Friday Review -- Traveling Mercies

For my first Friday review, I picked an oldie -- Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott. I avoided this book for years. I was an English major in the early '80's, and I developed an allergy to a certain type of liberal, female academic. Now, don't get me wrong. I am female, I'm relatively moderate in most political areas (which in Oklahoma makes me a flaming liberal), and I used to be an academic. It was just a certain type that I was allergic to. Anyway, I was sure that if I read this book I would break out in hives.


The book converted me early when the author wrote:

. . . I knew beyond any doubt that it was Jesus. I felt him as surely as I feel my dog lying nearby as I write this.

And I was appalled. I thought about my life and my brilliant hilarious progressive friends, I thought about what everyone would think of me if I became a Christian, and it seemed an utterly impossible thing that simply could not be allowed to happen. I turned to the wall and said out loud, "I would rather die."

I know people who feel that way. People whose view of Christianity has been etched by televangelists and parents who get in screaming fights over evolution at school board meetings. How does God reach such people, people who would rather die. . . ?

Lamott writes with real authority of a life of alcohol, drugs and sex that left her emptier and more broken than when she started. She writes of the church she stumbled into. She writes of an elderly church goer who saved up baggies of dimes to give her when times were particularly tough, and she writes of joy and forgiveness and fresh starts.

More importantly, she writes as a Presbyterian elder in a church this denomination desperately needs. A church whose members are, or have been, so broken themselves that the most desperate of God's children can find comfort there. Most Presbyterian churches exude wealth, prosperity and respectability. They don't whisper, "Addicts, come sit in back and let us love you."

I broke down and read this book when it was chosen by a group I am in at church. We used a study guide on the publisher's web page. It is short, but we found it useful.

This book has been out forever. I know a lot of people who cross this page will have read it. So, I will start by linking to Cheesehead in Paradise's blog. She listed this book last week as one that changed her life. If you haven't been by her blog lately, drop in and offer prayers. She, and her church, are having an unspeakable time.

So, anybody else?

JusticeSeeker