Favorite Moments, Favorite Books

Do you remember where you read your favorite books over the years?
I woke up this morning thinking about the veranda facing West over a grand view at my college on top of Lookout Mountain. I often finished dinner and took my assigned book with a cup of coffee and set at a glass-topped table for a read. Frequently winds and storms would accompany me during my studies. The book that I remember one night was The Christian Mind by Harry Blamires. As the winds rushed by they seemed to blow the truths of this book into my soul. Now that's the way to study, learn, think and process life changing words. It is interesting that I remember vividly one of Blamire's tenets, that if we ever wanted to reach the hearts and minds of the younger generation we must never grow so analytical and abstract about beauty and truth that our hearts stopped swelling at the sight of a sunset or the glory of a rushing waterfall. That was 1971.
In 1968 as I was driving home on the bus in the forests of Colorado my senior year, surrounded by the mumble and jumble of highschoolers when I finished Of Mice and Men. My heart broke that afternoon. I wept, unable to wait until I was alone. I'll never forget Linnie pleading for his brother to describe their dream of the future, "Tell me George, what will it be like?" What he described resonated with the longing in me to reach Home. My worldview, which was agnostic at the time, did not give me the ability to read the ending of this book without feeling deep lose and despair. I wonder if Steinbeck wanted to break our hearts?
One of the first college assignments (1968) was Dicken's Hard Times. I read the first part of it while I had a long soak in the bathtub. What I remember most was, 'Wow, I HAVE to do this? I lovvveeee college.
In the summer of 1972 I gulped down C.S Lewis's Narnia Tales while on my coffee and lunch breaks, waitressing at George's Buffect in Colorado Springs. I found that his world often went with me as I served people, feeling like a fawn or maybe Rippichip was walking by my side. The second time I read this series I was pregnant with my 3rd child and it helped me rest and refresh myself at moments I'd steal away for myself. But the third time I (with my husband) walked through Narnia we took along our 3, 5 and 6 year old. They'd draw and color as he read. They enjoyed watching my engineering husband become choked up and misty over the many tender and poignant moments with Peter, Susan, Lucy and Edmund. And my saddest book reading experience was when we finished this series with 'Further up and Further in". I knew we'd never have this adventure together again. I didn't know that someday (2005) we would share this adventure together at the theatres. Though now ages range from 17 - 23 they acquiesced to my pleas, "Please, don't see it before we go as a family"? They love me and we enjoyed Aslan and his kingdom together.
My favorite novel was read while home from work with a cold (1974), when I was working at the University of Colorado: Sir Gibbie by George MacDonald. Many don't know this author and are missing out. He wrote 'for the child and the childlike'. He was a mentor to C.S.Lewis and used as a model for one of Lewis's characters in The Great Divorce.
While preparing to go to England and Scotland in 1978 I plunged into Dorothy Sayers light and fun Lord Peter Whimsey series. I felt I knew this country before I got there.
During that year I spent months travelling, visiting friends and friends of friends and studying at a christian study center, L'Abri. I will never forget the moments I read Os Guniness's, Doubt: Faith in Two Minds, in various rooms ot the manor house, including the drying room where the laundry dried. It was the warmest place to be in the winter time. It helped answer some of my deepest struggles in my life contemplating the problem of pain and suffering. Another time at this manor house I walked over to the stable apartment and was introduced to E.B White's Charlotte's Webb while listening to the Brandenberg Concertos.
As I traveled on the trains in England I immersed myself in my first Thomas Hardy novel. After returning to the states I went through the rest of his novels, keeping the aroma of England and it's countryside near me.
I can't finish this list without mentioning the most important words that changed my life in the Spring of 1969, sitting in a valley in Estes Park in the mountains of Colorado: "Then he (Jesus) said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me., For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self." I believed these words from Luke 9:23-25. The Bible still is my favorite of all my reads.
Not all of these books are a part of my Ten Favorite Book List, but their words and worlds are etched deeply into my heart and mind.
Tell me about your book experiences.
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Emmanuel: God With Us - Part I and II

Part I
Introduction

God commands Christians to show hospitality in same way that He has shown hospitality to us. In trying to fulfill His commands there will be joy for those who serve others in mercy, and though a burden at times, it is a burden that blesses. The how of this type of opening up and connecting to a world full of wounded and needy will look different for every Christian; for His image bearers will display the diversity of His character when His own obediently use their gifts.

