Looking back at 2023

Field Notes 2023 in review

Hi friends,

We had a fairly quiet Christmas as a family. Well, as quiet as “Family of Six” can manage, I guess. Brian and I are both rather weary after an intense year of work and family needs, so it was nice to just be together.

Look at how much they keep growing up on us! Anne is in grade 12; Joe is in grade 10; Evelynn is in grade 7; and our last little baby Margaret is in grade 3. I know I tend to keep their lives pretty private but it’s been such a full year for each of them in their own ways. And I’m so proud of their character, big hearts, and uniqueness.

Plus Brian and I marked our 25th(!) Christmas together, which feels wild to me.

There was a lot of baking (seriously so! much! baking!), thoughtful gifts including my very first Roots jogger/kanga hoodie combo,¹ church, family, and so much more food. My sister and her family came over along with my folks for Christmas Eve after a candlelight service at our church, then we spent a good day at home on Christmas for gifts and then went to my parents’ for supper. That evening was spent cozied up for the Doctor Who special (I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS AND THEY ARE ALL SO VERY HAPPY) and the Call the Midwife Christmas special, which are both long-standing traditions around here. Boxing Day was a long walk, leftovers, puzzles, family, and tidying up a bit.

And now, we’re in that betwixt-and-between week where clothing is soft and looking forward to a new year begins. But first, I always like to take a day or two to look back at the year that is fading away here at our newsletter.

Looking back at Field Notes 2023

Last year, we did a little Field Notes in Review together so I figured let’s make it into a tradition, eh?

By the Numbers: Um, Wow

I’m notoriously not a numbers gal, both in the traditional creatives-hate-math sense but also in the influencer-space “motivated by numbers and going viral” sense (witness my affection for old-fashioned, long-form, super personal essays, eh?) but...

In 2023 alone, we had more than 3.8 MILLION VISITS to Field Notes.

I just… what?!

Had to double check that a few times because it doesn’t seem quite reasonable.

Because the funny thing about that is that I still feel like we’re kind of under the radar. It’s just this pretty faithful, quiet corner of the Internet where we refer our friends with forwarded emails or gift subscriptions and quietly share links by text. No advertising. No sponsored content. No national coverage. No big establishment or team behind it. Clearly I need an editor. Hardly anything I’ve written would qualify as “going viral.”

Just one by one, you show up. And you tell a friend. And they show up. You are pretty kind about my typos. Almost all of you landed here because someone else opened the door for you. And that makes it all the more meaningful to me because I know that when you trust me with your people, there is no higher praise.

Plus we continue to offer complementary paid subscriptions to literally everyone who asks. We never want anyone to be left out due to money while we create this quieter corner on the Internet - and it’s always our joy to be against-conventional-wisdom generous. Hundreds and hundreds of folks were hooked up this year again and I’m so glad that this is collectively a value for us all.²

This year, I sent out over 67 Field Notes to you with everything from our Advent series to the aforementioned long-form personal essays to lots of book talk and beyond.

So let’s take a look back, shall we?

Top 10 Most Popular 2023 Field Notes

1. I have this, for now: A few of my certainties at the moment (This was about some of the anchors I still have in the midst of a lot of change.)

2. The questions I haven't been answering: Or, Pulling Levers (This one was to answer a lot of people’s recent questions about my health.)

3. I guess that was it: On letting yourself notice when the story is changing (This one is about my eldest daughter nearing her “launch” into adulthood.)

4. Someone else's deconversion: When we were singing songs like “Spirit, lead me where my trust is without borders” who knew that the Holy Spirit was going to call our bluff so beautifully? (This one was about how it feels when people who have influenced our faith in some way have their own deconstruction.)

5. I've known revival: Or, This is probably not actually about Asbury (This one was about the revival at Asbury earlier this year and what it stirs up in those of us who grew up in “revival culture.”)

6. On learning to love the Bible again: In which I make 16-ish book recommendations for your evolving relationship with scripture (This one is about some of the books and postures that I’ve found helpful when we’re re-learning to engage with Scripture on the other side of a faith shift.)

7. The Have Fun On Purpose "Manifesto": *If by "manifesto" you mean "loose and arbitrary made-up collection of ideas without any basis in research" (This one is about my own 2023 plan and what it means to have fun on purpose now.)

8. 15 New Breath Prayers: Joy edition: Take what works, chuck the rest, and let God love you. (This one is another round-up of breath prayers, which I do now and then all year long.)

9. Maybe the aftermath can be beautiful: The ordinary re-wilding after it all ends (This one was written after a weekend in an area that had experienced a natural disaster and how I felt it relates to our evolving faith.)

10. Maybe it’s less of a haunting and more of a homecoming after all: On moving "back home" and the weird feeling of being haunted by your own self (This one is about the complicated experience I had moving back to my hometown of Calgary after being gone for 25 years.)

Other Noteworthy Notes

These are the Field Notes that didn’t make the top ten but became favourites in their own way for you all or for me this year:

• Grace for our heroes, yes, and grace for the ones our heroes hurt.: In which I try to capture a few thoughts from the messy middle of complicated legacies and navigating public grief (This one was written in the aftermath of Tim Keller’s death.)

• We become a parable of untamed grace: If Jesus lived today, we might be surprised by how often he uses the ordinary metaphors of our lives to repair our imagination about God. (This was written because I really have a thing for trees and the Gospels, I guess.)

