Jeff Crosno Wants To Introduce You To Some Friends You Might Like To Know

From time to time, I'm asked to recommend books and authors that fall under the general category of "spiritual autobiography."  There is always some risk in doing so, for the deeply personal stories that touch me with their honesty, insight and humility may leave others stone cold and unimpressed.  The point is not that we agree with them on every point (I don't), but that in listening carefully to their stories we begin to discern the Holy Spirit at work within a human life.  And of course, once we begin to do this with others it comes as no surprise that we start listening for the Spirit's presence in our own lives with much greater care.  With all of this in mind, here is a short list of some of my favorites in the field:

Frederick Buechner.  Where to start with this Presbyterian minister and Pulitzer Prize nominated novelist?  Let me suggest several of Buechner's autobiographical offerings -- The Sacred Journey: A Memoir of Early Days; Now and Then: A Memoir of Vocation; Telling Secrets; The Longing for Home: Reflections at Midlife; Yellow Leaves: A Miscellany.

Kathleen Norris.  Perhaps no living writer has helped me recognize the essential and formative significance of place in establishing our sense of identity and community than Norris in her bestseller, Dakota: A Spiritual Geography.  Moving from New York back to her grandparent's home in Lemmon, South Dakota, Norris writes with a poet's clear eye regarding the contradictions of small town life in a declining agricultural community.  She has now gone on to enjoy both critical acclaim and further publishing success with the story of her immersion in a Benedictine monastery as a Presbyterian laywoman in The Cloister Walk.  If you get hooked on Norris, you will also want to read The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy and "Women's Work," as well as Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith and Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life.

Lauren Winner.  Now a professor at Duke Divinity School, Winner burst onto the literary scene with a bestseller about her conversion, Girl Meets God: A Memoir.  Her follow-up, Mudhouse Sabbath, describes how her newfound Christian faith continues to be shaped by her previous experience as an Orthodox Jew.

Anne Lamott.  Newsweek once said that Lamott writes about subjects that begin with capital letters (Alcoholism, Motherhood, Jesus) with "self-effacing humor and ruthless honesty."  I find her shocking at times, consistently incisive, and quite often laugh-out-loud funny.  Try her books Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith, or Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith to see what you think.

Reynolds Price.  Before his death in 2011, this Rhodes scholar, prizewinning novelist, poet and essayist taught English literature for several decades at Duke University.  He beautifully narrated his life-threatening bout with cancer and the deep reservoir of his own developing faith that informed all of his subsequent work as a writer in A Whole New Life: An Illness and a Healing.  Both forever scarred and transformed as a result of his own physical suffering, Price also penned a very moving Christian response to the agonies of undeserved evil and pain entitled, Letter To A Man In The Fire: Does God Exist and Does He Care?

Dorothy Day.  Writing about her Christian conversion and subsequent ministry as co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement in The Long Loneliness, Day stands as a reminder regarding the profound impact of any life given without reservation to Jesus Christ.  After you read this spiritual autobiography, don't miss what amounts to a second volume in this compelling story, Loaves and Fishes.

Scott Cairns.  I met Scott while working for the Forest Service, and now he is a celebrated Guggenheim Fellow whose poetry has been widely published.  You might enjoy the most recent memoir, A Short Trip To The Edge: Where Earth Meets Heaven -- A Pilgrimage, written by this former Baptist from Tacoma whose adult journey includes a surprising conversion to the Orthodox Christian faith.

Fred Craddock.  Named "one of the 12 best preachers in the English language" by Baylor University, Fred is one of the true "master storytellers" of the Church.  Even if you never get ordained, I'm betting you will enjoy the profound wisdom of Reflections on My Call to Preach: Connecting the Dots.

Barbara Brown Taylor.  Another one of those "12 best preachers," I consider Taylor to be one of the most gifted "wordsmiths" in my acquaintance.  Let me start by recommending two recent books, Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith, and An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith.

