Category: April AtoZ

F is for Frank and Francine

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Sorry folks, this one is a bit of a rush as I’m away at the mo, with not much internet available.

The first Christian fiction I read was This Present Darkness, by Frank Peretti. I was a new Christian and it was a treat to read a story that tracked the activity in the spiritual realm, as well as what was happening on earth. A precursor to my experience reading The Screwtape Letters maybe? The situation happening on the ground was being driven by something way beyond human influences, and an actual battle was taking place. To this day I remember the storyline when I’m going through tough times, and wonder about the battle going on unseen to my human eyes.

The last Christian fiction I read, I’m afraid I did not enjoy so much. It was the Francine Rivers novel, Redeeming Love. I gave her another go with Lineage of Grace but I couldn’t get on with it. It’s not a comment on her writing; Rivers is a New York Times Bestselling Author; me not being a fan won’t dent that 🙂 It’s a style and genre preference thing for me. I don’t enjoy that style of storytelling.

Peretti’s stories are clearly about the Kingdom of God – in both realms. There seems to be no hesitance by readers to accept the other-world-ness of series such as Harry Potter and Twilight. Tolkien and Lewis, though Christians, have made their respective kingdoms completely fictional. I suspect that Peretti is only truly appreciated by Christians as he specifically deals with the earthly and heavenly realms as many Christians understand them. That type of other-world-ness isn’t quite so palatable to the masses… 🙂

Though  Rivers has more general appeal, my preference is for Peretti. I have a copy of his book, The Oath, sitting on a shelf somewhere. It’s time I read it! 🙂

Must dash as internet is coming to an end – so is Day 6! x

E is for Edmund

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Though I did say in Day 3’s post, The Screwtape Letters is my favourite of the works of C.S. Lewis, my favourite of his characters is Edmund.

Edmund Pevensie almost gives away the whole of Narnia, and Aslan’s plans, for Turkish Delight. He is taken in by the White Witch’s false promises and but for the mercy of Aslan, would have been a prisoner of hers for the rest of his life. In the realms of Christian fiction, I believe Edmund is ultimate character. He is easily tempted, he lies, he betrays, he is captured, publicly shamed, rescued, forgiven, and restored. He is then crowned a King of Narnia, just as the prophecy had foretold.

At his coronation towards the end of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, he is named ‘Edmund the Just’. Who better to rule a land with justice than one who saw another take the punishment for his own betrayal.

In the following two stories, Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader we meet a young man growing in maturity, wisdom and patience. In Dawn Treader when Eustace finally starts to change, apologising for his ‘beastly’ behaviour, Edmund immediately tells Eustace of his own earlier failings. He had not forgotten, and it made him a better person for it. In The Horse and His Boy, Edmund becomes a strong leader in war; outshining his brother Peter, High King of Narnia, in battle and in insight.

In Edmund we hear echoes of Luke 7:47 “… whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” He had been forgiven a great betrayal and went on to show great love for Aslan and Narnia. One of my favourite fictional portrayals of mercy and redemption in action.

D is for Dan Brown

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My guilty secret 🙂

We can’t talk about Christian and Fiction and leave out Dan Brown; even though you may prefer I did.

I loved The Da Vinci Code movie, and the Angels and Demons book and movie. I think Brown tells a great story, and his other works are definitely on my TBR pile. (To divert from the church-y stuff… have you read his first novel, Digital Fortress? I thought the end was a fab twist.)

There has been a lot written about the Da Vinci Code. Endless articles and critiquing of the story. Understatement alert… it does not show some parts of the Roman Catholic church in a good light. Nor does the suggestion that Mary Magdalene and Jesus were married, thrill many Christians. Numerous writers  have been at pains to point out the errors and exaggerations.

It does bring up again, the question raised by Nick Park in his article which started me off on this theme (click here for the post the explains my AtoZ theme)… is the reason Christians don’t write good fiction, the fear of the heresy hunters? Brown is not worried about getting theology wrong; he’s far more concerned with getting his historical facts straight. He is extremely well researched so much so, he says himself in an article on bookbrowse.com, he has little or no time for reading fiction His time is concentrated on reading, “non-fiction-histories, biographies, translations of ancient texts.”

He has taken actual organisations like Opus Dei, the Illuminati, the Knights Templar, together with some associated conspiracies, and built works of fiction around their history. He has done the same with the NSA and the Freemasons. He’s a fan of secrets and telling stories about them. I believe he does it very well. He spins a good yarn, as they say in Ireland.

The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons are engaging entertaining reads that kept me guessing. They had added spice of religious imagery, religious history and a big dollop of religious conspiracy. Christian Fiction they certainly are not. They are fiction about Christianity, and I confess, confession being good for the soul, I love ‘em.

