Some Are: Word Shop Newsletter May 2007
Summer reading. Some are not. It is difficult on this fogbound morning to imagine lying in the sun with a good book. Nonetheless I believe that the Son is somewhere behind the grey. I await a breakthrough. As an act of faith a Summer Reading display, fat with novels and staff picks is emerging from the piles growing behind the desk."Nurse your dreams and protect them through bad times and tough times to the sunshine and light which always come." - Woodrow WilsonGilead is a really fine novel. A Pulitzer Prize winner written by Marilynne Robinson. It's the story of an elderly father with a young wife and son; the story of three generations of pastors in a small plains town; the story of the spiritual work that is always before us in the warp and woof of our lives. Somewhere mid-book is the best exposition on the fifth commandment that I have ever read. When I finished I sat in that satisfied awe that a really good book can deliver--and wished I were a writer. $14 new Pb. $23 new Hb (you may want to keep this one). Or take this well used Pb for $6.
"This is an interesting planet. It deserves all the attention you can give it." Marilynne RobinsonThe deeply integrated spirituality of Gilead reminds me of Peace Like A River, a wonderful first novel by Leif Enger. A young boy, his wild writer sister and their Father go off to find the prodigal older brother. I know I wrote about Peace Like a River in a past newsletter. I spent over an hour trying to figure out which one. Google doesn't think I did--obviously Google in not infallible. The result was me unsuccessfully reading through a bunch of newsletters--chortling at my own cleverness--as the clock struck midnight.
"Don't try to solve serious matters in the middle of the night" - Philip K. DickGoogle did find me a Free-be: The Apostolate of the Laity, written post Vatican II. It was recommended in The Art of Christian Listening (see last month's newsletter). After unsuccessfully bumping around weighty Catechisms, and even borrowing the wrong book from Ward, I finally just Googled it. There it was. Free. DECREE ON THE APOSTOLATE OF THE LAITY APOSTOLICAM ACTUOSITATEM SOLEMNLY PROMULGATED BY HIS HOLINESS, POPE PAUL VI ON NOVEMBER 18, 1965.
I admit that "promulgated" sounds like what it felt like when I got run over by the truck. Nonetheless, it is a fantastic paper. I especially liked Chapter IV on the various forms of the Lay Apostolate and the support and honor due og-wog associations. (Yeah, og-wog is MY word, not a direct quote...a reverse pig-latin derivative of God and Wag.)
"The apostolate of the Church and of all its members is primarily designed to manifest Christ's message by words and deeds and to communicate His grace to the world." --Apostolicam ActuositatemTested by Fire is a "Christian Mystery" by Kathy Herman. A houseboat explodes into flames killing the whole family. Or maybe not everyone. The story is a dramatic page turner full of messed up people who desperately need light in their lives. However, someone gets saved every few chapters, which for some unknown reason I find irritating. I LIKE people coming to know the Lord. Really. I truly believe it's the most important thing. Life changing. All of heaven rejoices. None-the-less I get edgy when a story gets overwhelmed by ongoing salvation messages. Very odd. $3 used Pb.
"Almost all our faults are more pardonable than the methods we resort to hide them." --Francois de La Rochefoucauld, writer (1613-1680)I dropped into Resurrection Church's reading group last month when I discovered they were reading Rummer Godden's Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy. I've enjoyed Godden in the past (see Sept. 2004 Newsletter) so I ordered a copy and crashed the group. This lovely bunch of ladies has been reading books together for years. Their list includes old favorites and others on my to-read-someday list. Here's a few that are currently in the store: The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, The Gift of the Red Bird by Paula D'Arcy.
Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy is about a woman's journey from brothel, to prison, to the Dominicianes Sisters de Bethanie, a French order for incarcerated women started during the mid 1800s. Rummer Godden creates great characters, whose intersecting stories make disastrous and/or redemptive situations. She gets a bit carried away describing liturgical seasons and life in the convent toward the end, but the story holds and the spirituality is sound. $14 new Pb, or this old Hb for $9.
"The door to hell is locked from the inside." --C. S. LewisIt was jolly reading Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy right before speaking at Women's Aglow, since several of the Aglow women are actively involved in jail ministries. What a great group of women! I had a wonderful time--and not only because my team won the Capitola treasure hunt. One of the Resurrection Book Club ladies also does a regular jail ministry. Isn't it inspiring to know that in the midst of the sorrows and terrors of this present world, women are going forth determined to make a difference?
"From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life. - Arthur Ashe"Your sponsors saved your ass," Michael said when I showed him last year's accounts at tax time. Indeed they did. Three people have already put in money for 2008. (O wonder of wonders!) I am, however, having a hard time getting sponsors to take books. "But that's a GOOD book," one cried last Sunday when I reminded her that she could just take Rolheiser's Holy Longing. What? Am I only supposed to give sponsors the BAD books?
"A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business." -Henry FordFor those of you with more time than money, or with both time and money, or with no time or money and desperately in need of a few hours of peace, we are training staff volunteers on Tuesday, June 12 at 11:30. Actually we'll train most anyone anytime. Other than knowing Jesus, the main requirement is putting money in the til instead of in your pocket. We need you.
Meanwhile, The Word Shop Work and Wonder Summer Creative Writing Program begins at Noon on Monday. We have five people signed up. Room for one more. OK, two if you insist. We are using Julia Cameron's Walking in This World; The Practical Art of Creativity. Hit reply and ask for details.
"If I won't be myself, who will? " --Alfred HitchcockTHINK BOTTLED WATER: As you go forth into the summer, take some water in a bottle, and some living water in a book. Drink deep.
"You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." --Christopher Robin to PoohBlessings,
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