Review: Faith of Leap, The

Faith of Leap, The by Michael Frost
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read Faith of Leap as part of the first class in the Academy for Missional Wisdom, and I resonated with much of it, knowing exactly what Frost & Hirsch mean in their critique of “churchy spirituality”. They emphasize the contrast between the churches of Christendom who wait and expect people to come to them, with missional communities who understand that discipleship is being sent out.

They lost me when they spent so many pages on material from Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey which has been rightly critiqued as dismissive of women’s perspectives and journeys. Frost & Hirsch emphasize adventure stories as examples of the kind of communities built around a shared mission, neglecting stories of community that resonate with women.

The process of entering into a community and learning about it in order to appropriately be in ministry with and for that community is helpful, and I’m interested enough in their reflections on Jesus as the new temple, i.e. the new center of life, to read their book ReJesus.

I think the concepts that Frost & Hirsch raise are important ones, but I was left in the end wondering if there wasn’t a better book on the subject.

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Pay Attention: Looking for Fig Leaves

Photo from flickr stream by unschool

“Quiet Please”

This is my church’s reminder that there’s a service in progress in the chapel, with a gentle request for those passing in the hallway to be mindful that some of us are taking a breath during the midweek services of Holy Communion.

It didn’t work this week. I gathered as I was walking in that a funeral had just let out, but I didn’t think much of it as I was running late, as usual. I missed the lighting of the advent candle and the opening hymn, and found myself struggling to focus on the reading of scripture through the laughter and conversation just beyond the doors. I really started to get annoyed as the voices grew louder during the sermon, and I was struggling to follow. (A friend recently described our personality type as ADOS: Attention Deficit – “Oh, Shiny!”) Then I started to laugh at myself.

“From the fig tree, learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.” Mark 13:28

I had studied over these scriptures for my own sermon the previous week. I talked about how Advent is a call to pay attention to what God is about in the world, and encouraged a struggling congregation to look for those places where the fig tree is pushing forth its leaves, for those places in the life of their community where there is yet life, where God is at work.  It occurred to me to take my own advice during the sermon I was listening to today and pay attention for those signs of life in the midst of the distraction from the hallway.

It brought to mind a hymn that I’ve loved by Fred Pratt Green (#592 in the United Methodist Hymnal):

When the church of Jesus
Shuts its outer door
Lest the roar of traffic
Drown the voice of prayer:
May our prayers, Lord, make us
Ten times more aware
That the world we banish
Is our Christian care.

Perhaps what God was calling to my attention were the signs of life in the hallway. Perhaps God was reminding me that our midweek gathering is not just for those in the chapel, but probably more so for those in the hallway.

Review: The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb: A Novel

The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb: A Novel by Melanie Benjamin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I almost passed on The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb. There was a part of me when I first saw the title in my public library enews that felt like I was participating in the objectification of little people. I dare say after listening to Kim Mai’s excellent performance of Melanie Benjamin’s fictional story, that I found myself admiring Mrs. General Tom Thumb, aka Lavinia Mercy Warren Bump Stratton.

Ms. Benjamin creates a deep and strong character in Vinnie, as Mrs. Stratton was commonly known, showing her to be a woman who determined not to let her size limit her life. Indeed, with the help of PT Barnum, the extraordinary promoter of 19th century novelties, Mrs. Stratton used her not quite 32 inches in height to expand her life beyond the opportunities usually available to women of the time.

Vinnie’s marriage to General Tom Thumb, aka Charles Stratton, was the royal wedding of the 1800s, distracting a country at war with a romantic fantasy of two perfectly proportioned people in miniature. The author relates in an end note, however, that her fictional autobiography took life from the relationship between Vinnie and Mr. Barnum, which was a bond between two people looking for intellectual equals.

Ms. Mai brings Vinnie to life with a voice in higher registers that sounds appropriate for a little person, but filled out with a maturity that honors her intellect and strength. Changes in depth, tone, and cadence for other characters seem true and unforced, and at times provide a comic interpretation of incidental characters.

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