. At least, that’s true for me. I tend to write about the things that are occupying my mind or ramping up my anxieties, and I trust that the results will be interesting to at least a few others. For this Substack, that has mostly meant reflections on lectionary texts, and especially the way lectionary texts help me think about our own place and time and my fraught place in the world. On Monday, for example, I posted some reflections on Ephesians 2 and the tensions about belonging found in that text. But for me, Ephesians was also a way to work through my own unease about belonging in my own place and time—what it means to be an American, of a particular race and gender, in an election year, in a time of rising political violence and sharpening and competing nationalist rhetorics. It’s therapeutic for me to sit down and think through things every week (and sometimes more often than that), and I hope my thoughts can be useful for you, too.

In this post, I would like to ask you for help. As some of you know, my full-time job is as a professor at a theological school. That work is incredibly rewarding and meaningful to me, and I hope to keep doing it the rest of my professional life. And alongside that academic work, I have served as a minister in a congregation, part-time, which has been a wonderful complement to academia. But as many of you know, congregations are struggling these days, and recently my church cut my hours and my pay by a third. This wasn’t a surprise; the budget had been getting tighter for a long time. But it is quite a blow, coming at a time of rising prices and some substantial medical bills. Things are tough financially, and they are probably going to get tougher.

I started this Substack as an outlet for my writing, but also as a way to anticipate the moment that is now here, when I might need an alternative way of making money. And so I’m asking for your support. For those who already have paid subscriptions, I want to reiterate my thanks. For those who are on a free subscription, I respectfully ask you to consider becoming a paid subscriber. I know that’s not possible for everyone (it wouldn’t be possible for me right now), but if it’s something in your power, and you feel inclined, I could use your support. You can click this button to add or change a subscription.

One of my commitments for A Lover’s Quarrel is to keep all content available to both free and paid subscribers alike. Nothing will be behind a paywall; you’ll be able to access everything, no matter what. But there are some benefits to being a paid subscriber. Aside from my deep gratitude, you’ll also receive the ability to give me a writing assignment once per year—to pose a question or a prompt and have me respond with a post on this Substack. Only a couple of paid subscribers have taken advantage of that so far, but it has been fun to write the responses! And you’ll also get a custom consultation, by email or Zoom, about a sermon or lesson or question that’s giving you trouble. I’ll help you think through it, be a sounding board, and do my best to help draw out the wisdom you already have.

I’ll close by reiterating how thankful I am for all of you who subscribe, free or paid, and all those who read without subscribing. If you have the will and the means to support this Substack financially, I would appreciate that. And if you don’t, that’s perfectly ok too—I’m glad you’re here. I’m already thinking about Monday’s post, imagining what I might write and what might be helpful for all of you to read. I’ll see you all right here on Monday!