Patched Together--Manning

Patched Together
By Brennan Manning
(Publ: David C. Cook, 2010, 138pp.)


This sweet story wrapped with the delectable cover picture of an ornate crazy quilt, popped into my life this week. I had to have a ‘look-see’.  What I found was the simple narration of the story of little Willie Juan, an orphaned Mexican boy of such mixed parentage and such scarred features that he was rejected by his age-mates and lived a lonely life of poverty with his kind grandmother. When the “Medicine Man” appears offering the miraculous Medicine of Love and befriends Willie Juan, the story takes on the quality of an allegory. He talks to Willie Juan of his father, Abba, and of a river flowing from His Father’s throne and tells him his scars are beautiful if he’ll come to truly see them.

The story is briefly told in patches that span the life of Willie Juan till he is old with just three divisions titled: Morning, Noon, and Night. These characterize Willie Juan’s youth, middle-age and old age. Each season has its sorrows and its perplexities, but Abba’s love permeates each and brings healing and peace. The overarching theme of the story is God’s extravagant and endless love. This comforting and hopeful story is beguilingly simple for the profound message it so effectively delivers. It’s easily read in one or two sittings though grasping its meaning may take a lifetime of experience, as it did for Willie Juan.

I first met Brennan Manning’s writing in his book: Ruthless Trust (2002). The theme of God’s abundant love and grace for the sinner, called saint, runs through all his writings. Patched Together reflects, in a way, Manning’s own life story. Its parts are a patching together of two previously published works and a third completely new piece, written in the night of his own life. He wrestles and writes from his heart. Don’t miss this story.

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Some of my favorite quotes are these:

“When you get to heaven, Little Friend, which is where I live, Abba will not ask you how many prayers you said or how many souls you saved. No, he’ll ask, ‘Did you enjoy the fajita?’ He wants you to live with passion, in the beauty of the moment, accepting and enjoying his gifts.” (60)

“Little Brother, it is my heart’s deepest desire to be known, loved, and wanted as I really am. There are some people who have fashioned me in their own image and refer to me in grand language as the ‘Supreme Being’—they prefer those words to ‘Man of Sorrows’…they are fair-weather friends;....They don’t want the real me, but that’s all I have to give.” (61)

“Trust is the key that opens the door to love.” (59)

“Anyone can sing in the light, but it’s those who can whisper a doxology in darkness who are truly grateful.” (112)

“It’s not a tragedy when someone dies at the end of her life.” (115)

“Willie Juan, just know that to live in this world you have to love flesh and blood, hold it close, know when to let go, and then let go.” (109)

“Do we really trust when we can see, Willie Juan?” (122)

“What faith I have has been strengthened in the dark.  It’s just the way it is.”

“Live like the beloved of Abba…Your courage in living as Abba’s beloved can give others the strength to do the same.  For in the end only one thing remains—Abba’s love… Define yourself as one beloved by God.” (124)

The Great Divorce—Lewis

The Great Divorce*
(A fantastic bus ride from hell to Heaven—a round trip for some but not for others)
--C.S.Lewis
(MacMillan: 1946, 128pp.)

*Divorce: “a separation, especially one that is total or complete”

This is one of the strangest books I’ve ever read and I am hesitant to attempt a review. It is first of all an allegory but one staged with the minimum of context. From the start the reader is waiting with the first person narrator to discover where he is and where he is headed. The setting is some sort of run-down town in a dismal twilight zone. A scrappy collection of restless individuals are waiting for a bus to somewhere. The narrator joins them for want of anything more compelling to do.

Soon they are airborne and within a chapter’s space, have landed in a bright, large place, presumably outside our solar system. The bulk of the ‘storyline’ consists in conversations held or overheard, and in observations about the changing atmosphere and its effect on the passengers. As this new world of brilliant light is approached the faces take on ugly distortions of themselves—“full not of possibilities but of impossibilities”.
For the remainder of the book the reader accompanies the narrator in his exploration of this new place, which seems to be a sort of ‘trailhead’ to the path toward Heaven. The place they’ve come from seems to be a type of hell and it seems that this bus ride is their opportunity to determine if they are interested in proceeding or if they prefer to go back to hell.

