As a preacher, I am accustomed to offering the word, both words and the Word. I have discovered that it is not only the sermon or the monthly newsletter article that clergy are to regularly prepare, but many times I am asked to say a few words at all kinds of community events or religious gatherings. Fortunately, words come easy for me.
Throughout history, words have also come easy for the church. Ours is a faith that has filled books with histories of saints and doctrinal statements and timeless liturgies and books of order and church governance. Give Christians enough words and we think we can do anything.
In loving words, we should not be ashamed. But words are only one of the gifts that God has given us. With words, we are able to celebrate the intellect, the mind that is fired with thoughts and ideas and new ways to give ancient praise to an eternal God.
In the days and weeks ahead, we here at All Souls will have two opportunities to celebrate two gifted women who work with words in order to help us engage in the world where words cannot adequately describe the issues facing our generation of believers.
Mallory McDuff, a member of All Souls, teaches environmental education at Warren Wilson College. She has a new book coming out this month from Oxford University Press entitled Natural Saints: How People of Faith are Working to Save God’s Earth. I was honored to write the afterword to the book, a book in which Mallory explores several church communities and their various responses to environmental degradation and care.
On Thursday, September 23rd, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. in the parish hall, we will host a book launch for Mallory. Accent on Books will serve as the bookseller for the evening and we will have a chance to hear more from Mallory about the communities she encountered in her research and writing. Please join us for this evening.
On Saturday, October 9th, we will welcome Lauren Winner as presenter for the 2010 Zabriskie Learning Series. Lauren is a popular and gifted writer, speaker, and currently teaches at Duke Divinity School. Her most popular book, entitled, Girl Meets God, has received numerous positive reviews, including:
“A passionate and thoroughly engaging account of a continuing spiritual journey within two profoundly different faiths.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“A charming, humorous, and sometimes abrasive recollection of a religious coming-of-age . . . a compelling journey from Judaism to Christianity.”
—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“A book to savor . . . Winner is an all-too-human believer, and the rest of us can see our own struggles, theological and otherwise, in hers.”
—Fort Worth Star-Telegram
In addition to Girl Meets God, she has written several other books and is a frequent book reviewer both for the New York Times Book Review and Books and Culture.
Lauren will speak on the topic of “A Theology of Home.” In a rootless age, where do we find home? What anchors and roots might come from our faith? Please join us as we explore this topic with Lauren. The day will include a morning lecture from Lauren and a writing exercise in the afternoon to help us explore our need for home. Accent on Books will offer several of Lauren’s books for sale.
To register, please be in touch with Robbin Whittington, director of the Center for Spiritual Resources, at 274-2681, robbin@allsoulscathedral.org, or thecsr.org.
Words, carefully and thoughtfully chosen, can guide us into good and loving places. But those words are best understood as guides to lead us toward the Word, the Christ who meets us in baptism, where words can never completely capture the mystery of God’s saving and revealing love.