Introducing my new writing home

Hello there. It’s Brandon Clements, and it’s, ummm…been a while. If you are getting this, you have previously subscribed to DearBibleBelt.com, my old online writing platform (or my previous blog). I haven’t written online in several years, due to season of life, the demands of young children, and church planting through a pandemic—among other reasons.

Last year I was able to take a routine sabbatical from my amazing church, and one of the things I spent time on was forming my writing future. (I also wrote a novel, which I’m now re-writing and hope to release in the next few years—but that’s a story for another time).

DearBibleBelt was a lot of fun, but I decided its focus was too narrow and I wanted a space where I could write for the rest of my life (hopefully), as well as be creative due to my love for experimentation and fiction.

Also, in the span of time away from online writing, platforms have improved significantly (enter Substack). Hosting a site on Wordpress, dealing with all the plug-ins, updates and themes was a soul-sucking drain for me. Substack has created an easy and beautiful interface that lets me just…write.

You can read more here. But, long story short, I’ve always been fascinated by the end of the Christian story. Eden is restored in Revelation 21 (and somehow made even better). A heavenly city, the New Jerusalem, comes down out of heaven to rest on the remade Earth I love so dearly.

²² And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. ²³ And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. ²⁴ By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, ²⁵ and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. ²⁶ They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.

-Revelation 21:22-26

It’s a moment in the future that affects all moments. It’s a clarifying moment, telling us where this world with all its heartbreaking glory is going, what the end of the story will be for those in Christ.

Standing there, blinded by the light of unimaginable joy, tears wiped away forever and always as the new heaven and Earth join together.

It’s just…so hard to remember that.

To remember the end of the story when we aren’t so sure the story is good anymore, for one reason or another.

To remember every desire fulfilled as we wrestle and weep over unfulfilled desires.

To see the light when so much around us is dark and heavy and clouded by Stress and Bills and Depression and Kids Screaming or Horrible Bosses or Kids Fighting or The Intolerable Silence of Moments Alone.

It’s hard to see clearly, to think clearly, to love God cleanly with all our hearts when they are pulled in so many directions.

T.S. Eliot once wrote this, and though I will never be an Eliot I feel what he says in my bones:

If this is a world in which I, and the majority of my fellow-beings, live in that perpetual distraction from God which exposes us to the one great peril, that of final and complete alienation from God after death, there is something wrong that I must try to help to put right. (emphasis added)

I too must do whatever I can to keep my own faltering eyes, my family’s eyes, my friends’ eyes, my church members’ eyes pointed to the radiant light of the glory of God shining backward through time, telling us what matters most—and what ultimately doesn’t.

Truth be told, I write for my own fickle heart first and foremost, with it’s occasional calloused places, so that the grace of God can break it time and time again. Publishing words is a way to share what I’m learning, get feedback, and grow as a writer.

I’m excited about the journey. I plan on writing nonfiction reflections, but also mixing in creative elements as well. Who knows what might hit your inbox, so don’t be surprised to see some parable-like stuff or imaginative fiction mixed in.

I may send another post this week, but in general my goal is a few posts/month to one/week max.

I’d be honored to have you continue to subscribe. Hopefully together we can learn to see what matters most a little more clearly. But if not, no hard feelings whatsoever—feel free to unsubscribe below.

Stay tuned if you’d like. Thank you, and may the Lord’s face shine upon you.