2For66

Anne Lamott’s book is an auto-biography of Jesus in her life. She spent a good part of her youth ignoring God; then she reached a place where she couldn’t any longer. Her most common prayers: “Help”, and “Thank You”. Her journey is well written and forceful.

If you are a semi-regular reader of my blog, you know I like the writings of the theologist Marcus Borg. I find value in his historical approach to Jesus in order to see Christ in the eyes of the first century Christians, Jews, and Romans. When I mention his name in polite conversation one of two things happen: either I’m looked at like I have a second head a or I get a questioning look wondering if I’ve changed the topic to Star Trek. My close friend Mark is a retired pastor; he and Christie were over for dinner one night last summer and I took the opportunity to ask him why Marcus Borg provokes such strong reactions. He knew I wasn’t talking about Star Trek and did not look at me like I’m crazy. I hope I’m doing Mark justice here; he feels like that the scholarly approach Borg reduces Jesus to a historical figure which has the effect of removing the wonder and sense of Christ in our daily lives.

That is a good point and more welcome than the knee jerk reaction I usually encounter. Mark recommended Anne Lamott as a writer with a more personal relationship of God. We both read Traveling Mercies and got together again to share our reactions.

Anne struggled with alcohol and lost a good friend, Pammy, which led her to a dark place. Nevertheless, she decided she “was not willing to give up a life of shame and failure without a fight.” [Page 43]

Then one afternoon in my dark bedroom, the cracks webbed all the way through me. I believed that I would die soon, from a fall or an overdose. I knew there was an afterlife but felt that the odds of my living long enough to get into heaven were almost nil. They couldn’t possible take you in the shape I was in. I could no longer imagine how God could love me.”

Page 41

That prompted her to reach out to a new pastor at a local church who told her “‘God has to love you. That’s God’s job.” [Page 42]. A few years later he recalled her first visit:

“‘I felt’, he said, ‘that you had gotten yourself so tangled up in big God questions that it was suffocating. you. Here you were in a rather desperate situation, suicidal, clearly alcoholic, going down the tubes. I thought the trick was to help you extricate yourself enough so you could breathe again. You said your prayers weren’t working anymore, and I could see that in your desperation you were trying to save yourself: so I said you should stop praying for a while, and let me pray for you. And right away , you seemed to settle down inside.'”

Page 42

This started her new path. The book follows her spiritual journey. Her first encounter with Jesus’ comfort came amidst crisis.

“Several hours later, the blood stopped flowing, and I got in bed, shaky and sad and too wild to have another drink or take a sleeping pill. I had a cigarette and turned off the light. After a while, as I lay there, I became aware of someone with me, hunkered down in the corner, and I jus assumed it was my father whose presence I had felt over the years when I was frightened and alone. The feeling was so strong that I actually turned on the light for a moment to make sure not one was there – of course, there wasn’t. But after a while, in th dark again, I knew beyond any doubt that it was Jesus. I felt him as surely as I feel my dog lying nearby as I write this.”

Page 49

Anne covers grief, parenting, and other real life issues. Here is a collection of some passages in the book that resonate with me.

“…we are not punished for the sin but by the sin, and I began to feel punished by my unwillingness to forgive.”

Page 128

“I do not at all understand the mystery of grace – only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.”

Page 143

“As I’ve said before, I believe that when all is said and done, all you can do is to show up for someone in crisis, which seems so inadequate. Buth then when you do, it can radically change everything.”

[Page 163]

I love this prayer

Help for the sick and hungry
home for the homeless folk,
peace in the world forever,
that is my prayer, O Lord, Amen.

Page 30

Anne’s story definitely provided a response the academic writings of Borg which focus on the history of conflict of God vs Empire. I think there is room for both – and more. But Anne’s journey helps renew my faith in a way of doing God’s work in the world today.