Category: Handlebar Media

Getting Old: a book review

Aging. Everbody does it,  nobody likes it (after their twenty-first birthday), and most of us like to pretend it doesn’t happen. I’m in my early forties and will milk that ‘early’ adjective as long as I reasonably can. I am still young enough to attack the day with verve, but I am old enough to have seen friends and former classmates pass away. I had my first major health scare this summer, which turned out to not be too serious, but I had to fess up to the fact that I’m too old to ignore these things. Already, my body doesn’t do everything I think it should. We age, and as we age we have to face our own entropic decay as we near our end of days. Send not to know for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee. 

PictureJennifer Grant is the former health and family columnist for the Chicago Tribune,  and author of four previous books, including editing the devotional Disquiet Time, (Jericho Books, 2014) and adoption memoir Love You More (Thomas Nelson, 2011). In When Did Everyone Else Get So Old? Indignities, Compromises and the Unexpected Grace of Midlife (Herald Press, 2017), she explores our ephemeral existence and what it means to grow old. With good humor and faith, she describes transition—sagging and emptying nests—the loss of friends and loved ones, and retooling vocation.

The nineteen chapters in this book are autobiographical essays on the theme of aging. Grant’s literary voice is reminiscent of Anne Lamott (minus the F-bombs), though her faith and life experience are different. She weaves her observations on life together with biblical and theological reflections.

I find Grant’s reflections on vocation, and wondering if she made her mark wholly relatable. This is a good read. I give it four stars and recommend it to everybody else getting old. I give it four stars. – ★★★★

Notice of material connection: I received a copy of this book from Handlebar Media in exchange for my honest review.

Stop, Look, and Listen: a book review

A brand new Frederick Buechner book that isn’t just a hodgepodge of previously published materials? Yes please. The Remarkable Ordinary was born from material of Buechner’s, unearthed from a 1987 Norton lecture, and 1990 lecture from Laity Lodge, edited by John Sloan. Here, Buechner reflects on the sacredness of ordinary life, calling us to stop, look and listen to life. While this book was not prepared for publication by Buechner himself, these are very much his words and sensibility.

9780310351900-1488705378The chapters are arranged in three sections. In part one, Buechner invites us to “stop, look and listen for God.” In chapter 1, the title chapter—The Remarkable Ordinary, Buechner invites us to see the sacred within our ordinary life. Travelling through the arts, Buechner stopswith the haiku of Matsuo Basho, listens to time with music and sees through the lens of J.D. Salinger’s Holden Caulfield (Catcher & the Rye) and Franny and Zooey. In chapter 2, Buechner turns to sacred writ, exploring how the Bible calls us to pay attention, to see God and our neighbor through the attentive eyes of  love:

Jesus says the greatest commandment is loving God and loving our neighbors. I don’t know what it means to love God—really, I’m all that good at it—but one of the things it means is, just as in the case of loving anybody else, you stop and watch and wait. Listen for God, stop and watch and wait for him. To love God means to pay attention, be mindful, be open to the possibility that God is with you in ways that, unless you have your eyes open, you may never glimpse. He speaks words that, unless you have ears open, you may never hear. Draw near to him as best you can. (36-37).

And later:

To love your neighbor is to see your neighbor. To see somebody, really see somebody the way Rembrandt saw the old lady, not just the face that comes to you the way dry leaves blow at you down the path like other dry leaves, but in a way that you realize the face is something the likes of which you have never seen before and will never see again. To love somebody we must see the person’s face, and once in a while we do. Usually its because something jolts us into seeing it. (39)

In Part 2, Buechner describes how to listen to God through the stories we tell. In chapter 3, he describes an Episcopalian conference on “story” he didn’t want to speak at, but agreed anyway to come and share his story. His co-speaker was Maya Angelou. While the details of their personal narratives are different, when Angelou got up to speak, she said, “I have the same story to tell as Fredrick Buechner”(53).  Buechner reflects:

And I think what she meant is that at a certain level we do, all of us,  with all our differences, we do have the same story. When it comes to the business of how you become a human being, how do you manage to believe, how do you have faith in a world that gives 14,000 reasons every week not to believe, how do you survive—especially surviving our own childhoods as Maya survived hers and we’ve all survived ours—at that level we all have the same story, and therefore anyone’s story can illuminate our own. (53).