C is for C.S. Lewis

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C is for C.S. Lewis

Day 3 of the A to Z Challenge. Click here to see my post about this year’s theme – Christian Fiction.

It may well be that I’m going to peak early in this year. I reckon we’re starting at a very high point with Mr Lewis. He was a prolific writer of both fiction and non-fiction. His official website says he abandoned his Christian faith before he turned thirteen. When he was thirty, he abandoned atheism for theism and converted to Christianity two years later. As an academic and writer, I can’t imagine he did any of those things lightly; particularly in the later years.

‘The Chronicles of Narnia’, are usually the first to stand out when we think of his Christian Fiction; but for me, ‘The Screwtape Letters’ is the work that continues to have an actual tangible effect on my Christian life. Uncle Screwtape’s lessons to Wormwood in how to trick and trip the Christian are all recognisable to me. Even the simple label of ‘patient’ assigned to the soul Wormwood is working on. A subtle insult maybe, that this person is sick because of their spiritual move towards God?

The Devil’s attitude towards us humans is derogatory. We see how he spoke to Jesus himself, One he knew to be God’s Son; so of course he thinks little of the rest of us. Lewis writes this disparaging attitude with excellent skill. Screwtape encourages Wormwood to keep things abstract, while attacking his ‘patient’ in the areas of everything from hunger to worry to prayer life, church life, even the facial expressions of his mother. Anything and everything that can be used for mischief is encouraged. I recognise myself in what I read and feel a teensy bit better prepared, or at least better aware of some of the tricks that are tried on me.

‘The Screwtape Letters’ is entertaining, engaging, informative, practically helpful, and just a little bit scary in how I can see myself in the ‘patient’. I love this work so much, and can’t recommend it highly enough.

C.S. Lewis himself has left an amazing legacy. Here’s a quote from the  C.S. Lewis Foundation website.

Inspired by the life and legacy of C.S. Lewis, the C.S. Lewis Foundation is dedicated to advancing the renewal of Christian thought and creative expression throughout the world of learning and the culture at large.

“Christian thought and creative expression…” I wonder if he even realised what his words would lead to. I hope so…

B is for Belated…

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I’ve been a bit under the weather lately and so the start of AtoZ kinda snuck up on me. My A post from yesterday was off topic from my ‘theme.’ Hope you can forgive. I felt I had to get that one off my chest 🙂

My ACTUAL theme is inspired by an article I read about Christian fiction. The article was written by Nick Park, the Executive Director of Evangelical Alliance Ireland.  He asked the question, “Whatever happened to Christian fiction?” and talked about the heritage of people of faith, writing epic tales.

The post really challenged me as I write a lot of fiction but hardly ever write anything you could call Christian. In the intro to my first collection of short stories  I wrote, “To God, though you are not explicitly mentioned in this book, every redemptive moment, every opportunity for forgiveness and every glimpse of home are inspired by your Good News!” It’s the nearest I get to Christian fiction. After reading Nick’s article, I decided to challenge myself to try my hand at it.

Spoiler alert – I don’t think I’m any good at it.

In my posts, I’ll be looking at some writers who’ve made better strides than I ever will. So I won’t pain you with too many of my novice efforts.

Nick finished the article with a prayer that Christian writers will be brave. “The church needs writers who will refuse to play safe, who will not be cowed by those who are suspicious of imagination and creativity, and who will dare to dream of producing great Christian literature that can reach and inspire the world around us.”

No pressure then! 🙂

If you’d like to read Nick Park’s original article you’ll find it on the VOX website, click here.

Tomorrow we’ll start properly, right at the top with C.S Lewis.

The A to Z of the Pastor’s Wife – Z is for Zig Zag

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ZZ is for Zig Zag

So, here we are at the end of the challenge. I’m so glad I made it. I didn’t quite do it last year.

I feel that I’ve Zig-Zagged and wandered a lot in my thoughts over this A to Z Challenge. Thanks again for your comments and likes and for sticking with me.

This PW thing is still very new to me, and I’ve used the A to Z to think out loud about the questions and concerns that I have. For all my bravado and chuckles, I don’t want to make a pig’s breakfast of the whole thing. These posts have been helpful to me and the responses from readers has encouraged me to see the merits of some worries and meaningless of others. So thanks for that.

I do most things in a Zig Zag style. I’m a bit of a here, there and everywhere person, but that’s not always a bad thing. Let’s call it flexible. 🙂 Being someone who can zig zag will hopefully help when some unexpected stuff comes. I’ll be able to adapt and change. I just hope that over time, I will learn to balance that flexibility with consistency. I’ve a lot to learn, but lots of time to learn it.

In the mean time, by God’s grace and with himself beside me, I’ll do my best to be a good PW.

