A book review

Recently I read a book called Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale by Frederick Buechner. I liked it very much and this is a review of it.

Let me present the group gathered together:
Pilate (executer of Jesus) is there, and the successful government man who has already shut himself off from the awfulness of the suffering he regularly sees in the news but still smokes three packs of cigarettes a day to numb the chewing of something inside him that says he really wishes he knew one way or the other whether there was a Truth. The two are not unlike. They could, in fact have been the same person.
Along with them is a pastor who has, in fact, been having an affair and may soon be found out. Homosexuals are there, and pregnant teenagers, and uninterested college students, and you--not you on your best face but you with the clamorings and silences of your life.
If this is the group gathered how will we talk about the gospel? How will the Gospel be a big enough Truth that is does not ignore or leave out what everyone knows but most would rather not say: that God is often seen in his absence and we are helpless and worn out by that? If there is a Gospel this big it must be as unexpected at Wiley Coyote picking himself up after being crushed by an anvil and continuing his chase. It will also have to be as absurd as supposing that Cinderella really did ride in that pumpkin to find a prince who chased her down with a golden slipper then married her. It is exactly to these people through these methods that this book shows the Gospel must be preached:
"If preachers or lecturers are to say anything that really matters to anyone including themselves, they must say it not just to the public part of us that considers interesting thoughts about the Gospel and how to preach it, but to the private, inner part too, to the part of us all where our dreams come from, both our good dreams and our bad dreams, the inner part where thoughts mean less than images, elucidation less than evocation, where our concern is less with how the Gospel is to be preached than with what the Gospel is and what it is to us. The must address themselves to the fullness of who we are and to the emptiness too, the emptiness where grace and peace belong but mostly are not, because terrible as well as wonderful things have happened to all of us."

Not being a writer, I only wish I knew if that came across as communication. To put it in more safely simple terms, this book was beautiful and rich. It captured both my imagination and my thoughts. I hope very much it changed them both, and in turn changed my outlook and responses. I highly recommend you read it. Find it online, that's a good place to buy books. Thus far it has been my favorite summer read and I fully expect it to remain on the top of my list of favorite books from here forward.

What have you been doing this summer?

Blogging has been distinctly avoided from my summer activities lately. I now eye is cautiously, not as though it were another full thing to squeeze into a much too busy day, but as though it were one of those side acquaintances whose name I may remember during that time before or after summer RUF (college bible study) who must politely ask what I'm doing this summer. I set out my well compiled answered of those things that seem appropriate for one to do with a summer: some summer school, some work. As it happens more often than not (when there are no further inquiries into what classes I'm taking or where I'm working to change the subject to elementary education classes or church secretary work) the "list" seems rather meager for the accomplishments of two months and out stumbles the next best items I have to offer: some involvement with my church, some reading. Those may have hit closer to the truth of what was more important to me but as my list of church activities is unimpressive and my list of books read is small they seem less for having been said, for having to come out into words when they're not sure what to do with themselves anymore.

So, um, (I think I remember your name), I guess that's mostly what I've been doing. What are you doing?

I can't get any farther without suspecting that for all my social skills it's rather amusing how hard everyday life can be to put into words. Going to class this morning was an event. So was washing the dishes this evening while listening to music. As far as I can figure out the experience of the later is nearly inexpressible but maybe not less important than the former because of that. In that my summer has been very "everyday", something probably very good for me but not necessarily terribly familiar or comfortable. I go to class but I also make a sandwich to bring with me for lunch. I go to work and compile bulletins and such and I sit typing blog entries while drinking espresso with Irish cream in a small espresso cup a friend gave me for Christmas last year. I found and signed a lease on a small duplex near Belhaven and I sat in Borders and read children's books. I often find myself wishing for one of those few people with whom I can just sit and be without explaination and I'm hesitant right now at reading anyone's blog because I'm afraid they've said something about the ending of Harry Potter 7. This, of course, leaves alot unsaid, but somewhere in or under or through or beyond those sorts of things is what I've been doing this summer.

A new musician at Hogwarts

As a kid I was in a plight:
Magician and musician sound alike.
Now with Andrew P. for
Hogwart's new Dumbledore
I find I still can't get things right.