And this gives us the justification for each us to tell our own story and to find ourselves in the stories of others. In chapter four, The Subterranean Grace of God or Why Stories Matter, he reflects further on the meaning in our story:

I think that a part of what to tell one’s own story in the religious sense means is to affirm that there is a plot to one’s life. It’s not just incident following incident without any particular direction or purpose, but things are happening in order to take you somewhere. Just the way a story begins and has a middle and an end. Things are somehow wrapped up at the end, and everything in some fashion can be seen to have led to this inevitable conclusion and to have had its own place, however circumstantial and odd and out-of-the-way some of those things that happened may have been. They had their purpose in the overall shape and texture and reality of one’s story. (59-60)

The “subterranean Grace of God” that shows up in our lives are exemplified as we spy the whiskey priest in Graham Green’s The Power and the Glory, or in Buechner’s own Leo Bebb novels (62, 64-67).

In Part 3, Buechner reflects deeper on his own story, traversing familiar ground to those familiar with his autobiographical works, his father’s suicide and learning to face the pain, vocation and the journey toward wholeness, the presence of peace, and hope.

What makes Buechner such a good writer, is how honestly he is able to cross-examine his own spiritual experience, without resorting to trite platitudes and Christian cliché. His call to us to attend to the remarkable ordinary, rests on the conviction that God and his subterranean grace haunt our lives—the mundane, the significant, the quotidian and the grotesque—and we will see and hear a Presence it if only we can stop, wait and listen. Art and literature, and telling one’s story help us to pause and take notice. “So, art is saying Stop. It helps us to stop by putting a frame around something and makes us see it in a way we would never have seen it under the normal circumstances of living, as so much of us do, on sort of automatic pilot, going through the world without really seeing much of anything” (23). This is what Buecher’s novels and memoirs accomplish. They frame reality, so if for a moment, we can see.

Having read a good number of them, I wouldn’t say this is my favorite of Buechner’s books. But it very good and had all the elements and insight I’ve come to appreciate from the nonagenarian Presbyterian. It is a short book and well worth your time. I give it four stars. – ★★★★

Notice of material connection:  I received a copy of this book from HandleBar Media in exchange for my honest review.

To Steward Our Pain: a book review

Frederick Buechner is one of my favorite authors. He is a writer of enigmatic fiction with strange and conflicted characters (e.g. the holy and profane Godric, an unsaintly, Saint Brendan, and the unlikable religious charlatan Lou Bebb), as well as sermons and theological musings, and poignant memoirs which wrestle with darkness, grace and calling.

A Crazy, Holy Grace: The Healing Power of Pain and Memor9780310349761-1488760618y is vintage Buechner. Quite literally, in fact. Most of this book is culled from the Buechner canon with selections from The Sacred Journey, The Clown in the Belfry, Beyond Words, A Room Called Remember, Secrets in the Dark, Telling Secrets. However, the opening chapter, “The Gates of Pain,” is an unpublished lecture he gave, describing ways we can best steward our pain.

I typically am not fond of books of ‘selections,’ as they wrest passages from their context, catalog, and put them on display, like the bones of an ancient man in a museum. It is so much better to experience a book (and the person!) with its joints and sinews, muscle and skin, passion and intellect, embodied the way its Author intended. That being said, the themes of pain, loss and memory haunt Buechner’s works and these selections are well chosen. The lion’s share comes from just two works, with large swaths from The Eyes of the Heart and Beyond Words and supplemented by the Sacred Journey and the other books.

The book is broken into two principal parts. Part 1 describes pain (chapters 1 and 2) and part 2, memory (chapters 3-6).  A third section of the book posts shorter reflections on secrets, grace, depression, death and the ways God speaks.

Buechner begins the “The Gates of Pain” by describing an episode related to his father’s alcoholism during his childhood. Someone had told him after hearing the story in a talk he gave, “You have been a good steward of your pain” (16). The essay weaves our universal experience of pain, with the parable of the talents inviting each of us to trade life, what we’ve been given—joy and sorrow—with those around us, inviting us to likewise steward our pain. “What does it mean to trade? I think it means to give what you have in reutrn for what you need. You give of yourself, and in return you receive something from other selves to whom you give”(26-27).

Buechner tells of an out-of-town friend who showed up unannounced to sit with him as he was consumed by his daughter’s struggle with anorexia (27-28). He challenges each us to learn to not only share uncontainable joys but to open up the door into our pain, share our struggle and allow God’s miraculous healing to enter our lives (28).  Jesus doesn’t come to us in his own flesh but through the guise of the other, so, Buechner contends, trading pain, allows us to experience His healing presence. “Joy is the end of it. Through the gates of pain we enter into joy” (32).

The second chapter is the passage in The Sacred Journey that describes Buechner’s father’s suicide and its aftermath.

It is probably fitting that as I read part 2 on memory, I was remembering passages and people I had read before. Buechner remembers pain, loss, relationships with friends and family and the way his father haunts his life. He describes the interplay between hope and remembrance, between hope and expectation.

