Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith

My first impression was Anne Lamott's easygoing, easily understandable yet wonderfully and thankfully unannoying writing style, but what on earth is it about book covers with iconic (without a doubt) white (or thereabouts) clapboard church buildings plunked down and settled in amidst verdant Midwestern or New English (doubtless) shade trees? Is there any other possibility?At first I thought this is kind of coolly about real life, but next I thought, "I think I'm just as clever, brave, honest, mellow (no, not that one yet), wise and perceptive as Ann(i)e Lamott, and I'd love to be published between covers rather than just on a blog screen, too." A week ago, when I read half the book (picking and choosing the next chapter according to how intriguing the title seemed), I kept thinking, "we all are not all that f***ed up, are we? She so seems to be into total depravity! It will take the world 1,000 years to recover from GWB? I thought this book was about grace!" But the further I got, the more I knew she was writing about me, and with such credibility: not only is it an actual printed hard-copy (because after all, so is the National Enquirer), but it's a bound book by a non-sensational author. That rocks!A person cannot be fully human without the interwoven fabric of connectiveness, belongingness, participation, recognition and acknowledgement. Because it's real and alive, it can be torn, tattered, ripped apart, rewoven, mended and appended to other pieces (remnants) of cloth. Call it "being networked!" In the first paragraph of Wailing Wall the author writes, (page 25) "You say that we don't have to live alone with out worries and losses, that all the people in their tide pool will be there for them. You say that it totally sucks, and that grace abounds." That sounds a whole lot like a whole lot of my own writing, teaching and preaching, but where is the community with that promise for me?"Near the Lagoon, 2004" (in the "Forgiveness" section of the book) is about the writer's return to the scene of her earlier life after a long time away. From page 141: "I almost immediately got a Twilight Zone feeling. First, I was going back to the place from which I had fled, and that is usually a signal to me that something mythical is in the works. And second, instantly a hobgoblin of a man appeared in our path...He asked...'Do you know where you are going?'" And in Ski Patrol, on pages 18-19, toward the book's beginning, Annie Lamott asserts "...God always hears our cries, and helps, and it's always a surprise to see what form God will take on earth..." Amen, amen!Despite the immense varieties of human experiences, my best guess is most people have had or eventually will have similar experiences to Annie Lamott's and even experiences not dissimilar to mine. Take a trip through this book and remember some of the stories; I predict they'll do well by you and for you!

This book, like the others, will make you laugh in recognition of the humanity we share. I, of course, really like Anne Lamott's writing.She has a way of starting a sentence and you feel pretty much like you know where it is going to end up. Surprisingly it ends up somewhere you didn't expect. My fantasy is that somewhere along the way as she is writing the sentence she's been thinking ahead to where the sentence is going. But as she keys along toward the end of the sentence a new word or view pops into her head. It's not just an alternative, it's the essence of the thought. Something that just comes out of the keyboard that is so funny or insightful that you almost gasp in recognition. She's got it, and in doing so she helps you to understand life and your own reactions to what is going on.The other benefit of reading Anne Lamott is that she gives you so much to think about. I recall a story in a previous book where she is talking about Sam and their relationship. Anne Lamott feels life to the full. Too much of the time, perhaps, she has been telling her son that she loves him. One night at bedtime he asks her to stop saying that. She asks what should she say, and Sam suggests that she likes him would work fine.So what is the difference between love and like? For the child that Sam is, maybe it's just not repetitive. For me it was an insight that was worth pondering. Love is very much about me, about my feeling for you. Like, on the other hand, is about you: your hair, your personality, your dreams...all of that. Maybe that was in Lamott's head. I don't know. She doesn't tell you. It sure is something to think about though.What does all this have to do with the new book? If you like Anne Lamott, if she makes you smile at life and the human race, well, this is another good book for you. Read the second chapter about teaching an "energetic" Sunday school class. It's pure Lamott. The answer is always, "Yes." The question is "how."