Writers are first readers. We are most trained by our reading. And most of us are pretty compulsive readers. I know when I read something that excites me, I am so moved, my emotions and love are almost overwhelming. And I want to share what I've experienced. And I want to be a part of it through my own writing.
So, what are you reading? Would you share? What's on your nightstand? What keeps you up late long after you should be asleep.
Right now I'm reading: Annie Dillard's A Pilgrim At Tinker Creek for the first time. C.S. Lewis' book of poetry (did you know he wrote poetry, at that it was published?!), and I'm rereading a collected book of some of Alice Munro's short stories, which are absolutely amazing to me.
I find the voices of Dillard and Munro both are strong and vibrant, full of a kind of clarified vision and love and grace that I long for in my own life. They deeply impact me and resonate with me. I am inspired in the purest and truest sense.
And when I read Lewis' poems, I feel as if I'm reading the most beautiful and honest words from a dear, dear, beloved uncle of mine (because I've read all his other stuff). He's an uncle I've heard expounding and telling stories at the Sunday dinner table for years, but in his poetry he is singing, and praying, and it's just a delight.
What about you? What's got you turning pages right now?
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Memorial Day 2007
When Steve got up today he walked into the kitchen area, and as is his habit, turned on the TV. Less than six months ago we finished the TV banish room (thank you Pastor Carlson) or sanctuary, depending on your point of view, and this TV was supposed to be disconnected from the outside world. I handed him a breakfast plate, pushed the off button and let him shuffle down to the box to watch back to back war movies.
This morning I am immersed in the poor, the hungry, the forgotten, having read the first two chapters of What Can One Person Do? and attended a discussion. I also have been reading and marking up Annie Dillard’s The Writing Life. So the combination of the two are launching me into this writing struggle where the writing becomes a live thing and I am only like a pencil being pushed across a “finished tree” (Dillard). The absence of electronic input has diminished the “I don’t have anything to write about” feeling. No TV, no CD, no music, little talking. Just thoughts.
The Social Justice gathering set me out into cyberspace looking for prayers written by the forgotten. I found 303,000,000 pages about writing. I found no pages about prayers voiced by people who cannot write. Apparently the writers have forgotten these souls also. Even the Christian writers. There was one page of prayers written by the children of St. Peter’s Addingham. Between each prayer is the phrase “Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.”
I can hear that in my head. Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. It sounds like a group of people. There is a deep voice but the loudest voice is clearly a girl. Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
“God bless Andrew and his family, the Bishop who confirmed Rebecca’s daddy, and all the people who worship at St. Peter’s Addingham.”
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
“God, please help us to live in peace and have no war and help poor people. Dear God, thank you for our wonderful world. Please help us to look after it. We are sorry we sometimes spoil your creation.”
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Dear God, thank you for taking care of me. I am so lucky. Please help all the people who are suffering because they are hungry, sad, poor or lonely.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
His love endures forever.
I love the power in Kent’s voice. The force of it. His love endures forever. He started the prayer in Psalm 136 and we spoke between when he rested. It’s not the words, he could be reading a cereal box, thanking God for the cereal, the box, the ability to read, it’s the conviction that pushes over us. His love endures forever. Especially when he finished the Psalm and added his own prayer for this church. I would put it here, but it is only a very incomplete memory. I do remember Jesus started this church. His love endures forever.
Today I am reading these two books. I have a stack, but I am not going to look at the titles. The ones that come to mind are the ones I think I will read next. Andrew Murray’s Humility and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
His love endures forever.
I always have several books going at once, so here are the current ones: Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard (this is a re-read, but still amazing and hopefully life changing), The Black Tulip by Alexander Dumas (a Mother's Day gift from my daughter in a turn-of-the-century Art Deco binding that stains my finger tips red when I read it), The Collected Poems of W. H. Auden. I am also looking forward to beginning The Writing Life, because I really enjoy Annie Dillard.
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