Sealed: A Review

Scrupulosity.  If there is one word that sums up much of Pastor Katie Langston's memoir recounting her journey from being a lay person in the Church of Jesus Christ--Latter Day Saints, to being a clergy person in the Lutheran Church, it is scrupulosity.  If there is a second word it is grace.

Scrupulosity, according to Webster is all about "acting in strict regard for what is considered right or proper."  Emphasis on strict.  Emotionally it can lead to a great measure of anxiety, as it does in Langston's case.  Time and time again over the course of her childhood, adolescence and early adulthood she obsesses about whether or not she has obeyed the rules of the Mormon church.  In fascinating detail she outlines the rituals, liturgies, and expectations of one of the fastest growing religious traditions in the world.  And, in doing so, she highlights its theology.  A theology that in her opinion, ultimately led to her scrupulosity. After recalling many of her early struggles reconciling theology and practice, she writes: "I'd spent my childhood consumed with effort and anxiety, but confidence in my salvation still escaped me.  It was a worry that was always at the back of my mind:  what if I'll never be enough?" (87)

Eventually Langston has an experience, a conversion experience if you will, that convinces her that God's love is greater than her worries and concerns, that she is accepted and loved regardless of her efforts.  She understands it to be grace, leading to the full title of her volume:  Sealed:  An Unexpected Journey Into the Heart of Grace.  Over time Langston senses a call to ordained ministry, which in time leads to her attending seminary and being ordained as a Lutheran pastor.  Appropriately Lutheran, I would suggest.  As her struggles with scrupulosity mirror those experiences by none other that Martin Luther himself.

Langston describes the various challenges her leaving behind Mormonism led to, especially in her own family.  Yet she also speaks again and again about the ways her relationships were healed over the years despite the major theological and institutional differences with most of her family.  She also, unlike many accounts written by ex-members of various faith communities, recognizes the positive gifts she has received due to her Mormon upbringing. Mormonism, she writes, taught her to value "connections, togetherness, horde for unity . . . ." (234)

I have Mormon friends who time and again have shown me the beauty of their faith.  I disagree with the theology of the Church of Jesus Christ--Latter Day Saints, but I can't help but admire and respect the unqualified devotion those friends have.  I am moved by the way they give of themselves time and again to help their fellow believers.  Like the time one friend moved clear across country as a single woman and who was given enormous amounts of help from the members' of her new ward (congregation) as she moved into a new community.  I suspect Langston would understand far better than I the admirable qualities of members of her former community, while still needing to move into a new way of relating to the holy.  Her well-written and compelling story is worth reading by any who wrestle with what it means to be a person of faith.

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received this book free from the author and/or publisher through Speakeasy blogging book review network.  I was not required to write a positive review.  The opinions I have expressed are my own.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.

In Memoriam: Another Side of Colin Powell

In light of his death this morning, you'll no doubt be hearing a lot about Colin Powell in the days ahead.  He truly was a significant figure in our nation's history over the last decades.  Folks will write about his long military career, including his work as the Chairperson of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; his efforts as the first African-American to serve as Secretary of State will be written about extensively; his willingness to cross party line when that seemed to be in the best interest of the county.

You may not have always liked what he did, nor the positions he took on various issues.  But you would be hard-pressed to ignore his loyalty to these United States.  All that will be written about, talked about.  

But I'd like to take a moment to focus on Powell as a Dad and grandfather.  His family spoke of him as being "remarkable and loving"--he was also very astute, recognizing how important that sense of closeness, that willingness to show a child love, truly was and is.

Powell once said:  "All children need a laptop. Not a computer, but a human laptop. Moms, Dads, Grannies and Grandpas, Aunts, Uncles - someone to hold them, read to them, teach them. Loved ones who will embrace them and pass on the experience, rituals and knowledge of a hundred previous generations. Loved ones who will pass to the next generation their expectations of them, their hopes, and their dreams."  For all his wise words over the years about leadership and loyalty and obedience, maybe his words about laps are the ones we most need to hold on to.

Thanksgiving--An Everyday Holiday

I was talking with a Canadian friend today who reminded me that north of the border yesterday was Thanksgiving.  For most Americans images of Thanksgiving are tied to the Mayflower, and the Pilgrims.  But not in Canada.  We do share the basic foods of the day in common, turkey with all the trimmings.  And Canadians watch football as well.

There is, of course, a certain irony in the fact that yesterday was also Indigenous Peoples Day here in the States.  All too often in the various
tellings of Thanksgiving, we have prettified the picture of the impact on those who already populated this continent and Europeans first arrived, north or south.  There is much to consider.  Still, that doesn't negate the importance of expressing our gratitude for life itself.

But giving thanks should not be restricted to one or another day on the calendar.  I am reminded of something I read in doing research on the Shakers in Maine.  The journal-keeper for the community, writing in the late nineteenth century as Thanksgiving approached, with its usual presidential proclamation, noted that Shakers didn't need to be reminded to give thanks.  It was something they did routinely.

Whether we are Canadian or American, or the citizen of any other nation, we would do well to emulate the Shakers, and offer up thanks any day and everyday.

An Instrument of Peace

St. Francis of Assisi may be the most revered of all the saints, not counting St. Nicholas, who is more revered as Santa Claus than as the Bishop of Myra.  There is something about his humble approach to life that warms people's hearts.  

But make no mistake, Francis was in many ways a firebrand.  He was, after all, the son of a rich merchant, he was privileged.  But seeing the needs if those around him, he decided to renounce his father's lifestyle, and demonstrated his intention to do so by stripping off all his fancy, well-tailored clothing in front of the local bishop.  All of it!  

He was always an advocate for the poor, for the outcast, for the downtrodden.  He was known as a friend of lepers, who were in his day literally and figuratively untouchable.  He sought to convey the gospel message of love and hope in ways even the least educated person could understand, most notably in his creation of a living creche.

He was known for his respect for creation, and the creatures who inhabit it.  It is said he would even avoid stepping on worms, and more than one story emphasizes his ability to communicate with animals, even those perceived as enemies of people, like wolves.  It is why in parts of the church an annual Blessing of the Animals is held on his feast day.  This day, as I write, October 4.

And while he probably did not actually write the famous Prayer of St. Francis, it certainly captures the spirit of this saint.  "Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace," it begins.  And then it eloquently describes concrete actions we can take to do just that.

On this day, might we all commit ourselves to being more like Francis of Assisi.  Might we all be instruments of God's peace.