a wonderful quote

I just opened The Book of Bebb tonight, a series of four novels by Frederick Buechner, who I assume I have referenced previously on here. And in the introduction to the novels, there is this remarkable little statement:

"Maybe the reason any book about something like real life is a love letter is that in the last analysis, that is what real life is too."

I think the reason I so love Buechner's writing is that it is exemplified by that. His writing is not pie in the sky everything is always wonderful stuff. It has darkness throughout it, and while there is trust that the light will overcome, it never quite gets there.

I guess that is my faith experience in a nutshell. Two of my good friends just could not stand the Buechner book we did in Sunday school a while back. As I have thought about it, I think it is likely because they seem to have a lot more certainty about things than I do.

Buechner's father committed suicide when he was a child, and the pain of that is evident in his writings. But so is redemption and hope and faith. I just started a new novel today - Lion Country, the first of four novels about Leo Bebb - and within a couple of chapters I already love the title character and the narrator. More about that later. Now it is bedtime.