To remember my life is to remember the countless times I might have given up, gone under, when humanly speaking I might have gotten lost beyond the power of any to find me. But I didn’t. I have not given up. And each of you, with all the memories you have and the tales you could tell, you have also not given up. You also are survivors and are here. And what does that tell us, our surviving? It tells us that weak as we are, a strength beyond our strength has pulled us through at least this far, at lest to this day. Foolish as we are, a wisdom beyond our wisdom has flickered up just often enough to light us if not on the right path through the forest, at least to a path that leads us forward, that is bearable. Faint of heart as we are, a love beyond power to love has kept our hearts alive. (61-62).

One of the gifts that Buechner has given his readers and the church, is a reflective understanding of how pain shapes our journey. But not just pain. There are also the feeble ways God’s grace breaks into our lives, bringing hope, healing, and wholeness. As fantastical though it seems.

The world we are living in is filled with walking wounded. Broken relationships, news cycles dominated by natural disasters, racial violence, sexual harassment, and assault. Even so, come Lord Jesus.  In the meantime, we need friends to come and share the journey with us and so mediate Christ’s presence to us. Buechner testifies to the power of sharing our pain with others and has shown us how to trade pain in his prose.

This is a good book. Even if you have most of it in other forms on your shelf, as I do, “The Gates of Pain” is worth reading and reflecting upon. I give this four stars. -★★★★

Notice of material connection: I received a copy of this book from Handlebar Media in exchange for my honest review

A Clay Jar Glory: a book review

Joni Eareckson Tada’s story is well known among evangelicals. In 1967, at the age of seventeen, a diving accident left her as a quadriplegic. This led to struggles with depression, suicidal thoughts, and a crisis of faith. Two years later, Tada emerged from the darkness to become an artist, a Christian speaker and author. She is respected for strong and enduring testimony and she is a tireless advocate for the disabled. Her openness about her own struggles with depression, chronic pain and doubt has encouraged millions. Tada’s latest book, A Spectacle of Glory, is a 365-day, daily devotional designed to help readers put God’s glory on display, even in the midst of difficult, trying circumstance.

spectacleThese daily devotions consist of a Scripture verse reference (occasionally a version of the Bible suggested), a couple of paragraphs reflection and exhortation and a short prayer. The scripture references consist of one to three Bible verses for each day. As someone who enjoys studying the Bible, I don’t usually go for the daily-verse type devotionals; however the brevity of these devotions is one of its best features. I have friends who have suffered from chronic pain, Parkinson’s, or have undergone mind-addling medical treatment. This zaps their energy and destroys their ability to concentrate for longer periods. Reading long swaths of Scripture or doing deep study is not feasible. What they need is an encouraging word. in the midst of their circumstance.

And Tada delivers. With more than fifty years of faithful Christian service as a quadriplegic, she speaks with integrity about what it means to persevere, our strong hope and the robust character of Christian joy.  If you are in the market for a devotional in 2017, this may be a good choice.

Note: I received this book from Handlebar media in exchange for my honest review.

The Fulsome Imagination of Lewis: a book review

According to Jerry Root and Mark Neal, Lewis wrote in at least seventeen  literary genres: apologetics, autobiography, educational philosophy, essays, fairy stories, journal, letters, literary criticism, literary history, lyric poetry, narrative poetry, the novel, religious devotion, satire, science fiction, short story, and translation (03). Is there a thread that runs through these each of these genres? Root & Neal say Imagination. In The Surprising Imagination of C.S. Lewis, they provide a taxonomy of the various ways Lewis employs imagination (or warns of its misuse).
9781426795107Lewis’s various genres showcase different aspects of hisimagination. “He wrote in a literary form that helped him best set forth a certain body of idea”(4). Root & Neal divide their exploration of Lewis’ imagination along generic lines, exploring first his non-fiction (autobiography, religious writing and literary criticism) under the heading of “Imagination and the Literature of the Mind.” Part 2, “Imagination and the Literature of the Heart, looks at Lewis’s fiction and poetry. Of course the aspect of imagination described in each of Root and Neal’s chapters may exist in multiple works of Lewis (and genres) but they chose a principle work which highlights what they wanted to say about Lewis’s imagination, and citing other Lewis lit along the way.

Part 1 showcases hoe Lewis employed imagination to orient himself toward reality. His autobiography, Surprised by Joy, reveals a baptized imagination–regenerate and oriented toward the discovery of God (16). Mere Christianity exemplifies Lewis’s use of shared imagination: creativity that connects and communicates with his audience (17, 28). The satisfied imagination ‘”delights in the familiar the simple, the mundane, and the repetitive in a manner that brings our minds back to the eternal source of order and repetition”(31). Letters to Malcom Chiefly on Prayer provide the lens for mundane imagining. Lewis’ literary criticism in An Experiment in Criticism and The Discarded Image explore the awakened imagination and the realizing imagination. The awakened imagination is an ‘invitation to break out of the dungeon of self’ and awaken to new ideas (57). In The Discarded Image Lewis described the medieval cosmology and how their worldview determined their vision, and their interpretation of  the past. Lewis exploration helps us evaluate the past and present, and gives us space to question our own assumptions.

