Amazing Grace

I'm currently re-reading Amazing Grace: a vocabulary of Faith by Kathleen Norris. I was given this book to read 3 summers ago when i was in Guatemala, and i remember reading it on a mini-vacation on this black sand beach. it was so what i needed at that point, and i devoured the book. you know when the whole experience of reading a book is so great? i recall that whole 2 days with fondness. So i bought the book recently, and have begun reading it a second time, though this time a little more slowly. The book is in a format similar to Norris' other books, semi-short entries. This makes for great daily readings. pretty fool-proof. although sometimes i admit i just cant stop myself from reading several entries at a time. i know, life on the edge....

i find my self really drawn to both norris' writing style and substance. she is a poet writing prose, and it shows. she uses some really great images. im also really intrigued by her story. she was a writer living in new york, basically didnt give two figs about religion. suddenly, she decided to move back to south dakota and began attending pretty much the only church in town, the presbyterian church. she also became a benedictine lay oblate, which means she is about as close as you can get to being a benedictine without actually being a monk or nun. to me, norris does a great job of blending catholic and protestant traditions and doctrines into one spirit.

here, she basically breaks down terms of faith-some more obscure than others. some are narratives, some are more theological. but they are all good.

other things to read by her:

The cloister walk
Dakota
Quotidian Mysteries

shes good. real good.

peace out, lex