Are we crazy, or what?

One of the ways to get to know a person is to read what they have written. When I was in college, I was in a group who did this. We wanted to know the authors and we read all we could find about each one. When I was in the library, reading a book by one of these authors, my husband-to-be kept walking by the table where I was. He was checking out which book I was reading, which author did I appreciate most, he wondered. Eventually, we married and "yes" we went to that seminary. There are no regrets, we still love it there.

I am reminded of this because we are ready and eager to learn more about our new Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry. One of the ways to get to know him is to read his two books (I'm sure there will be more). Crazy Christians, A Call to Follow Jesus is the first, published in 2013 by Morehouse Publishing (CPI). This book is a collection of some of Curry's sermons given at  churches and conventions. He served a number of churches before becoming Bishop of North Carolina from 2000 to 2015. And in July, 2015 he was elected the 27th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.

He gently calls us all "Crazy Christians" and I begin to wonder why. When I hear the word crazy a certain tune comes into my head and I have trouble pushing it away as it's very powerful. So the tune wanders around as I read Curry's book, which is powerful as well. I consider it a privilege to read his sermons and I discover that he thinks Jesus is "crazy." When Curry speaks of Moses and Joseph and prophets of the Old Testament as well as Jesus' friends and disciples in the New, he is quick to point out that Jesus says: "The greatest among you will be your servant" (Matt. 23:11), and Curry says, "that's crazy!" But after he thinks about if for a bit he says, "what the church needs, what this world needs are some Christians who are as crazy as the Lord. Crazy enough to love like Jesus, to give like Jesus, to do justice like Jesus, walk humbly with God---like Jesus."
                                  
In her Foreword, The Most Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori, 26th Presiding Bishop, just before Curry, advises readers: In Curry's books you might "Read, savor, dream, and sing---and then discover the Spirit all around you in unexpected people, places, and invitations."

Curry's second book, also published by Morehouse, this one in 2015, is called Songs My Grandma Sang and if you are a grandma, as I am, you may know exactly what she was teaching the children in her family as they were growing up. Singing was an important part of that teaching. Children remember what they are singing about Jesus. It doesn't go away but buries itself way down deep inside until the Holy Spirit calls. J. Neil Alexander writes in his Foreword, "God's people are a singing people and if our children are going to have faith, they are going to have to learn to sing" including their grandma's songs of faith. There is much preaching in this book, too, and Alexander writes of it: "When Bishop Michael preaches, you expect to be instructed, inspired, propelled, and sent." So here he comes. Are we ready?

Lois Sibley,
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Walking with God and our Prayers

With All Our Prayers, Walking with God through the Christian Year is a new book published by Eerdmans and written by John B. Rogers, Jr., who is retired after being pastor in four different Presbyterian congregations. Rogers calls this collection "Prayers of the People, or pastoral prayers," culled from the many prayers he and his congregations have shared over the years. He writes that "these prayers focus....intentionally on issues of faith, and on pastoral situations in congregations, in communities, and in the lives of individuals and families."

Rogers invites all readers..."to take an intentional journey" with him and with God through the Christian year. I am always intrigued by Presbyterians who delve deeply into The Book of Common Prayer, as he does, and he makes it easy to follow. Each prayer has a descriptive name on his Contents page, including the names of the special days in the Christian year, followed by special days like: Sunday before Memorial Day, Confirmation, Prayer after September 11, 2001, World Communion Sunday, Reformation Sunday, All Saints' Day, and more.

We have already slipped past Advent, but we can pause and hear what Rogers says about that special time. He writes: "Eternal God, before we speak, even in prayer, we must listen....we remember that the universe exists because you spoke it into being....'let their be light'....we remember that we are because you created us male and female in your image....we remember ...you told us your name: 'I Am....Among you as God'....And now, in Advent, we prepare for the coming of him who bears your name,who is your promise in person, your Word made flesh --- even Jesus Christ our Lord."