I should clarify here, for those like myself who have a ‘problem’ with allegory in that it can paint a false picture of what is true: C.S. Lewis makes quite clear in his introduction that his imaginative suppositions of ‘transmortal’ conditions are purely fantasy and not to be construed as real speculation as to what will await us after death. Rather this sparsely detailed setting has given him a place to explore the mindsets of those who are hell-bound. The text is largely a matter of conversations and interactions observed by the narrator between the former bus occupants and the larger than life ‘real’ beings that inhabit this new world and are assigned to conduct those who are willing to Heaven.

Surprisingly, each one has an objection to going on to Heaven and one by one each chooses to retain the mindset that excludes him from Heaven and even to despise the thought of Heaven. The narrator is in a different category but I will not give away the clever story ending.

Each conversation represents a type of person whose way of thinking has misled them. There is the ‘intellectual’ who has dismissed all literal truth and feels entitled to his ‘honest opinion’, having drifted from faith and lost all sense of real reason in the process. Fact and God cannot not co-exist in his mind. When invited to ‘the land not of questions but of answers’ where he will ‘see the face of God’ his response is an air-headed “Ah, but we must all interpret those beautiful words in our own way! For me there is no such thing as a final answer. The free wind of inquiry must always continue to blow through the mind, must it not?”

Another character is the cynic who doubts everything and assumes everyone’s a liar and out to deceive him. A great depression has come over him and he is unable to believe that heaven is even a desirable destination, or hell one to be avoided. He has become a mocker beyond redemption.

Pride and pre-occupation with oneself is another obstacle typified. The thought of being seen for who she was terrifies this character. She despairs of having been born and cries, ‘What are we born for?’ The answer: “For infinite happiness”. But first there is the shame of being exposed for who we are. “If you will accept it—if you will drink the cup to the bottom—you will find it very nourishing.” She refuses the offer, not willing to be exposed.

In this way, C.S. Lewis presents much thought-provoking dialogue to demonstrate the nature of the choice that confronts every soul. At one point the narrator meets one of Lewis’ favorite authors, George MacDonald and discusses how souls could possibly choose to go back to hell. To this MacDonald replies:

“Milton was right, the choice of every lost soul can be expressed in the words ‘Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.’ There is always something they insist on keeping, even at the price of misery. There is always something they prefer to joy—that is, to reality.”

It is from this dialogue with MacDonald that the well-known quote emerges: “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ ” The extension of that quote is less well known but summarizes the moral of this story: “All that are in Hell, chose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. To those who knock it is opened.”(pp.72-73)


I encourage readers of all sorts to wade in and find these rich and insightful conversations, even if the fantasy genre is not your ‘cup of tea’. And bring along a pencil; there are too many good lines to leave unmarked!

--LS

NEW TOWN -- Blamires

NEW TOWN
A fable…unless you believe
by Harry Blamires
Publ.2005,Revell. 174pp.

New Town is a most peculiar tale.  It is the sparsely told parable of life as it’s lived in Old Town, a deteriorating place under constant repair and destined for destruction.  Its residents differ in their perspective toward the value of Old Town.  While some live wholly in hope of their home in the New Town just across the chasm, others live to preserve the buildings of Old Town.  They are in denial of the seriousness of its state of decay and of its eventual demolition, and have as their ambition to deride those who live in hope of a New Town. 

Humorous names and acrostics with double meaning allude to the obvious parallels between Old Town and our present earth, New Town and heaven. For instance, the real estate agency is owned by Sir Alph Godfrey and his son, Christopher.  Access to the New Town is via the Christopher Godfrey Memorial Bridge.  Further assistance is always available at the Christopher Godfrey helpline.  The permit necessary to live in the Old Town is known as the Resident Inhabitant Permit (RIP).  These might seem almost sacrilegious were it not for the surreal, dream-like quality of the story.  The primary character, Bernard finds himself in Old Town in a dreamstate which he mistakes for death. The narration retains that dream-like state of unreality as he becomes accustomed to life in the Old Town and pursues obtaining a house in the New Town.