Eugene Peterson.  The son of a Montana butcher and an early Pentecostal "preacher-woman," Peterson went on to minister to a growing, suburban Presbyterian church in Maryland for 29 years before finishing his career as a professor and bestselling author.  If you like his translation of the Bible, The Message, you will undoubtedly want to read his account of a lifetime of faithful ministry in The Pastor: A Memoir.

Heidi B. Neumark.  This Lutheran pastor writes with fierce intelligence, passion and humor about her ministry in one of the poorest neighborhoods of New York City.  Prepare to be deeply moved as you read Breathing Space: A Spiritual Journey in the South Bronx.

Richard Lischer.  After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of London, Lischer took appointment to his first pastorate in a small, rural community in southern Illinois.  Open Secrets: A Spiritual Journey Through A Country Church is the sparkling gem that resulted from those early years.

Greg Garrett.  This past winner of the William Faulkner Prize for Fiction and highly regarded professor at Baylor University tells the story of his own torturous path toward recovery and redemption in Crossing Myself: A Story of Spiritual Rebirth.

Annie Dillard.  Living for two years on an island in Puget Sound, Dillard crafted a truly beautiful meditation on the mystery of living in a Creation that is both full of grace and inexplicably marked by suffering.  If you're looking for a writer who will take seriously the nagging questions about God that may be bothering you, please don't overlook Dillard and that stunning early book, Holy the Firm.  Once you start there, you will probably want to continue on with Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters; the memoir An American Childhood; and her Pulitzer Prize winning collection of essays, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.

        Knowing that Memorial Day weekend was initially intended to evoke the recognition of values more significant than a chance to incur debt during a holiday sale at some furniture store, memory proves to be very instructive.  In my case, a glance at the calendar always triggers the recollection of a long road trip making a way back to our Kansas City jobs after lingering one day longer than planned during a brief vacation on the shore of Lake Michigan.  As I recall, our plan was to skirt the holiday congestion of the interstate by zipping across several states on some backcountry highways.  But in reality, we quickly discovered ourselves idling behind a succession of Midwestern Memorial Day parades, all of which seemed to snake across the countryside from the starting point of a courthouse square to a poignant termination in a pioneer cemetery.  At some point the driver, who shall remain nameless for his own protection in this retelling of the story, simply gave up on his earlier plan to arrive home at a decent hour and began to reflect more deeply on the symbolism of our slow moving journey.  There we were, every last one of us inching forward together in a joyful trek that was taking us inevitably toward a grave.  All these years later, that remains my best image of Memorial Day.

          Now the truth is our culture will offer you no shortage of alternative imagery for this holiday, most of which is obviously intended to separate you from your hard earned cash.  But before you succumb to the temptation to think this weekend is merely the signal of the beginning of the summer vacation season or an excuse to buy yourself that new boat, motorcycle, or La-Z-Boy recliner that you really do not need, may I suggest that you pause for a few moments to not only remember the sacrificial service of our armed forces personnel but commit yourself to serving their loved ones and comrades in some tangible expression of love and care?  In fact, broaden your response to that impulse by entering into the conspiracy of compassion and kindness represented by your fellow congregants by giving your time to support our Upward Special Kids Award Night next week or sharing a love gift to extend compassionate ministry to the Oklahoma tornado victims.  But whatever you choose to do in honoring the human gifts that make us part of what Dr. King called the beloved community, I hope you will remember that among Christians, unexpressed gratitude is of no benefit to anyone.  Or as it is clearly expressed by our Scriptures, the proper function of a blessing is to empower us in turn to extend that blessing to others.  

Jeff Crosno

Memorial Day Sunday, May 26th      

 The simple truth is that most everyone will experience some measure of suffering over the course of a lifetime.  Curiously, the Bible spends almost no time whatsoever trying to explain why this is true.  Instead, we're simply reminded by the Scriptures that God has chosen to enter fully into our suffering.  As our Living Old School series concludes on Memorial Day weekend, Pastor Jeff will be speaking about God's Prayer List in a message drawn from Romans 8:18-27.