“We just did that.” It was my catchphrase at Christianity Today for a while. For a news guy, few values outrank novelty. So I was quick to dismiss pitches on topics and angles we’d already covered, even if it had been a decade or so. There’s nothing new under the sun, I allowed, but there’s a lot under the sun we haven’t informed our readers about yet. Why repeat ourselves?
After a while, I came to see some value in reiteration, especially at a magazine that gets a lot of new subscribers every year. But I’ve still struggled with repeating themes at The Behemoth. Is it too soon to do another article on light? On water? We just did that.
Then I remember: this isn’t a news magazine. It’s a beholding magazine. We need to come back to topics over and over again to go deeper, to see new facets, to appreciate, and to wonder. Our last issue’s look at gravitational waves has themes that ripple in this issue’s articles on perfect pitch and giant ocean waves. And we’re following up last issue’s personal look at DNA with a similar genetic introspection. New information and experiences can prompt awe and wonder. But an incessant addiction to novelty numbs us. In many ways, The Behemoth is trying to host an ongoing conversation about God and his world.
But we don’t want that conversation only to be among our writers and sources. You’re experiencing awe and wonder, too, and we want to hear about it. Join us over at a new, private, secret Facebook group exclusively for Behemoth subscribers and contributors. We’re deliberately creating The Behemoth as an antithesis to your Facebook and Twitter feeds, so it’s a bit of a judo move to use Facebook’s platform to share bits of awe and wonder. Let your “friends” fight over Trump on Big Facebook. We’ll talk about snails and forgotten heroes and beauty over at Secret Facebook.
Check for an invitation from Facebook by Monday. If you don’t see it, check your junk folder or log in to Facebook and check for a notification. (If that doesn’t work, email us at help@behemothmag.com with Facebook Group as the subject line and your Facebook email in the message.)
I hope to see you over there. I’m truly eager to find ways for us to experience a little awe and wonder every day, in between fortnightly issues of The Behemoth. Even if a Secret Facebook group isn’t for you, I hope you’ll occasionally send me an email or tweet. As that old C. S. Lewis line goes, “Delight is incomplete till it is expressed.” Let’s behold God’s world together.
