hey lo from spokane

[Anna Jennings]

dearest beloved,

please write back a brief (or better yet lengthy!) answer to my only two questions:

1. what would you do differently if you could relive any moment of your life (this one could be an alternative question if you prefer: what question/s would you want to know your loved ones' answers to, and how would you answer the same question/s?)

2. what art, theatre, poems, songs, books, movies or shows have impacted your life the most in the past year? five years? since childhood?

can be shallow or deep (if personal, please indicate if you are willing to have your answer to the first question published in conjunction with others' answers). Also, if you reply i will tell you my answers to the same question, if you want to hear them/it;)

OH and i better say this too:

you may not remember me or you may be my best friend, likely you land somewhere in between...or you are unsure about being my friend (or will be unsure if you don't like the show or video or good reads i recommend), perhaps we met in botswana or leipzig or at wilderness torah or through a certain virginia art event or we dated and one of us is wondering about the other (i am daily surrendering EVERYTHING to Hashem/G-d, so please don't worry. i only wonder how you are doing in your own surrender, i am not clinging to a cherished outcome. i am open to whatever the Universe brings for any of our relationships, but i am not pining away for anyone. i have never been more content in my singleness as i am now.) or maybe we met at the ashram in San Francisco. 

the main reason i am writing is because the Holy Spirit prompted me (i think) to share a group text i sent my siblings and parents earlier this evening. you are welcome to forward it (or this whole email if you fancy) to anyone you wish to share it with (preferably after having watched the show😏)

please read my whole ramble😂so even though director dallas jenkins is annoying (thankfully he is only on the live stream recordings and i actually really liked his ability to relax a bit in his interview tonight with thomas something akins) if any of you haven't watched the chosen yet i think you will want to see it. it is so refreshing to just kind of hang out with Jesus and not deal with American/21st century church shit. pardon the expletive, but i will not renig, it is appropriate and besides the apostle Paul used a similar word (or pretty much the same word) though in an even more appropriate way. Speaking of which, the speaker at judy's church (which i'm morally opposed to becoming a member of but willing to if God moves me to in which case my moral opposition may or may not also be moved, though likely He will be in support of my opposition. 😇truth is, i am loving that tiny tiny congregation and the speakers they bring in) anyway the speaker today referred to the messiness of trying to unite churches and races and well, people, and he said the Bible says there is no such thing as a poopless cow (any human organization is going to have some crappy chaos as part of the experience) maybe Dad will get the reference, we had to ask the preacher where it says that (oh! watch that toooooo! ALL of you will love the whole video. knox presbyterian spokane facebook video should be available tomorrow if not already!) Anyways, The Chosen season one is on youtube for free and also the chosen app (and the whole show will always be free there) is free and will send the episodes to any device. or you can skip ahead and watch the live stream recording (available til 6pm pst tomorrow) of the current episode (season 2 episode 5 i think it was) and then go back and watch episode one of season one. i forget why but the end of episode one was important for me😭

many of you have expressed surprise that i am a Jew loving Jesus following frustrated with almost every so called hristian organization. or you know someone surprised that you love Yeshua the Anointed One. i have not until now known what i can do to help anyone see who Jesus really is. please watch the show. even if it isn't your favorite, it will touch your heart no matter where you stand on religion. Jesus was not into religion either. if he were still dead, he would be rolling in his grave (come to think of it, so would Gautama the Buddha) to see what his so called followers have done in his name.

lastly, just while i'm thinking of uplifting things, i read lots and here are some of my recent reads and some long time favorites (all are worthwhile) writers or books: layla f. saad, the amplified bible (helps with translation of greek and hebrew texts), the showings of julian of norwich edited by denise n. baker, anything written or spoken by corrie ten boom, the december project by sara davidson and reb zalman, peace child, any of the twelve steps literature (CoDA is what i have mainly read and benefitted greatly from) liebesperlen by mariana leky (in German, though there may be an English translation now. if not, i want to write it!) hannah hurnard, maya angelou, george macdonald (start with the light princess and read it outloud to a person you love, preferably someone who is older than eighty or younger than nine...you may have to make a new [online?] friend!!!) gerard manley hopkins, richard rohr, yonah ignacio veritans (available only through orphiflamme press), the reason for god by tim keller, eugene peterson, native by kaitlin curtice, the gift (or anything translated by daniel ladinsky, particularly if originally written by Hafiz (please tell me how to find his original poems if you know how!!) also anything by david james duncan (god laughs and plays is my favorite, but everything by duncan is pure gold) jane kenyon, laurie lamon, jon young (in collaboration with several others: coyotes guide to mentoring), the essential Rilke translated by hannah liebmann and galway kinnell, ragman by wangerin (also the book of the dun cow, which one of you will remember reading outloud with me), "braiding sweet grass" (my current reading), anything by andrew murray, cathy bobb, plain and simple by sue bender, "a gentleman in Moscow," by amor towles, "tom browns guide to healing the earth", richard c. schwartz and anything by Bessel van der Kolk, "new morning mercies" by paul david tripp, deepak chopra "perfect health", a.w. tozer, clarissa pinkola estes, phil eaton, and the second most perfect companion to the chosen: n.t. wright "the challenge of Jesus"

also if you are open to sacred music, i really appreciate all of the projects by maverick city music, lauren daigle (EVERYTHING i have heard so far) and steffany gretzinger (especially her album forever amen) and i love arvo paert, and any christian orthodox chanting (particularly the serbian melodies! though i am also beginning to explore and love some of the ancient ethiopian chants)

and, of course, bach...