traveling mercies
Just finished reading Anne Lamotte's Traveling Mercies. Wow. Still reeling. Still mulling. Anybody else's observation of this book would be welcomed!
Speaking of traveling mercies, or "journey's mercies" as we used to say in my neck of the woods, I'm gearing myself up emotionally for CBA. I've decided to write down the TOP TEN WEIRD THINGS ON THE CBA FLOOR. My only fear is placing a limitation on this. Of course, I guess I could just post them all and let you decide which items deserve status in this hall of fame of weirdness.
Speaking of weird religious moneymaking deals, I wonder what you've seen in your travels down the cluttered aisles of religious bookstores? Please share! Personally, I never knew tea was so spiritual. But from the amount of books about tea, I'd say it's on it's way to becoming a sacrament. I just like tea. I like the way it scampers on my tongue and makes me feel that all is right, at least for that moment. However, it's still a beverage, a humble beverage people have been drinking for centuries, not something transubstantiated because Christians seem to like it.
On another, less pissed off note, I had to share what happened on Jennifer's porch today. Now Jennifer, my dearest friend in all the world, lives on a farm outside Nashville. We arrived home from various excursions this morning and swallows were divebombing and fluttering and giving the spiders absolute hell! I say hell in deference to the spiders. I mean, if some bigger creature was divebombing you, heck just wouldn't cut it. This is life and death. Relentlessly pursing the little buggers, the birds worked tirelessly until not one eight-legged freak remained. I need the birds of God all time, to come and eat up my spiders. Sure more spiders will knit their webs upon my heart and soul, but I'm trusting God to send in the birds.
grace,
lisa
posted by lisa @ 5:44 PM
7 Comments:
Weird things seen on the aisles of religious bookstores? That could fill a book. My favorite is from my childhood. It was a pencil sharpener in the shape of a plane that had "Be Ye Kind" on the top. Even at the age of six, I remember thinking, "What does being kind have to do with sharpening pencils?"
Hi Lisa,
Welcome back! I think Anne Lamott is one of the first ragamuffin divas I ever encountered. I came to know her first through her writing book Bird by Bird. Then I started reading her Salon.com columns, and was suprised by the grace I found there.
In her work I find the tender love of Jesus, sharp wit, and amazing honesty. Thanks for mentioning her.
As for weirdness in a religious book store...the inspirational Tae Bo DVD. You can praise God *and* kick butt at the same time!
Anne Lamott: She's humorous, she's insightful, but her politics suck. I had coffee this afternoon with a friend who also frequents your blog, Lisa, and we agreed that we loved "Traveling Mercies," that Anne has a unique ministry to point people to Jesus, but that we wouldn't want her discipling anyone (and not just because of her politics).
Weird Christian Merchandise: Don't know. I close my eyes upon entering any Christian retail outfit and ask the salespeople to lead me directly to the fiction section.
anne lamott, great. anyone who can make me laugh until my sides hurt is okay in my book.
i'll probably get shot for saying this but i HATE the message bible. i call it the cliche bible. i wish it could be uninvented, like the atomic bomb.
I love Anne Lamott's "Travelling Mercies" and "Bird by Bird". I love her authenticity and transparency and her love for Jesus. I cringed a little when she referred to God as a "She" in "Travelling Mercies", but not at all at the use of the f-word in her testimony. I attended a conference last year where she was the keynote speaker and it was really cool to see that she is the same person in front of a podium that you see in print and therefore I love her very much. I think she has evangelistic gifts, supernatural gifts in that area, and she has a mission field. That mission field is people who have left-wing politics like hers, who have tasted the degradation alcohol and drugs wreak, who feel like misfits around those who've led nearly spotless Christian lives for generations in their families.
I cut her a lot of slack for such things as the use of "her" when referring to God, even though I agree with David Lyle Jeffrey who gave a lecture I attended once and said, "Jesus called God Father. That leaves us no other option."
I cut her slack because Jesus reached down and plucked me out of a terrible lifestyle and even after I had a personal relationship with Him, I still had a lot of stupid and false ideas that I clung to. It took years before I saw that what I needed was an orthodox and Apostolic faith and only through having that faith, entire and whole, would I find the victory in Christ that so eluded me even after doing the sinner's prayer.
St. Anselm once said, "I believe in order to understand." I used to strive to understand first, and thus I believed some stuff in the Bible and some of the Creeds, but didn't believe others because I didn't understand. Now, I'm with Anselm. I believe.....I choose to believe. Help me to understand.
Deborah
To NCPastorsWife:
You find that disturbing, too?
anne lamott. absolutely loved traveling mercies, as well as bird by bird, and operating instructions. Deborah, I'm wondering if you saw Anne at the NPC/Emergent Conference in San Diego. She was wonderful there - I got a chance to meet her and shared with her that she was the first author to help me appreciate the use of the f-word. Beautiful usage in her conversion story. I think Lamott is a testament to the wonderful diversity of those who want to follow Christ. I got a chance to visit her church last month and had a wonderful visit. You can check out some pictures here:
http://cleave.blogs.com/pomomusings/2004/06/st_andrew_presb.html
I thank God for Anne Lamott and for those she is reaching.
Adam
http://www.adamcleaveland.com
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