Stopping for a moment to read these words.

This old, yellowed quote from Frederick Buechner has been on the wall of every office study I’ve had for 30+ years.

What’s YOUR favorite Buechner quote? (Copy/paste it in the comments…)

I can’t even begin to calculate the numbers of times I’ve quoted Buechner in sermons, Sunday Schools, retreats, etc…

I keep a copy of “Wishful Thinking” always nearby…because I find that his pithy and wise definitions are food for thought, over and over.

Like me, Buechner loved to write, and loved theology. And he spoke honestly and beautifully about life, theology, and the world.

Like many wise, deep thinkers, he wasn’t afraid of his own griefs and foibles.…speaking openly about his Father’s suicide, his daughter’s illnesses…and showing us how, as he said about eloquently, “theology is autobiography.”

These are lessons my Mother taught me too…and it stiles hard that both these great wisdom-keepers have died so close to each other.

I would imagine my reading list for the coming year has just gotten a lot thicker. I’d already considered diving back into the ”Bebb” novels.

But my favorite books…in no particular order…are:

Wishful Thinking

Whistling in the Dark

Sacred Journey

Telling Secret’s

Alphabet of Grace

This last one, IMHO, is a spiritual/autobiographical masterpiece in what it means to PAY ATTENTION to life.

His “Faces of Jesus” helps center true, deep incarnational theology for all of us, and helps remind us how our own Jesus is far smaller than the whole of who Jesus is.

Rest well…I would never have been the preacher I am with you.

“All moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.”