some fun summer reading

A class I am taking in the fall has some 16 books on the reading list so I am getting a head start on it. (the class is modern Christian writers), one such book is The Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris. It is a fictional autobiography... well more truth than fiction in a beautiful composed masterpiece. Two examples:

Listening to the Bible read aloud is not only an invaluable immersion in religion as an oral tradition, it allows even the scripture scholars of a monastic community to hear with fresh ears. A human voice is speaking, that of an apostle, or a prophet, and the concerns critical to biblical interpretation- authorship of texts, interpolation of material, redaction of manuscript sources- recede into the background. One doesn't forget what one knows, and the process of listening may well inform one's scholarship. But in the communal lectio, the fact that the book of Jeremiah has several authors matters far less important than the sense of being sought out, personally engaged, making it possible, even necessary, to respond personally to take the scriptures to heart. (pp. 33)

At morning prayer, we heard these words from Ephesians 2: "so you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the founation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone." The altar gleamed, bone white, before the dark wood of the monks choir, and I could dare to conceive of the church as a refuge, a place to find the divided self made whole, the voice of the mocker overcome by the voice of the advocate. It is still a sinful church- how could it be otherwise? - but the words of its prophets and apostles had led me to this sanctuary, and I could dare to imagine it as home, a place where there is no 'other.' (pp. 46)

PS> we raised $17,000 for Light of Life Rescue Mission today at WORD FM :-) YEAH!!