The plot consists of a scattering of events representative of life in such a place.  Elements of romance, local politics, social life and the ever-threatening occurrences of ‘subsidence’ and other natural disasters are loosely woven through the story of Bernard coming to terms with life in Old Town and figuring out how to get on the waiting list for the New Town.

A favorite part in the story was Bernard’s first meeting with the Society of Waiters—of which he was made a member automatically upon being enrolled on the ‘Waiting List’.  One can’t help but see the comical allusion to church as we know it. Traditions practiced include the singing of songs in verse about the New Town and about the joys of waiting on (serving) others, a homily based on the expression: ‘Wait for it’ explaining the contrasting meanings of ‘wait’ as it applies to Waiters, and a chocolate-passing ceremony commemorating Christopher Godfrey who lived among the poor and gave all his chocolates away. The subtle and not-so-subtle parallels seem silly until you are engrossed in the story.  Read as parables they give old truths a fresh polish and appeal.

The process of applying to be put on the Waiting List is an interesting analysis of works vs. grace as a means of getting to heaven.  The Old Testament (OT=Old Town) covenant  and the New Testament (NT=New Town) covenant are contrasted perceptively.

This is a story that bears re-reading to fully appreciate all the meaning encoded in its simple, seemingly even silly story.  It is in fact a mere fable… unless you believe.

Not myself very fond of fantasy, I still enjoyed this unusual book for it’s uncanny means of making clear the transient nature of our lives on planet earth.  Clinging to it, living for its pleasures, trusting its foundations never looks so ridiculous as when you see it in a parable.  Now my interest is peaked to check out more of Harry Blamires’ (rhymes with ‘the fires’) writing.  He is said to have been a friend and protégé of C.S. Lewis and to have written more than 30 theological and English literature books.

Following are some favorite quotes representative of the book, New Town:

“Dr. Fisher, you said everyone wants a house in the New Town.”
--“I did.  Deep down that’s what they all want.  Of course, they don’t know they want it.  Lots of them think they want to stay here, as you will soon discover.” (16)

“What would be the point of wasting effort, trying to give a false permanence to something that can never last?”(33)

“They’re not fit to make a settled home in, but they’re good enough to stay in until a proper home is available.”(33)

“Whatever its condition to begin with, it must have been further damaged by the fall.  It costs a lot to lift things back to ground level when subsidence has occurred.” (73)

“Any applicant freely admitting as a fact (and not lamenting as an injustice) his or her own total lack of referential potential shall be classed as a self-professed friendless pauper, and as such shall be automatically entitled to full referential accreditation in the name of the company.” (89)

“I know of no equation between the traditional and the inefficient, and still less between the old-fashioned and the ingenuous.  If someone chooses to be taken in by the age of our firm and our taste for the traditional in office furnishings and to assume that we’re therefore gullible amateurs in our trade, then so much the worse for them.” (92)

“What’s the next step, Dr. Fisher?”
--“To wait.”
“I don’t have to do anything?”
--“The next step is ours.  You have put yourself into our hands as a pauper…”(93)

“Shareholders who have a record of lifelong investment in the Future Accomodation Insurance Trust—Hertham (FAITH) will be granted benefits proportionate toe their respective holdings.” (97)

On what it means to be a “Waiter”:
“We must all wait in the sense that we must be patient and calm, that we must not be restless or fretful under the strains of delay or deferment.  We must trust quietly in the promised security of eventual residence in the New Town.  Yet at the same time, it is our duty to ‘wait for it’ in the opposite sense.  We must prepare ourselves and hold ourselves in readiness; we must be poised in eager anticipation of the immense delight awaiting us at the moment when the call comes for us to move into the New Town.  For it may come at any time.” (135) … “There’s more to waiting, however, than either patience or expectancy.  Our ceremonies speak of a different mode of waiting.  Service is a keynote of our society.  We serve one another by waiting on one another whenever we meet….The poet summed it up comprehensively when he wrote, ‘They also wait  who only stand and serve.’”(136)

--LS
“But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”Rom.8:25