This model of hospitality is based on the love relationship within the trinity, the hospitality shown within the Old and New Testament. What follows is an examination of how the early Catholic Church went from being a beacon of hospitality into the middle ages when it was the last place for the poor to find rest.

And though the reformers devoted teaching to this area and did practice much hospitality in their communities, this paper will also examine how the breakdown in this mercy ministry failed equally in protestantism as it did in the Catholic church. Even today the lack of hospitality is evident across the evangelical church.

Part II
WHAT IS HOSPITALITY?

Hospitality usually involves food and a friendly offer of ourselves with a listening ear. There will be an examination why our culture today is refusing the call and most importantly be challenged to live the community that John the Apostle placed before the watching world, not allowing folks to live in lonely isolation but tenderly accepting and enveloping those God sends for mercy. If the church embraces the mercy of hospitality, the church will be a shadow of Heaven. When christians minister to others in need whether, hunger, nakedness, thirsty or lonely, so they welcomed God into their midst (Matthew 25).

God's Hospitality

Before the acts of creation that gave humanity a home, before days were numbered and nights were stretched from dusk to dawn, in the infinity before we existed, there was a community of three; the three in one trinity. They were one and yet three and at home with one another. They were the essence of shalom/peace, hesed/lovingkindness and safety. They experienced perfect unity and diversity; they were freedom and form.

In John 17:4 & 5, Jesus describes His relationship with God, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”

Can we imagine this glory that the trinity had before the foundations of the earth? I think it is very hard in our concrete, limited and earthly minds to fathom what this fellowship was like, yet if we want to understand what true community looks like, this is our picture. The community within the Trinity is what our churches and homes should look like. Their relationship defines hospitality. This is the first picture that is our model.

What we know about the Godhead is to be gleaned from Genesis to Revelation as the Father with pride and affection talks of the son, of the son as he speaks of his father with the tender words of Daddy and of the son when he comforts us when he sends us the Spirit. Leonard Boff writes of this community: “Father, son and Holy Spirit live in community because of the communion between them. Communion is the experience of love and life” (Trinity and Society, Leonardo Boff, Orbis Books, Maryknoll, NY, 10545, 1988).

This is our absolute when we talk of community. Take time to read John 17 as he tenderly speaks to his intimate Father about His love for us. So, as we meditate on what God’s love looks like from within the trinity, so let that guide us to be that perfect community in the church.

Again, what is hospitality? An offer of our hearts and usually our food. And that reflects what we experience of God in communion. God does open His heart to us as He gives Himself to us in His Word and His Spirit. When we receive communion, we are receiving His food, Himself (whether actually or mystically is another question that I won't be addressing) which also reflects the great wedding feast that John speaks of in Revelation.

A Most Embarrassing Moment

There's so many first times as a newlywed. Being over 30 when I married I'd stored many experiences I wanted to share with that someone special. I was committed to sharing everything with the one I loved, the one I married.

During those first months of marriage I delighted in sharing all of those events with my husband; from being together grocery shopping to biking at the beach, to reading side by side or cooking our favorite foods together. Maybe this is a silly gal thing, I don't know, you'll have to let me know.

But that first trip to the mall was unforgettable, regrettably so for my husband.

We were at a beautiful southern California mall, South Coast Plaza, about two months into our marriage. I decided to introduce Steve to the lovely Crabtree and Evelyn store. He'd never had an occasion to frequent this store (and probably never will again!) so it was a unique experience. After browsing a bit Steve asked about the strawberry potpourri, "What's this for?" "You put it in your lingerie drawer and everything develops a wonderful smell."

Been there, done that, I decided to stroll on down the mall, thinking he saw me and was near me. Well, he didn't know I was gone when a brunette came near his side. Thinking it was me, he whispered out the side of his mouth, "I imagine your underwear smells like strawberries?

You need to understand that my husband is a very conservative, private gentleman and would never consider crudity or doing anything that embarrassed himself or another, especially a woman and a stranger.

Well, no, we don't know what her reaction was. Steve merely noticed that there was a very strong silence, no response from his 'wife'. Realizing that his 'wife' would never respond this way, he quickly shot out of the store and found me. He told me his tale which I thought was a lot funnier than he did. He was so embarrassed that it took him years until he'd let me share his 'most embarrasing moment' with others. He usually thought before he spoke, but now, more than ever he is careful where and when he speaks sweet nothings to me.