"An abundant and growing body of evidence shows that stories have a unique capacity to transmit values, shape identity, move people to action, and preserve memory." Darryl Tippens in Pilgrim Heart
Darryl Tippins has for years found spiritual qualities in great stories and even edited a textbook containing such stories called Shadow and Light.
Taking off on this thought, Scott Owings devised a Sunday morning class at Otter this semester called "Spiritual Reading"
with the purpose being in reading not only the Bible, but other genres with God in mind. We have covered fiction, non-fiction, poetry, biography, prayers, journals, and last Sunday, children's literature.
Since some of you asked, I will use the next few days to talk about which books I used in the topic and perhaps give my readers some ideas about reading with God in mind in a somewhat unlikely genre like children's literature.
I began with Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are.
An unusual choice, you say. But look at the narrative:
Having been sent to bed without his supper for being a wild thing, Max goes to where the wild things are, has his rumpus with them, and then he begins to feel very lonely and wants to be"where someone loved him best of all".
So he returns home to find his supper waiting for him and it is
still hot.
When we have wandered on our wild flings, don't we long to go "where someone loves us best" (God), and when we return, we find forgiveness with our supper still warm.
I don't think for a minute that Sendak had a spiritual metaphor in mind with this old classic (now 40 years old). But remember we are reading it with God in mind. And parents can help their children see forgiveness not only from mommy and daddy, but also from God here.
More later.
No comments:
Post a Comment