About Lauren F. Winner's book, "Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis"

In some ways, I don’t relate very well at all with Lauren Winner. The book is about her struggles with her faith being riddled with doubt (or, more positively, she says, her doubt riddled with faith.) I haven’t had those deep struggles in my Christian walk. A key contributing factor to her spiritual struggles was her recent divorce. I certainly don’t relate well to her there, because my wife is wonderful and , in general, my marriage has been and continues to be easy. ....................................................................................... But I still hope that some of the things I learned from this book will help be to help others with doubt and spiritual alienation. And she makes many points and asides that I find very helpful now to my life and ministry. Here are a few of the bits and pieces I most appreciated:..................................................... She quotes a friend who says, “Busy is the new sloth”. I love that! So many of us don’t think of ourselves as lazy because are days are so full. But that busyness keeps us from attending to the really important things just as surely as laziness. (Full disclosure – I have been accused of slothfulness.)................................... She quotes a friend who uses the term, “dislocated exegesis”. It’s the practice of reading Scripture in places that bring unexpected insights. She gives the example of reading the teachings of Jesus about money at a bank. I’ve done this type of thing before. When a youth pastor at Concord Bible Church, we did the life of Christ in San Francisco (reading about Satan tempting Jesus as Coit Tower, calling the disciples at Fisherman’s Wharf, feeding the 5000 while handing out sandwiches to the homeless, etc.) and this inspired me to do this more............................................... She writes about how the literary scholar Patricia Meyer Spacks finds no reference to the word “bored” before the 19th century, arguing that boredom is a modern creation. This insight speaks volumes about our (my) self-centeredness. I liked a reference to ethicist Samuel Wells who notes the distinction between stories about heroes and stories about saints. In a story about a hero, if the hero fails, all is lost. If a saint fails, all may still be well because the story is really about God................................................................................. And there is a beautiful image as she watches others take communion. She sees a husband and wife together. Because of dietary issues, there is a man who can’t take the bread and wine. So the wife takes communion for herself, and then again for her husband. A marvelous picture....................................................................... Winner has praising quotes on the cover from writers I admire. I was glad I could agree with them wholeheartedly.