I'm rather fond of the way the Quakers call each other "friends." It seems so, well...friendly. And I'm reminded of that great title of the Lord: Jesus, Friend of Sinners. Of course the term brother or sister, which is quite common within Christendom, is actually more apt. You can choose your friends, but you are stuck with your siblings.
Several of us sat around the table in the back room, schmoozing after the Illuminated Journaling class. A woman walked in the front door. "Sean Hannity," she said, spotting a book on our American Issues shelf. "Who would want to read him?"
Being a non-TV person, I had no idea who Sean Hannity is. "What do you like to read?" I asked.
"Something non-fundamentalist," she said in disgust.
"We have that, too." I answered.
"I don't think so," She cast blind eyes over our New Arrivals display that included such fundamentalists as John le Carre, Lindskold's Wolf's Head, Wolf's Heart, Dominiqu LaPierre's story of Gandi, an OA 12-step book, Breathnach's Simple Abundance, Byrne's The Secret, Sandburg's Rootabaga Stories, and a Thomas the Tank Engine board book.
"Back here..." I started to say.
"No, I couldn't." She lifted her chin. "There are other stores." The door banged as she swept out.
We looked at each other. "She probably thinks of herself as tolerant," Sandy said.
Yeah, probably. And inclusive, too.
"The principal contributor to loneliness in this country is television. What happens is that the family 'gets together' alone." - Ashley Montagu
Quakers, of course, also know that we are stuck with each other. Several of the quotes in Plain Living, compiled by Catherine Whitmire, talk about the importance of receiving all people, of standing with all, of caring for all. Easier said then done, finite beings that we are, but we can at least try to be companions on the road with those who cross our path.
"I didn't find my friends, the good God gave them to me." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
It was a month of NOT reading lots of books. I'd bring home three or four, flush with the joy of a stack in hand and a weekend in view, only to find myself poking around pages without great interest. A scrungy paperback of May Sarton's A Reckoning kept drifting to the bottom of the pile--who wants to read about somebody dying? However, when I finally opened it, the novel grabbed my attention. Sarton is such a good writer. She gives a compelling view of the interior life of a woman moving toward journey's end. If this is what dying is like, I thought, maybe it won't kill me.
Unfortunately only sponsors, staff and people with public library cards get to freely take home a handful of books to poke through. And people with library cards don't get to keep one or two for a few bucks and then pass them along to friends. It would be lovely if we could make this free perusal generally available, but I can't figure out how that fits with paying the rent. If you can figure it out, let me know.
"Never spend your money before you have it." - Thomas Jefferson
The Literary Sci Fi / Fantasy Party was a blast. A dozen people crammed into our back room. Several were quite knowledgeable about award winning books and authors in the genre's history. Others had never read Sci Fi or Fantasy before. We also had a cheater who put rubber bands around a whole series and tried to pawn it off as a single book. For some reason I attract incorrigible friends. One guy wandered in, joined us for a half hour and then came back again after-words asking, "What is this place?" Everyone flung around too many books for me to itemize here, but I will attempt to get a list on the website. Next month we're doing Historical Fiction. Friday, April 17 at 1:30. Come and bring a book. ONE. OK, two if you insist. But not three, not four, not more.
"People like to imagine that because all our mechanical equipment moves so much faster, that we are thinking faster, too." -Christopher Morley
Anne Rice of vampire fame wrote a book on her return to the church, Called out of Darkness: a Spiritual Confession. Then she proceeded to write historical fiction around Jesus. (You could read one and bring it to the Literary Historical Fiction Party--not to be confused with the Literary Hysterical Fiction Party...a possible future event.) Usually when novelists write about their spiritual life it's an interesting read; they tend to be adept at trekking through interior landscapes.
Nevada Barr's Seeking Enlightenment...Hat by Hat: A Skeptic's guide to Religion is another novelist trying her hand at religion. Barr's mystery series features a detective who is a park ranger. This makes for unusual settings, but the protagonist doesn't much like people. I read one that took place around the Statue of Liberty; lots of interesting descrpitions but short on interesting relationships. We have several for a buck or two on our mystery shelf. I'll even throw in the hats for free.
"The function of the imagination is not to make strange things settled, so much as to make settled things strange." -G.K. Chesterton
Sasha's favorite title on the New Arrivals shelf is Dog Training, Fly Fishing, and Sharing Christ in the 21st Century: Empowering Your Church to Build Community Through Shared Interests by Ted Haggard. If anyone knows of a church where you can regularly bring your dog, she'd like to know about it.
I like my yellow, black and white book display that was inspired by the wonderful picture book, The House in the Night. If you were on twitter, you'd already know about the display, and about Calvin's 22 Volume Commentaries and Schaeffer's 5 Volume complete works that are already sold. (twitter.com/companyofsaints) If you're not feeling sufficiently bird-brained to get on twitter, you can follow late breaking news--well maybe not exactly news--on our website home page. Isn't that ducky?
"A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer; it sings because it has a song." - Maya Angelo
Instead of seekers, Olden suggests we use the the term, explorers. What terrain is more interesting, more compelling, more surprising than the windswept human heart? May we explore the majesty and mystery of the risen Christ as friends and family, companions on the road.
Blessings,
Alliee +