Pilgrim at Tinder Creek
This book by Annie Dillard had an impact on me when I read it soon after it was published in 1974. This recent NPR interview got me thinking about how inspiring her works were to me. She is not "larger than life" but comes across in the interview like neighbor rather than a famous author. She continues to inform and inspire as I noticed in this NPR piece after the Thailand tsunami in December 2004.

After reading this Slate review, I want to read her new book, The Maytrees. Until reading this review, I hadn't though about how "Tinker" was written under conditions similar to "Walden." I sometimes think about how I what it would be like to have a time like they took to retreat, write, and contemplate the natural world. I am pretty sure my spouse would not go for too much of that so I don't know how it could work out. We wouldn't want to be apart but she would not tolerate the isolation and silence well. I wonder how long I would last but I think about trying.

I heard Couple's Challenges, Joys of First Year as Pastors this morning from the NPR Series, The Young and the Godly. The excitement and challenges of being a new pastor in a new setting reminded me of so many of our friends but especially a clergy couple. It brings back experiences of from years ago and of my thoughts of if I was being called to ministry. This was especially interesting as it was a United Methodist couple.

We see the plight of the world's poor and the raging forces of war, persecution, violence and injustice. Those realities cause us to dream, work, pray and hope anew for the reign of God to come on earth and soon. If we could change these references from being time oriented to seeing them as our constant prayer that we might become all that we were meant to be, living fully, loving wastefully and having the courage to be our deepest, most real selves, then I think we would understand what the prayer for Christ to come soon was originally meant to communicate.

- John Shelby Spong

I am sure that this is how our friends who are pastors and many of the authors I enjoy reading would explain the Lord's Prayer and the talk of "Christ coming again."