There are many practical, useful prayers here. It's as though Rogers knows us and knows what we would pray for. Under the heading Prayers from Deep Within. Rogers says "we are grateful for the gift of prayer," but sometimes we wonder: what should we pray for, who should we pray for? We don't know what to say. We might pray: "O God: to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid..." and then pray "help us to relax,....give us wisdom, perspective, and understanding," and so we pray on as best we can. There are lots of pages on Lent and Easter, with good suggestions for our prayers and a reminder of Ps. 100: "It is he that made us and we are his" (NRSV). This is one of the best books on prayer that I have seen. Highly recommended.

---Lois Sibley
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Literary Lives of Inklings...

The Fellowship by Philip Zaleski & Carol Zaleski, new from Farrar, Straus and Giroux, is a hefty book, 644 pages, but because its subtitle is The Literary Lives of the Inklings, we are immediately drawn in. Yes, we want to read about their literary growth but we would also like to hear about their families, their histories, their ups and downs throughout their own cultures and it's all here, thanks to the Zaleskis. who must have spent years tracking down all these details.

The authors concentrate on the four most prominent members of this group who called themselves the Inklings, and first they tell some of the stories about J. R. R. Tolkien, who was older than the others. Then they move to C. S. Lewis, then Owen Barfield, and finally Charles Williams. But the Zaleskis move back and forth, depending on who was doing what, alone or together, when the group began spending their Thursday evenings together at Lewis's at Magdalen College, or their Tuesday mornings at the pub they called the Bird and Baby. In both places, these men enjoyed sharing what they were writing or doing in their teaching and learning. Often two or three of them would go hiking and it's easy to imagine them throwing their words up into the sky, discussing and considering each other's opinions as they walked.

Tolkien thought the name Inklings was a pun, suggesting a group with half-formed ideas that dabbled in ink. But the Zaleskies remind us that in spite of the Inklings modest self-image, which was part of their charm, their ideas did not remain half-formed and their inkblots were not mere dabblings. Some of them became quite well known, even famous, and some of their work amounted to genius.

This was the time of the Great Depression and on through World War II and into the 1950s. The Inklings were in and around Oxford, a city in the English Midlands and some of them came and went for awhile during the two wars of those times. Several of them were professors, some were married and parents and some not.

Three Anglicans and a Catholic walked into a pub...

Let's look at what the Zaleskis said about Lewis, Tolkien, Williams, and Barfield. Barfield was perhaps the most brilliant but the least published. His day job for 30 years was as a barrister in his father's firm. His fascination with words led him to see them as the clues to the development of history, indeed the evolution of human consciousness. Early fascination with music gave him an imaginative, less rational feeling for words.

Williams likewise held a day job outside of academia, as a London editor at Oxford University Press. He also dabbled in the occult while remaining a practicing Anglican. He was known perhaps best for his five imaginative/fantasy novels (Lewis especially liked Williams's The Place of the Lion and invited him to meet the Inklings). Williams also published poetry and wrote Outlines of Romantic Theology, not published in his lifetime, but now in print (Berkeley: Apocryphile, 2005).

We know Tolkien's Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, but the Zaleskis also give us a look into their source: Tolkien's story-telling with his children on long Christmas evenings. This Oxford professor (philology and northern European mythology) would make up the stories as they talked, and later polish them. Father Christmas Letters is one example and the published version (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) includes a selection from the annual letters, with Tolkien's drawings. Tolkien was the Catholic in the group, his widowed mother having joined a local Catholic parish with her 8 and 6-year old boys.

Lewis was perhaps the central figure when the Inklings met in "the frayed comfort of [his] Magdalen digs" for long Thursday evenings with lots of tea and pipes (or in the Bird and Baby pub) to read drafts of their works in progress and to offer encouragement and critique to each other. The most rational, Lewis relished a vigorous debate with an atheist, having been one himself. He also was as imaginative as any of the others. Like Tolkien's discovery, "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit," Lewis would claim that his Narnia Chronicles started with a mental picture of a fawn with an umbrella.

