A friend of mine, who has spent more than his fair share of time having to wrestle with the expectations we ought to have for church leadership (and what to do when leaders fail), posted ten questions he would ask of anyone who asipres to lead in a church. I found them to be pretty insightful, and I thought it might be a good exercise for me to process through them myself. In light of that, I humbly submit my own answers as a way to work through my own status as a priest in the church. I’ll dedicate a post to each one.
“Tell me about three works of literature that you have read over the past decade. How have each of these works impacted your understanding of what it means to be human?”
I don’t consider myself to be the most critical reader of fiction, but these books have significantly impacted my understanding of my own humanity, and from that I hope it informs how I interact with other humans as well.
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
I can’t recommend this book highly enough, especially to anyone who serves as a pastor. There is something about the way in which John Ames, at the end of his life, has this deep wisdom and perspective, and yet is still a work-in-progress. He has this truly genuine desire to do what is right, which is what leads him to react and question his own thoughts and motivations throughout the book. Despite being a very likeable character, he is still flawed and in need of transformation even as a pastor in the twilight of his life. Watching him narrarate his complex relationship to his son, wife, and especially his godson has given me this picture of humanity’s capacity to have secret and hidden faults amidst seemingly the best of intentions. I hope we all do soul searching of ourselves, especially when we believe that there is no fault found within us.
(Not to mention one of my favorite quotes about baptism, in which as a young man Ames is sort of chastised by his father for taking baptism too lightly because he wanted to baptize cats. “He replied that the Sacraments must always be treated and regarded with the greatest respect. That wasn’t really an answer to my question. We did respect the Sacraments, but we thought the whole world of those cats.”)
Silence by Shusaku Endo
Just like ‘Gilead’, Silence, gives me an honest look at a protagonist who understands himself to be virtuous, but has to face and wrestle with the harsh reality of the limitations of his virtue. The protagonist, Fr Rodrigues, goes into Japan with the intent to be a champion of faith, but finds that being faithful isn’t as simple or as easy as he expected. The battle for his own soul was waged in a manner he did not expect, and for which he wasn’t prepared. I am a person who wants simplicity, and the climactic moment in this book leaves ambiguity and complexity that does me good. ‘Silence’ forces me to expand my understanding of faith and faithfulness, and to allow for God’s grace to show up for humanity in a place where it ought not to. I guess this tells me as much about God as it does about humanity.
All Families are Psychotic by Douglas Coupland
I was introduced to Coupland by my brother, who has read all of his books. This book in particular accomplishes some of the same kind of thing as the other two books I’ve mentioned, but in reverse. Instead of seemingly virtuous characters learning about their own complexity and hidden failures, this book has seemingly broken people stumbling into virtue. Coupland gives me an appreciation for common grace, for virtues among the viscious, and for God to work in unlikely places.
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