iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

Forgot about this app once Threads picked up steam. Anybody still hanging out here?

Reposted by Justin Lonas

The Englewood Review of Books @erbks.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

NEW REVIEW on the site today: @jryanlonas.bsky.social is reviewing the new book from Brian Miller, called Sanctifying Suburbia: How the Suburbs Became the Promised Land for American Evangelicals. Read the review here: buff.ly/ABar6BH

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

The Blues Brothers is a Wes Anderson movie: — childhood wounds — ironic, offbeat script and delivery — long segments of pop music — odd set pieces — uncanny movements — use of closeups — tender moral core underneath comic violence and destruction. I will not be taking questions at this time.

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

...thus a whole country can be organized toward some collective insanity because there is no space in individuals to *think*." —Christian Wiman, My Bright Abyss

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

"How much cruelty is occasioned simply because of the *noise* that is within us: the din is too great to realize exactly what we are doing to others, or what is being done to others in our name...

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

Sometimes, loving your enemy starts with recognizing that they were never your friend.

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

...the essential "otherness" of Christians in the world, and the non-negotiable aspect that justice and mercy play in the Christian life was formative for me and so many others. www.walterbrueggemann.com/2025/06/05/i...

walterbrueggemann.com

Walter Brueggemann: In Memory

Walter Brueggemann passed away peacefully on June 5, 2025, at the age of 92. He is survived by his wife, Tia, his sons, James and John, and their families. To read his online biography, click here.…

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

In an era when all the news most people read is the headlines, headline writers have a great responsibility. And the legacy media here in the U.S. is blowing it badly, often (looking at you @nytimes.com, @cnn.com, @usatoday.com, etc.)

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

Can't shake the feeling that what is going on in the U.S. these days is a dirty amalgam of what it would look like if the Confederacy won the Civil War and the Soviets won the cold war...which begs the question of whether "winning" a war (real or cultural) can ever lead to flourishing long term.

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

How they think Tolkien was somehow trying to write a parable about the dangers of empathy, diversity, environmentalism, patience, and diplomacy. How they think the point is cruel fighting and authoritarianism, and cast themselves as its heroes. They probably never read a word of it. (4/4)

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

This is the most important chapter in the whole saga, I think. And I continue to be amazed (though, given general understanding of facts and literacy in our culture today, perhaps I shouldn't be) at how many people on the political right claim to love these books. (3/4)

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

It is bracing to remember how easy it is for comfortable people to fall in with ruffians out of greed and how much it costs to overthrow a kleptocracy (which is always the doorway to a more harrowing evil) and rebuild—even when people wake up. (2/4)

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

We're wrapping up reading LOTR aloud as a family and just finished "The Scouring of the Shire" this week. (1/4)

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

It's really the ripe moment for someone to do a very toothy film adaptation of Walker Percy's satirical 1971 novel Love in the Ruins. Who should direct?

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

Passed a car parked on Main St. here in Chattanooga this morning with two bumper stickers: 1) Tr*mp/Vance 2024 "Take America Back" 2) a simple blue sticker reading "I ❤️ the Constitution" My brother in Christ, you cannot have both.

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Reposted by Justin Lonas

Senator Chris Van Hollen @vanhollen.senate.gov · 15/05/2025

The VP of El Salvador repeatedly told me "the ball is in your court" when it comes to bringing Abrego Garcia home — making clear Trump is violating a 9-0 SCOTUS ruling to “facilitate” his return. I said this in my recent letter to Trump, and here's the video to back it up:

youtu.be

WATCH: Van Hollen meeting with Vice President of El Salvador

YouTube video by Senator Chris Van Hollen

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

Are we to the part where three spirits visit him and he repents and makes reparations to everyone he's wronged, yet?

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

"The Lord is not Nemesis. He is free, acting toward His own ends, indifferent to the harsh symmetry of revenge." —Marilynne Robinson, Reading Genesis

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Nailing the definition of "theobro" with this: "oft-bearded Calvinist preachers and speakers known for their conservative beliefs, especially about the role of women in the church, and their criticism of other evangelicals whose faith is less strict."

