Next Book Club Starts August 16

Here's what one Book Club reader had to say about participating with Linda and reading Gilead:

"This book has been so rich. I'm glad that we have some time before the next book because I am still processing Gilead, and will be doing so in the next several weeks! Thank you again, Linda. This isn't a book that I would have thought to read (I hadn't even heard of it!), but am so happy to have read it!"

The next thought-provoking and timely book discussion starts on August 16.

Don't miss it!!! Plenty of time to order from Inklings Bookshop @ 30% off...see sidebar for details.

Next Book: As We Forgive, Catherine Claire Larson.

Based on personal interviews and thorough research, As We Forgive returns to the boundary lines of genocide’s wounds and traces the route of reconciliation in the lives of Rwandans—victims, widows, orphans, and perpetrators—whose past and future intersect. We find in these stories how suffering, memory, and identity set up roadblocks to forgiveness, while mediation, truth-telling, restitution, and interdependence create bridges to healing. The result is a narrative that breathes with humanity and is as haunting as it is hopeful.

Gilead: Week 6 - pages 191 to the end

This section of our reading takes us to the end of the first chapter of this book and through to end of the 2nd, which is also the last chapter. And while we read, the author revisits all of his relationships—from his love of Gilead, his complicated relationships with his grandfather, father, and brother, to his oldest and dearest friend and that friend’s son, his first and second wives, his first and second children. We see life celebrated, pondered and understood in new ways. As we read, John wrestles with himself, and looks again at doctrine, belief, loyalty, love and family. He sees himself as honestly as he can, and he uses his writings as a mirror to capture the truth and as a picture to frame that truth.

As I neared the end of the book, I felt sadness to say good-bye to John, this pastor, husband, father, friend, son and grandson—gentleman. He has taught me many lessons and some came in the closing pages.

“If you want to inform yourselves as to the nature of hell, don’t hold your hand in a candle flame, just ponder the meanest, most desolate place in your soul.”

“Let’s just be honest with each other for five minutes.”

“But dishonesty is dishonesty, a humiliating thing to be caught at.”

“And what purpose is a prophet except to find meaning in trouble?"

“There are a thousand thousand reasons to live this life, every one of them sufficient.”

I loved the redemption of the hand on the boy’s brow, the honesty of imperfect relationships and broken lives lived with hope and yearned for with love. I find myself grieving for a son who will have to get to know his father through his father’s writings, and thankful that his father wrote so honestly, so well, turning phrases into word pictures to introduce his son to himself, to his family history, to the mysteries of faith and to God.

This is our last week to post our thoughts about Gilead. How would you sum up the impact of this book on you? What lessons do you take away from a life so honestly written about? Thanks for reading with me. Thanks for posting. I have enjoyed your companionship while reading this very special book.

[Editor's note: I had the privilege of meeting with Linda, in person, at the WOTH Furlough Retreat four days ago. What a heart she has for you all! We set the date for the next Book Club to start on August 16 with the book, As We Forgive. (See sidebar.)]

Gilead: Week 5 - Pages 141-190

Doctrine and theology take center stage in this longer section, but the real content is relationships—the difficult ones that make us less than we want to be. Those messy relationships are the ones where we respond with less love, forgiveness, grace, mercy and graciousness then we expect. Sometimes, when I’ve been in those awkward places, the walls of my heart have gone up without a conscious thought on my part, and hardness and coldness have crept in where hurt and disappointment were still setting the mood.

In this section, we learn why John doesn’t like Jack and why he struggles to forgive him—to trust him. Page 164: “Or say at least that harm to me was probably never a primary object in any of the things he got up to. That one man should lose his child and the next man should just squander his fatherhood as if it were nothing—well, that does not mean the second man has transgressed against the first. I don’t forgive him. I wouldn’t know where to begin.” Now we know why the relationship isn’t working—and we can see the depth of the pain goes incredibly deep. Recognizing his heart’s turmoil, John says without much hope (on page 179), “I do hope to die with a quiet heart. I know that may not be realistic.”

Relationships gone awry do not lend us peace. Our hearts mourn, wrestle, relive, and seek solutions for the differences, the difficulties, the problems our broken relationships present. Like John, we may wrestle and even believe the worst (bottom of page 188). When John wrestles, he finds that what he assumed to be true wasn’t—and he is glad he faced his wretchedness and found that his conclusions weren’t based on reality. “Because now I realize it isn’t true. And that is a great relief to me.”

Have you ever wrestled with ugliness and found buried treasure—truth that surprised you?

Let’s share our stores of God’s redemptive, transformative power in our lives when we post this week. I’m excited to read what you have to share. And—BTW—didn’t you just love his thoughts on persuasion, doctrine, theology? You may not agree with all he said, but, his points are very well made. I appreciate his candor and his authenticity. And, the wisdom in this sentence is something to rejoice in, “If the Lord chooses to make nothing of our transgressions, than they are nothing….”

Lots to ponder there...