• Jesus Feminist, ten years later: Behind the scenes stories, my own evolving journey, a few regrets, precious memories, and our shared testimony (This one was about the tenth anniversary of my first book.)

• Do you want to be well?: We want love and peace with meat on the bones.

• Ordinary Work: All I know to do when I don’t know what to do.

• A blessing for your evolving faith: God’s love has never been dependent on your right opinions, you can take a deep breath now.

Books, AMAs, & Good Things

We did talk about A LOT of books this year from my faves for sobriety to learning how to love your Bible again and the round-ups/reviews of what I’m reading on the daily, but here’s the favourites of the year:

We did an AMA (Ask Me Anything) now and then, too:

• Answering your questions: From Taylor Swift eras to deconstruction to parenting to writing to knitting and beyond, we have a bit of everything today (August)

• Relentless nuance, finding community, parenting failures, and other answers to your questions: Ask Me Anything (April)

• Our first date, separating art from the artist, advice on writers and social media, deconstruction and parenting advice, Bible translations, defining sin, and much more: Yep, I'm answering your questions 👩🏻‍💻 (January)

And of course, we did a few editions of what we call “Good Things” around here so here are those recipes, podcasts, music, shows, and other things I was into this year:

• 🍲 We're in our homeyness season now, folks: Let’s wander in from the cold together, eh? (November)

• My favourite genre of television is best described as “kind people who are very capable at their jobs engaged in a gentle, affirming competition”: Sharing autumn faves for movies, some music, delicious recipes, the organizer saving my sanity, my favourite slippers, and more good thing (September)

• Small goodness matters, maybe now more than ever: Music, podcasts, Pride service, food, a new author photo, and the other good things of right now (June)

• A few good things for your week: Including doing good together, a new podcast series, two movies, music, update on my new book, recipes, and more (February)

Our Devotional Series of 2023

This year’s devotional series was Reimagining Advent. (It just wrapped up and I know we had a lot of new subscribers so hi! Welcome, welcome. So glad you’re sticking around.) Here are those links for you:

• Advent Week 1: Let the Darkness Gather, We’ll Make a Home There

  • and/or the podcast version, if you prefer to listen

• Advent Week 2: Advent comes, not in spite of this moment in time but precisely because of it.

  • and/or the podcast version, if you prefer to listen

• Advent Week 3: Holding Scraps

  • and/or the podcast version

• Advent Week 4: The most we can hope for is love.

  • and/or the podcast version

Coming in 2024

I’m planning to send you all a short and painless reader survey in the coming weeks, too so that I can get a good handle on what is working for you and what we can release so keep an eye out for that. Planning our year here at the newsletter is always a big undertaking and I’d love your input on what you’d like to see.

And of course, my new book is coming your way very soon! Field Notes for the Wilderness: Practices for An Evolving Faith and its companion guided journal will release on February 20. I’m so excited to put this book into your hands. Thanks for all your preorders, too. So much of this book was workshopped within our community as well as Evolving Faith. It feels like ten years worth of learning in this “deconstruction” space, all brought together. It’s my “if we were having coffee together, here’s everything I think I know about an evolving faith” all gathered up in one spot. I wanted it to be the book for the threshold of the wilderness, the companion you tuck into your pocket for the complicated journey ahead so I’m hopeful about this one landing well for folks.

Thank you

Thank you so much for your support and kindness around Field Notes. I don’t take it for granted. All of our growth here isn’t about numbers or stats to me, it’s about you all because it is my greatest joy to write for you, knowing that it lands in your inbox or mobile phone screen as a real person from a real person.

We always take time at the end of the year to donate to the causes and non-profits we’ve featured here throughout the year from your Field Notes subscriptions on our collective behalf. We sent that money off this week and it felt good to know that we all did that together, too.

Thanks for everything, friends. For subscribing, of course(!), but also thanks for your thoughtful comments and interaction there. (I really do love when you comment and read every single one; it helps remind me that I don’t just send these out into the void but to you and your particular self.)

Thanks for sharing my work on social media or with your friends, for buying my books, for following me on social media, for all of the referrals and recommendations from my fellow writers or readers, for generously supporting the causes and non-profits that we feature here, and for the dozens of ways that we’ve connected outside of this.

Field Notes is an oasis for me as a writer. I hope to create that same sense of refuge, connection, and peace for you all too. And I’m grateful. Thank you. From our family to you and yours, thanks for sticking around here.

Now, onward into the new year together.

Here’s hoping 2024 cuts us all a little slack, eh?

Grateful to be alongside you,

S.

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1. I have wanted one of the iconic Canadian comfy Roots outfits since 1992. I don’t think I’ve taken it off in two days. Thanks, Mum and Dad!

2. If you can’t swing a subscription, please just let us know by emailing assistant@sarahbessey.com and we’ll get you sorted out before too long. Promise. Subscriptions aren’t meant to be a barrier, just a way to create a quieter corner on the Internet for deeper conversations and comments, as well as support me and this kind of work. You don’t need to justify or explain, just put your hand up through that email and we’ve got you. And some folks always ask if they can donate to cover subscriptions for others as well, so here’s that link if you were wondering or the link to give a gift subscription directly to someone in particular.