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 11/05/2025

Waiting for all my "law and order" people to tell me when the President's lawbreaking bothers them... Which laws matter? Which parts of the Constitution need following? Or was this always just an excuse to gut government services for those in poverty and brutalize non-white citizens & immigrants?

media.tenor.com

a man wearing a suit and tie is standing in a field of yellow flowers

ALT: a man wearing a suit and tie is standing in a field of yellow flowers

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

That is the real revolution, and the current administration is simply enacting these new realities with the full support of wealthy voters whose minds, hearts, and wallets Rush Limbaugh, Rupert Murdoch, Glenn Beck, Thomas Sowell, et al. captured long ago.

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

I understand how it happened conceptually, but it is still jarring. Just as jarring as how my general political views (rule of law, national sovereignty, free speech/press/religion, fair taxation across income levels, civil rights for everyone) that were once center-right are now seen as leftist.

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

Believes what they do today: — my guy can do/say what he wants because God anointed Him — Fox/YouTubers/Podcasters "tell the truth" but MSM lies — the federal government can do whatever it wants and trample state/local governments to enforce my preferred policies. — "Back the blue" — etc.

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

I will never not be amazed at how the people that taught: — that private character matters in public office — all media is inherently propaganda — the federal government is inherently tyrrannical and local is best — law enforcement officers are state revenue agents and to be distrusted — etc.

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

So live well in the given world Making sense and making peace with All its nooks and crannies that confuse Our cherished memes; With joy refusing* To give ourselves away so cheaply. (* line adapted from Ross Gay)

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

A world of work and pain may be The world that we have, but it is real— As real as the rage and fear—and The real artifice is building for Faith and hope and learning and truth.

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

A world of artificial love Artificial images of Artificial friends and foes Artificial brains in our hands Makes hate seem one real thing to grasp.

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

Hey, the pull to action has to start from someplace. =)

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

"Dangerous times call for high levels of both calm and courage. You need to assume the worst is going to happen, and work backwards from there." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

theatlantic.com

A Ticking Clock on American Freedom

It’s later than you think, but it’s not too late.

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

I've been listening for many years, and they dig so deep so entertainingly. This episode, an honest chat about our current constitutional impasses, is a great place to start. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

podcasts.apple.com

Blank Checks w/ Ben & Bob

Podcast Episode · The Road to Now · 03/24/2025 · 52m

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

What I love about @roadtonow.bsky.social podcast (and the personalities of hosts @bobcrawfordbass.bsky.social and Ben Sawyer) is that they don't just lament, they educate.

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

It's a common lament that Americans need to know history better in order to actually self-govern and "secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity."

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 20/04/2025

Christian nationalism (at least at a popular level) stems from the same heart-impulse as Peter's sword-blow upon Malchus' ear in the garden. It's the assumption that God needs protection. But the way of Jesus is always the way of the cross, but confident in resurrection. A blessed Easter to all

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 20/04/2025

"Resurrection Day" (2019) If your kind and faithful friend had died A gruesome death and then said, "Good morning!" From behind as you went to put flowers On their fresh-tilled grave, what would you do? * These last three live at one link: jryanlonas.substack.com/p/three-days (6/6)

jryanlonas.substack.com

Three Days

Three poems

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 20/04/2025

"Holy Saturday" (2023) But quiet isn’t always quiet, When work goes on underground, And sabbath is half-done Till toil and death and shame are spoiled. So teach us how to hope— In spite of bones that know That you are not here now— That you are never gone. (5/6)

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 20/04/2025

"Good Friday" (2023) But that God responds not first by fixing what is broken, But by making it clear that love suffers with us— That in the darkest valley we are nearest to Christ’s heart. (4/6)

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 20/04/2025

"Holy Wednesday, 2025" (2025) Scenes of that last week In Jerusalem Played back for us in Grave intonations, Hazy images, Make us squint; tell us Too much about us. jryanlonas.substack.com/p/hol… (3/6)

jryanlonas.substack.com

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 20/04/2025

"A Holy, Ordinary Monday" (2024) To nature tied in sin-warped knots, Is he giving vent to passion, Or is the final wrath of God The glory of true innocence? jryanlonas.substack.com/p/the… (2/6)

jryanlonas.substack.com

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 20/04/2025

I've been working through Holy Week in poetry over the past few years, and it's not a complete set yet, but it's become a cherished aspect of worship for me. Sharing here for you all as well (1/6)

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Justin Lonas @jryanlonas.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

My daughter (15), when I got home from work and showed her @booker.senate.gov working on his filibuster: "He's cooking! He's STILL cooking after 23 hours. He's a brisket!"

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