In part 2, we see that not all of Lewis’s descriptions of the  imagination are positive. He begins cheerily enough by describing the penetrating imagination of A Horse and His Boy (which employs metaphor to give us a deeper knowledge of a reality), the material imagination of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and examines the primary imagination in  Out of the Silent Planet (our use of the five senses to understand and interpret the world). But imagination can take a dark turn. That Hideous Strength describes Lewis’s idea of the generous imagination , “[the] deificaiton of an idea or thing to the point that borders on adoration or vilification. Simply put it seeks to embellish a thing beyond what it deserves. Its effect is to weaken the self and narrow the soul” (121). The Great Divorce explores the transforming imagination through its characters—a projected, overidealized and inflated expectation of the objects of our affection which leads inevitably to disappointment and disenchantment. The Screwtape Letters take us deeper into the realm of projection (and hell) by showcasing a controlled imagination which projects one’s self-seeking desires on others (155). Root and Neal end on a happier note, showing how Lewis’s poetry provide a lens for the absorbing imagination—a synthesis between old ideas and new consciousness which transcends our own particularity (171). An appendix explores additional use of imagination by C.S. Lewis.

Anyone who has gone through the wardrobe with Lewis, or read his religious writings knows he was a deeply imaginative man with a broad intelligence. Root and Neal do an excellent job of exploring and naming the various ways that Lewis employed imagination. But I don’t like the title. Lewis’ imagination was comprehensive, far-reaching  and full-orbed. But surprising? If you have read Lewis at all, you aren’t all that surprised by Lewis’s imagination and penetrating insights.

But my misgivings about the title (which may not even be Root’s and Neal’s fault), shouldn’t put you off. An exploration of Lewis’s fulsome imagination is worthwhile and Root and Neal summarize ideas and analyze how Lewis employed them. This book will enhance your understanding of Lewis and deepen your appreciation of his writing. Root and Neal make good use of Lewis’ scholarship and shows what one mans imaginings reveal. I give this four-and-a-half stars.

Note: I received this book from the publisher through Handlebar Media in exchange for my honest review.

A Storied Easter: a book review

About a dozen years ago my wife and I read a little devotional called Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter. It was published by Plough Publishing, the publishing arm of an intentional Christian community called the Bruderhof (also called Church Communities International). It was a wonderful collection of stories, poems, memoir and theological reflection. It remains my favorite Lenten devotional.

This year Plough Publishing has published a new book for the Easter Season: Easter Stories: Classic Tales for the Holy Season. Edited by Miriam Leblanc with beautiful woodcut illustrations by Lisa Toth, this book gathers twenty-seven stories which are related, in some sense, to Easter and Passion week. A poem and a tale from Bruderhofer, Jane Tyson Clement, opens the collection, but the theological perspectives and literary styles of what follows are diverse. There are stories that follow closely the passion narratives and Easter story (see Andre Trocme’s How Donkeys Got the Spirit of Contradiction or Clarence Jordon’s Stories from the Cotton Patch Gospel). There are stories that speak evocatively about Easter and the meaning of spiritual transformation (for example, C.S. Lewis’s ‘The Death of the Lizard’ excerpted from “The Great Divorce” or Sarah Cone Bryant’s Robert of Sicily). A few of these tales come from European folklore. Mostly these stories were penned in the Nineteenth or Twentieth Century. Vocationally the authors were novelists, dramatists, childrens’ story authors, pastors, and poets). There are Christian authors, communists and the religious unaffiliated.

As diverse at the material is, the authors and stories selected are from White Europeans (or their American descendants). There are German, Russian, English, French, Swedish, American authors. While this is a limited selection, it does reflect the context and heritage of the Bruderhof. I picture  that these are the sort of tales that they would tell their young. I had read some of the material they include here (C.S. Lewis, Tolstoy, Wangerin, etc), some authors I knew by reputation, others were unfamiliar to me.

As with all collections, I enjoyed some stories more than others. Some grabbed me, others didn’t. On the whole, however, an enjoyable collection and thought provoking. Story has a way of igniting the imagination and helping us see the meaning of things. Can’t think of a better subject matter than the Easter event. I do not think this is as strong a collection as Bread and Wine was, but it is a worthwhile and enjoyable read. Toth’s woodcuts are stunning. I give the book 3.5 stars.

Notice of Material Connection, I received this book from the publisher via Handlebar Media in exchange for my honest review.