When I am in a season of seeking to remember and reclaim why I am alive, I reach for the novels of Elizabeth Goudge. Finding myself once more in that season, I am re-reading my old friends. The Scent of Water is among my top three of her stories. Goudge, herself a devout Christian who… Continue reading A Root of Integrity
Tag: Books
Narnia Revisited
If its been awhile since you have been immersed in Narnia, I heartily recommend it as an anecdote for that sluggishness of soul that so easily creeps up on us. Narnia has been in my teaching repertoire for several years now. In 2003 I began to teach a class called "The Seven Deadly Sins in… Continue reading Narnia Revisited
Faith, Hope and Love
I cannot imagine a world without faith, hope and love. We would be left without the inheritance of spiritual gifts to make sense of life, press into life, and embrace the goodness of life. For this is what faith, hope and love, the gifts of our birthright in Christ, offer to us. Christian faith speaks… Continue reading Faith, Hope and Love
If Christ Never Came
Last week I came across a comment from Orthodox theologian Alexander Schmemman that found an uncomfortable echo in my own soul. "We live as if Christ never came. This is the only real sin, the sin of all sins, the bottomless sadness and tragedy of our nominal Christianity" (Great Lent). Several of my recent blogs… Continue reading If Christ Never Came
The Splendor of Grace
Increasingly, these days, I find myself crying “Lord, have mercy.” I no longer find it very helpful to distinguish whether the emphasis of my cry is for me or for another. Somehow, as I get older, I find the veil between others and myself gets thinner. I ache for marriages that are so terribly difficult—so… Continue reading The Splendor of Grace
Praying with Blocks
“Lord, it is like this...” What would our prayers be like if we were free to be honest with God? No flowery words, no undigested churchy images. Just honest. I’ve been teaching a course on intercessory prayer through the lenses of gospel stories where friends bring friends to Jesus. The father with a child writhing on the ground, who… Continue reading Praying with Blocks
Remembering Ma
Tonight I find myself thumbing through my very worn copy of Grapes of Wrath. I have another "clean" copy downstairs on my respectable living room bookshelves. The one resting on my desk was already used when I bought it, and is now held together with tape. But it bears the markings from the first time… Continue reading Remembering Ma
Renouncing the Devil
Today is a “go to your cell, and your cell will tell you everything” day. But it took me years to discover what I was supposed to be doing in that cell, and I thought if I opened the door a crack, it might give others a greater insight into some of the common dynamics to cell dwelling. Yesterday… Continue reading Renouncing the Devil
Roadside Art
Lobster nets on Mohegan Island, Maine The "lobsta" fishermen on Mohegan Island, Maine, take life not as "a problem to be solved, but a medium for creation" (Dorothy Savers, The Mind of the Maker) to a whole new level. During their off-season (which, for reasons of state politics, was already in effect by the beginning… Continue reading Roadside Art
Bent
I've never desired the approval of everyone. Just selected others, others who, in my eyes, really matter. But in conforming to what it takes to retain their approval, I become a distorted image bearer of my God. I wish I could say it has happened only once. C.S. Lewis calls this condition “bentness.” When I assume this bent… Continue reading Bent
Carla Waterman 