Farewell AtoZ friends. See you for the tour 🙂

The A to Z of the Pastor’s Wife – Y is for Yahtzee

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YY is for Yahtzee

Himself introduced me to Yahtzee when we met. We love to play it, it’s a great game when there’s just the two of you – not many of them about.

He had the same 5 dice and little plastic tub to shake them in, for years. So one Christmas I decided to buy him a new set, complete with bright new shiny dice, colour score cards, a funky collapsible small dice shaker, all fitting in to a larger tub also used to throw the dice in (reducing risk of having to chase them around the floor). The wonderful thing is that he bought me the exact same present that year. One of them went back and was exchanged for another game which I’m not sure we’ve ever played.

Playing Yahtzee represents ‘our time.’ There’s no TV, usually some music in the background, we chat, we get a little bit competitive and we laugh. I suspect life will get busier and more stressful, and he won’t always be able to share things with me.

Part of my job as PW will be to make sure we always have time for Yahtzee (and that I win 😀 ).

The A to Z of the Pastor’s Wife – X is for Xenial

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XX is for Xenial

Xenial is to be hospitable, especially to strangers or foreigners. (It is also defined as having something to do with pollinating flowers, but we’ll leave that for now 🙂 )

Himself and meself have been made so welcome by our church family. Already we feel like we know each other; since the very beginning we’ve felt at home. Back when it was new and a bit unnerving, waiting for the final decision to be made, we were always welcomed with open arms and hearts.

I grew up hearing a particular phrase regularly. “You’re in your Granny’s.” It means, you can relax, sit where you want to, help yourself to whatever you’d like. I remember a few years ago a missionary couple were doing some church visits near us and the accommodation they’d arranged had fallen through. We were asked to put them up. We had plenty  of space, so we said yes. I was worried though. They were going to be with us for a week; going out to different meetings; sometimes here for dinner, other days for lunch. I wanted them to feel like they were ‘in their granny’s’ and desperately hoping that wouldn’t mean them driving me mad.

They arrived late the after a meeting, and then they’d unpacked their car and coats were off, I asked if they would like anything before they went to bed. The answer came, “Do you mind if I have some toast please?” That night over tea and toast we became firm friends. I love that they felt comfortable to ask, and they loved the toast. To this day they are dear to us and we’ve visited them a few times for toast and chats.

Living on site means that we could have more visitors than we expect, at unexpected times. We want to keep the balance of having time to ourselves, but also sharing our time and our home with others. I hope we will always be ‘xenial’ as others were to us when we came here first. The only reason I cannot call them ‘xenial’ anymore is that we are no longer strangers, we’re family. x

The A to Z of the Pastor’s W…

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WW is for Writer, Worker, Wife, Worshipper

I am a massive fan of Les Miserables. One of my fave songs, and moments of the show is when Jean Valjean sings. “Who am I?” He cannot deny who he really is and at risk to himself and his soon to be adopted daughter, he reveals his true identity.

The above list doesn’t sum me up totally, I can make a mean banana bread and am also a high-ranking expert in The After Eight Game. 🙂 I have always liked to have a mix of interests. I prefer to work, my least productive seasons are always the ones when I have lots of time on my hands. I work better when I’m busy.

I’ve had to rethink and rejig my time a bit over the last while. My writing has never really taken off again since I came back to the UK at the end of 2014. It’s a great source of frustration for me, but I have to let it come back in God’s time and at his pace. I know I’ll get into my stride again.

My job is not ‘difficult’ as such. It’s wonderful to be just around the corner and just part-time. Having been 15 years in donor support for charities, this is a different type of customer service. I can’t always give the customer the answer they are looking for, and I don’t like that. I’m much happier always being the bearer of good news…

I love being married. Himself is an absolute star and reminds me that he is my husband first and my pastor second; so i give myself permission to be his wife first, the pastor’s wife second. 🙂 We’ve been through the mill over the years. He’s been a steady rock in many stormy seas. I am blessed.

More than anything though, I want to be a worshipper. If I put my energies into that, my hope is that the other parts of my life will fall into place, in the right way at the right time. The only way I’ll do this thing right, is to stay close to God. Worship Him. Keep my eyes fixed and my heart open.

Who am I?

His!

The A to Z of the Pastor’s Wife – V is for Variety

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VV is for Variety

Don’t worry, I’m not going to do songs from the shows with some comedy and a bit of juggling thrown in. Although I wouldn’t rule it out in the future 🙂

I thought it might be good to hear from another pastor’s wife, and her thoughts on this life. Harriet is one of the ladies I meet, mentioned in the F is for Fellowship post.

The following link will take you to a blog post she recently wrote about ‘Being a Pastor’s wife‘.

Enjoy!