These four authors had a huge impact on each other as well as on their readers, who continue to search, study, read, share, and perhaps be inspired to write their own special words and works. Lewis, Tolkien, Williams, and Barfield, might be pleased to know that.

---Larry and Lois Sibley,
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Advent Begins the New Year!

Advent Presence, a new book from Melford "Bud" Holland begins the New Year for us and for Morehouse Publishing. Bud is a priest, storyteller, and photographer. He enjoys talking about "the big questions," and those who know him have been waiting for this book, I'm sure. Earlier, Bud served in the Diocese of Pennsylvania, where he learned much from his friend, Bishop Frank Turner, as they challenged each other with "the big questions." Retired as the Officer for Ministry Development for the Episcopal Church, Bud now serves as an interim priest, consultant, and EfM trainer. He lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Bud loves to tell stories, and he has a lot of them. It seems that wherever he has worked, or served, or encouraged, he has gathered some interesting stories about the people he has come to know there. Every chapter could begin or end with stories and what we can learn from them. There is a line of type across the book cover that says Kissed by the Past, Beckoned by the Future and it may draw you in to hear the stories.

Did you know, or did you recently hear that now, in the Old Year, before we move via Advent to the New Year, we have already begun to hear of incidents that happened many years ago in the New Year! Why? Does the Lord want us to know now! Yes, he probably does. So some of the stories happened  before January 1, and the stories and incidents were recorded earlier. The Lord wants us to know now! So we begin the New Year knowing what is coming, already praying about what will happen. We may be feeling the presence of God rising in his people.

Bud Holland says that "The yearning for the coming of Messiah was palpable in the hundreds of years leading up to the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. The Jews felt assured that God would not abandon them." Along with them, we may be singing O Come, O Come Emmanuel on that day and we may be feeling God's presence "in the present moment, kissed by the past, and beckoned by the future."

---Lois Sibley, ireviewreligiousbks

Facing Cancer and Death...

There are many who are facing cancer and death these days. It seems like every day we hear of another friend who has this possibility ahead. When Steve Hayner was diagnosed, he and his wife Sharol decided to begin sharing information with friends and asking for prayers by joining Caring Bridge, a service for those with computers.  And after years of ministry on both sides of the country, the two of them had many friends who wanted to know what was going on. Steve was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the spring of 2014 and he died in early 2015.

That was a short time, but Steve and Sharol decided right away to be open with all who wanted to know: "how are you feeling?" and before they knew it, they had a book called Joy in the Journey, Finding Abundance in the Shadow of Death, published by IVP Books, at www.ivpress.com. There is a brief preface by co-author Sharol Hayner, who explains that their messages to family and friends on the Caring Bridge website were not intended to be a book, but somehow they grew. And we begin to read about the happenings of the days ahead for Steve and Sharol.

Perhaps I should warn you: this is an amazing, powerful book, in which two people who love each other, and who love Jesus, the Lord of all, share difficult health problems, deep feelings about each of their problems, and....you better have tissues ready, that's all I can say just now....

Steve was serving as president of Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia at the time of his diagnosis in the spring of 2014 and Steve and Sharol were living in the president's house. Before that, he had served as pastor, preacher, teacher, and for a time as president of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, He also served on several mission boards, including World Vision, Fuller Seminary, the Navigators, and others.Steve became "president emeritus" at Columbia Seminary, and they were given the privilege of remaining in the president's house, convenient to Emory Hospital.

Steve was known for signing  his letters "Joyfully," and he and Sharol continued to search for and find moments of being grateful to God and moments of joy in their daily experiences. Their book is unusual, so open in sharing their feelings. so trusting in God, a great example for each of us.

---Lois Sibley, ireviewreligiousbks

In a Class All Their Own.......

