"They whisper to me that they are Christians, too."
Category: Books & Writing... Faith...
Posted Thursday, February 14, 2008 at 10:40 AM [GMT-6]

Anne Lamott has written a new book, Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith, with a scheduled February 26 release date.

This is Lamott's third book in a series dealing with her Christian faith. The first, published in 2000, Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith was a series of candid and refreshing essays from someone exploring the wonders of a newly-found faith, expressing those wonders with winsome fraility, humor and tenderness. It remains one of my favorite books on faith by a secular author (a squishy term meant to distinguish one from someone with formal theological training).

The second, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith, was published in 2005 and was also candid and well-written. However, the "refreshing" aspect was replaced by an uncomfortably dark tone of nastiness, expressed primarily in anger toward Republicans in general and George W. Bush in particular. I was not kind to it in my review, and I stand by those observations. I was disappointed to see a writer for whom I had such great respect use her talent in such a context to express hatred.

In the interview posted on Amazon.com, she says she's no longer as angry. It will be interesting to see which Lamott shows up this time. Nevertheless, I continue to respect and admire her, because where she lives – not just geographically but also professionally and culturally – being a Christian is not something for the fainthearted (not that it was ever intended to be).

The title for this post was taken from something she said in response to an interview question – What stories do people tell you, when they've read your books or know you are a writer?. That response is both poignant and frightening: They whisper to me that they are Christians, too.

Those of us living in the so-called Bible Belt sometimes forget how easy it is to live our faith when we're literally surrounded by those of like minds and hearts. In fact, I suspect we're more aware of and sensitive to persecution of the Church in countries thousands of miles distant than those in our own nation. I'm not implying that being passed over for a promotion is in the same league as being martyred for your faith, but the underlying attitude that gives rise to both has the same origin.

So, I'm willing to overlook some of Lamott's occasional New-Agey theology and her political rants because I think it's ever-so-important that someone like her, someone whom I truly believe is a sister in Christ, is publicly available to lend an ear to that whisper. When she does that, she's an agent of grace, and God surely approves.

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