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April 11, 2007 The Parish Minister’s Column The Rev. Barbara J. Pescan I guess because I am a minister charged with some program responsibilities, people send me their books to review and to use or recommend to discussion groups. I hardly ever do that because I simply don’t have time to read unsolicited manuscripts, as they say.
I love to read, though – some for the relaxation of a good story, some to stretch my understanding, teach me something about church systems and process, and so forth. I am eclectic about what I read – and I am always looking for recommendations. Sometimes people mention books to me and then loan them or give them to me. What a blessing!
Right now, I am reading several books, off and on: A Soldier of the Great War, by Mark Helprin; Karen Armstrong’s A Short History of Myth; a book on governance by Richard Crait; a short introduction to Globalization, by Manfred Steger; in and out of Thirst, Mary Oliver’s most recent poetry collection; and Grace (eventually) by Anne Lamott. And, I just finished one of John Grisham’s lesser works, just for the speedy story.
Some books I choose, and some choose me. I like to have a good mystery going at all times, and feel bereft when I don’t have one at hand … most often the bad characters get their just desserts by the end of the story, rare in real life. I suppose that’s a suspect way for a minister to read -- to see that someone, somewhere gets what’s coming to him/her when they act badly. Some I mine for sermon illustrations (not the most honorable way to read a book).
I have heard it said that clergy are probably the last generalists – a long word for jack-of-some-trades and practitioner-of-a-few. I like it. I like trawling for religious connections in strange waters, and find ways to use what I pull out of the deeps. I try to find different ways to make my one sermon new to you. It’s no secret what that sermon is. As near as I can capture it, the sermon I preach to myself most often and try to say to you is, “Inhabit this life; engage; be forgiving when you can; and express your gratitude and your ethics and your maladjustment to injustice out where the children can see it. Find as many ways as you can to love -- compassion, laughter, music, courage, kindness, gentleness, fearless abiding through the storms of family life -- and when you don’t manage all that, be kind to yourself: it’s a long road and we’re going to go all the way, sometimes with companions, sometimes alone.”
Reading reminds me how many ways there are to walk the road -- how many have been along these routes before us, and how often we are going along so much better than we had thought. Thank you, Mrs. Burkhouse, one more time, for letting me read by the window when my fourth grade desk work was done. The life-long love began right there.
Tell me what you’re reading these days, and why it grabs you.
Unitarian Church of Evanston
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