The Printer and the Preacher. That would be Benjamin Franklin and George Whitefield, of course, Written by Randy Petersen and published by Thomas Nelson Books, it's good to be reminded that these two busy men shared a surprising but close friendship for over 30 years. And Randy thinks they "invented America." I don't know if I can go that far, but they certainly jumped in and had important parts in all that was going on. Franklin sparked so many important "social structures" in Philadelphia: the library, a fire brigade, a hospital, the militia, the college, and more. And Whitfield saw hundreds, maybe thousands of people listen to his preaching and come to believe in Jesus.

Ben Franklin grew up in Boston but moved to Philadelphia with his printing business. George Whitfield was from England, but he was so enthusiastic about America that he crossed the ocean 13 times. A well-known preacher in both nations, Whitfield traveled up and down our east coast, preaching indoors or outside, wherever he was invited.

When Franklin and Whitfield first met, it was over a business project and eventually Ben became the "primary printer" for Whitfield's sermons, articles, and books. Ben was already known and appreciated for his popular Poor Richard's Almanac as well as his newspaper called the Philadelphia Gazette. These two busy men kept in touch with each other, as Randy writes: "meeting on both sides of the Atlantic." Whitfield often encouraged Ben Franklin to "believe in Jesus," but Franklin was not interested. He said he believed in God, that was enough. But they did support each other often. As George traveled, Ben provided coverage in the Gazette for the news of what was happening where George was preaching. They were both finding success with what they wanted to do.

During some of his visits through New England, George was invited to Northampton, a guest of the pastor-scholar Jonathan Edwards. In the 1660s and 70s there were "glimmers of revival in the American colonies." In the 1740s the so-called "Great Awakening" spread throughout New England. Cotton Mather was one of the early preachers, followed by George Whitfield, Jonathan Edwards. and John and Charles Wesley. All of them had a place in those important years. I found it a pleasure to read and find out more detail about their lives and circumstances. Maybe you would like it, too.

Lois Sibley, ireviewreligiousbks

Living the Last Chapter...

Here are two touching books from Marilyn Chandler McEntyre, just published from Eerdmans. A Faithful Farewell, living your last chapter with love came out last April and A Long Letting Go, meditations on loving someone you love came out in July of this year (2015). They go together and I will certainly keep my two together as I think and pray about those last days that we all must face as we journey on toward our Lord Jesus Christ and "those we love but see no longer."

Marilyn is not about to die, I think, but she offers A Faithful Farewell for those who are now facing death. With her experience by "the bedsides of those who are living their dying" and with her own "reflection about my own aging and death," she offers these pages in the hope that they "will affirm a solidarity that makes every dying an opportunity to awaken and open the heart." Each short meditation concludes with a prayer "to lean into when finding your own words requires more energy than you have." And after the prayer, you may find a few lines from a favorite hymn to remind you "of the many ways songs and hymns have sustained the life of faith, especially in hard times."

In the second book, A Long Letting Go, Marilyn says "At some point in our lives, most of us will become caregivers." It may be for a short time, or for a longer period of chronic illness. Either way, it will involve us in another's preparation for death. It is preparation for "a letting go that draws upon our deepest spiritual resources in ways impossible to fully anticipate." Marilyn offers her "harvest of experiences and reflections that may provide some direction, hope, or consolation in a time when generosity, imagination, patience, and love may be stretched in unprecedented ways." Her suggestions are written in four sections: Accompanying, Stories of Letting Go, Mourning, and Words for Keeping Watch. She reminds us that we have only promises to help us imagine the next life, but they are a sound basis for hope.

In the section on Stories.... I found one of my own experiences: my friend Jessie, in her 90's, said: "Why? I'm ready. Why doesn't the Lord call me?" she asked me. "Jessie," I said, trying to comfort her: "the Lord must have a few more things for you to do while you are here." She laughed. But she probably will be helping and encouraging others as she has been doing for years, as she waits for the Lord's call. And we will miss her when she goes.

These two books are very helpful. I recommend them. And I think that those who are feeling the pain of loss will find comfort and encouragement here.

----Lois Sibley
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