Episode Details

• A huge thanks to Joseph McDade for his generous permission to use his music: https://josephmcdade.com/
• Thanks to Palmtoptiger17 for the beautiful logo: https://www.instagram.com/palmtoptiger17/
• Discord Discussion Board: https://disboard.org/server/474580298630430751 
• The Historic Faith Courses: https://thehistoricfaith.com/
• My Sonnet Compilation: https://www.amazon.com/My-First-Sonnets-J-G-Elliot-ebook/dp/B01LXXIIQN/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=my+first+sonnets&qid=1585870352&sr=8-2

• Richard Rohr's "Sermon on the Mount": https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003A0IASQ/ref=cm_sw_r_em_api_uOXEFbGCN7ASQ
• Dallas Willard's "The Divine Conspiracy": https://www.amazon.com/Divine-Conspiracy-Rediscovering-Hidden-Life/dp/0007596545/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=dallas+willard+divine+conspiracy&qid=1601907374&sr=8-1

Amber

Desert browns, palette formed where there's no rain

A sign of lifelessness and compromise

Same for those amidst amber waves - the grain

Where life and living are dichotomized

But God made us, when we're rubbed up against

To polarize ourselves in shocking ways

Not to build and electrify a fence

But attract opposites with our displays

So build your city high upon a hill

A Kingdom outpost, not a nation-state

For true citizenship can't be distilled

As salt's no longer salt without its taste

Flavor and brightness should draw others in

But only works if we're God's citizens

[Mt. 5:13-16 and Mt. 6:24]. Amber is a brownish stone which has long been recognized for its ability to become charged and exhibit the properties of static electricity. I use both of these properties throughout the poem. 

The endless brown of the desert depicts a wasteland of life. Without vegetation there is no visible life, but only that which cowers away hiding from the elements for the majority of the day, awaiting the cool darkness of night. That which does live in the desert must compromise with its environment. Whereas a deer living in a temperate climate, like in Florida, can gather food all year long and come out and enjoy its surroundings, night or day – those in the desert are wholly shaped by their environment. While the various adaptations may look different, each animal is specifically adapted for their extreme environment. They are formed by the desert. 

I change environments here from the desert to the United States. The first line here is supposed to allude to the “amber waves of grain” line in the song “God Bless America.” I’m talking about those who live in the land of these amber waves of grain (the USA). Whereas the song references this as a beautiful thing, the idea of amber in this poem should connect back to the brown referenced earlier, which depicts lifelessness, barren desert, and compromise. I also change the words from “of grain” to “the grain” because I also want to ensure that the ones I’m speaking of here are those who not only live in the USA, but rather those who live there and live with or go with the grain. I am not therefore necessarily speaking badly of the USA or everyone who lives in it, but rather those who, like the desert animals, are shaped by the vacuous culture around them. I simply use the States because that’s my frame of reference. While conformers to culture may technically be alive, and while their ada