Showing posts with label Anne Lamott. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Anne Lamott. Show all posts

Sunday, March 6, 2016

More on prayer/worship without words...

One of the questions for reflection for this week is, "When have you experienced a sense of worship outside of church?" I immediately thought of this quote by L.M. Montgomery from Anne of Green Gables: 
Why must people kneel down to pray? If I really wanted to pray I’ll tell you what I'd do. I'd go out into a great big field all alone or in the deep, deep woods and I'd look up into the sky—up—up—up—into that lovely blue sky that looks as if there was no end to its blueness. And then I'd just feel a prayer.
...and this quote made me think of the previous post on praying without words.  Anne Lamott says in Help, Thanks, Wow:
When we are stunned to the place beyond words, we're finally starting to get somewhere. It is so comfortable to think we know what it all means, what to expect, and how it all hangs together. When we are stunned to the place beyond words, when an aspect of life takes us away from being able to chip away at something until it's down to a manageable size and then to file it nicely away, when all we can say in response is "Wow," that's a prayer.
 ...and this brought me around to thinking about what Ceola said about how drawing a picture helped her to remember the morning's devotions.

There's something about things that take us out of the space of words that points us to a bigger God, a God who defies our explanations, who cannot fit into the box we create with our words. This is a God that can meet us in our souls, in our emotions, in the parts of ourselves that go deeper than reason.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Bird by Bird with Anne

Bird by Bird with Anne is a documentary featuring Anne Lamott and her story of writing, life and faith. It is available for rent on Amazon: Bird by Bird with Anne.

Enjoy!

Summer Book Discussion - Help, Thanks, Wow by Anne Lamott

Summer is quickly slipping by, and we're meeting at my house for the summer months to keep up with each other and to share some sunshine, coffee, treats & good conversation!

Tesha suggested that we pick an easy-read to informally discuss at our summer gatherings. The book Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers by Anne Lamott has come up in conversation a number of times over the last few years, and it seemed like a natural choice for summer reading.

To listen to a quick 7-minute podcast discussion with Anne Lamott about the book, check this out:
Anne Lamott Distills Prayer Into 'Help, Thanks, Wow'

From pbs.org (link also includes a video interview from November 2013):
Often called the "people's author," Anne Lamott writes about such personal subjects as substance abuse, single motherhood and Christianity. With her trademark conversational, frank and humorous style, her books have inspired countless readers. She's a Guggenheim fellowship recipient and has been a book reviewer and a California magazine restaurant critic. The San Francisco native has also taught at writing conferences across the U.S. and had one of her novels, Hard Laughter, dramatized on stage. Her latest book, Stitches, is the follow-up to her best-selling Help, Thanks, Wow and explores how people can make sense of life's chaos.

A bio and a complete listing of her books can be found at the Steven Barclay Agency website.

And, you can read excerpts from Help, Thanks, Wow in these places:

Anne Lamott's Three Simple Prayers - book intro at oprah.com
Spirituality and Practice - on joy
Anne Lamott: My Secret Little Prayer - on struggles and grief at salon.com