Asking for Wonder

Writings & Works by John Jones

A Liturgy for Those Whose Plans Did Not Go How They Thought It Would

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On July 31, 2022

In POETRY, WRITINGS

The following is a liturgy I crafted by combining and adapting elements from Douglas McKelvey’s Liturgy for the Death of a Dream and Liturgy for Those Who Have Not Done Great Things for God from the book Every Moment Holy.

I had the opportunity to give a sermon during a Spring Break trip for Campus Christian Fellowship at Truman on my experience with graduate school applications and rejections, and I closed the sermon out with this liturgy. I thought it may be useful to others that have experienced similar feelings as I have.

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Heaven and Earth: A Tower and a Rescue

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On February 15, 2022

In WRITINGS

 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech…

They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” … Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

genesis 11:1-9 (abridged)

I always loved the story of the Towel of Babel growing up, but I could probably chalk that up to my love for different languages and learning them, and I liked the idea of God making the different languages in the world and all that would entail. It wasn’t until recently that I took another look at the story I had heard growing up and was able to reexamine it and change how I viewed everything. The lullaby effect had long since settled in, but getting the chance to see the story in a new way was enlightening. And it’s something I think other people should consider too. So let’s dive in.

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Heaven and Earth: The Great Divide

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On January 21, 2022

In WRITINGS

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.

genesis 2:15-17

The passage above, in conjunction with Genesis 3 (Typically referred to as “The Fall”), set up what becomes the event that would cause Heaven and Earth to be separated — to borrow how the Bible Project phrases it, the event that would change Heaven on Earth to Heaven and Earth. It’s a really interesting event that is worth diving into. There are all sorts of strange things that happen over the course of Genesis 2 and 3. Talking snakes, cherubim, and a garden filled with the complete presence of God. And these are all things that I think we need to explore.

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Map Wall at Missouri State University

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On January 5, 2022

In ACADEMIA

Over the summer of 2021, I worked as the Special Collections and Archives Intern at the Duane G. Meyer Library, at Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri. As a part of that internship, I designed two standing exhibits. The gallery below is of the second exhibit, featuring maps of Springfield, Missouri, and the surrounding areas. The maps featured stretch from the Civil War to the mid-1900s, and feature different foci, such as topological features, population centers, and jurisdiction borders. The exhibit was composed of a wall with nine map facsimiles. Each of these facsimiles were printed, dry-mounted, and presented just for this exhibit.

  • An overview of the map wall
  • An overview of the map wall
  • An overview of the map wall
  • An overview of the map wall
  • The exhibit description
  • A map of Springfield, MO and the surrounding area, 1863
  • Plan of Springfield, MO, 1861
  • Map of the Missouri State Fruit Experiment Station, Mountain Grove, MO
  • Topographical Map of Table Rock Reservoir, 1944
  • Map of the Battlefield of Wilson’s Creek, 1863
  • Map of African American population centers in Springfield, MO
  • Exhibit text for map of African American population centers in Springfield, MO
  • Topographical Map of the Routes from Little Piney Ford on Gasconade River to Rolla, MO, 1861
  • Jurisdiction map of Laborer’s heavy and highway work in Missouri
  • Map of St. Louis — San Francisco Railway Lines, 1900

“Evolution of Printing” Gallery

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On November 23, 2021

In ACADEMIA

Over the summer of 2021, I worked as the Special Collections and Archives Intern at the Duane G. Meyer Library, at Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri. As a part of that internship, I designed two standing exhibits. The gallery below is of the first exhibit, “The Evolution of Printing,” which traced the development of printing from the earliest manuscripts to the mass produced paperback. The exhibit featured two cases with 15 high-definition facsimiles featured (since the exhibit was hosted outside of the Special Collections room, no originals were able to be used). Each of these facsimiles were printed, dry-mounted, and presented just for this exhibit. Additionally, four pieces were made into posters: two manuscripts over the first case to illustrate the beginnings of the printed word, and two printed works over the second case to illustrate the progression of printing available after the invention of the printing press.

Adding “Academia” Page to the Site

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On November 9, 2021

In ACADEMIA, WRITINGS

Hey everyone. I’ve decided to add a section onto the website where I can post my research, papers, and other projects that I have done for different classes or other reasons. I think that this website is great for publishing my more personal ideas and my connection with my faith, but academia and research are also a huge part of my life that I want to showcase too. I plan on uploading some of the different research papers I have written that I am particularly proud of, but I also hope to do some work that can be shifted out of class papers and onto this website too! I hope that by participating in this engaged scholarship and discussing the historical research of the topics that I am interested in that I can interest others in the fields that I love. As such, many of my previous papers that I will publish come from a wide array of classes and topics, but hopefully future research can hone in my interest in interreligious interaction and persecution in Late Antiquity (generally marked as 200-900 CE). I look forward to sharing this side of my life with you all!

Heaven and Earth: A Temple in the Garden

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On November 2, 2021

In WRITINGS

And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food…

Genesis 2:8-9

At the beginning of Genesis 2, we’re told that the Lord plants a garden. It’s an interesting thing to do as a first action following the creation of the world. In fact, it’s really something that deserves to be thought about.

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Heaven and Earth: The Heaven as the Skies

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On September 24, 2021

In WRITINGS

So I’ve been thinking for a little bit about what to write on this website — it’s been a little too long since I wrote anything, and I’ve wanted to write something that is a little different from my Christian Creatives series. A while back I led a small group on Heaven and Earth, and so I’m planning on publishing a typed-out small group series over the topic, expanding where needed and talking about something that I feel is skipped over or taken in stride in the Church. I want to begin conversations about the big things in life. Smaller matters like good music to listen to can be important, too, but I like talking about these deep things a bit more.

SO — The Heavens and the Earth. Let’s get started.

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CCF Podcast: The Intersection of History and Faith

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On February 4, 2021

In WRITINGS

I recently had the privilege of speaking on the podcast that my church, Campus Christian Fellowship, does here in Kirksville. Since it is the time of COVID-19, our sermons every week are delivered to house churches via podcast, and our Wednesday services have been replaced with special podcast speakers. So, for your listening enjoyment, I’ve included the podcast below as well as my manuscript.

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Return to Writing

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On January 12, 2021

In WRITINGS

I have returned! To the ten-ish people that passively follow this blog and read everything — first off, thanks for reading; you’re the best — I’m hoping to get back into the habit of writing more frequently. I won’t try to post as frequently as I once did; to be completely frank, the rate of posting an original and substantial work of some kind (song, lyric, or another medium) twice per week while also being a full-time college student like I did when I first started up this website is simply out of my grasp. The pressure to create something original over and over while also trying to keep up in school meant that I often found myself rushes to complete a piece of writing just to have it done, and not because I actually wanted to complete it.

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