Articles by Lawrence Wood

Features

Seeing with a thousand eyes

Passion for reading

May 17, 2005 by Lawrence Wood

For several weeks I’ve toted around Bruce Chatwin’s book The Songlines, on the off chance of having more time for it. Before he died at 48, Chatwin wrote a handful of brilliant travel books, this perhaps the most brilliant—a funny and fascinating account of the Aboriginal songlines. Invisible to Western eyes, the songlines crisscross Australia, charting every rock and hollow.

Books

Heart on his sleeve

May 03, 2005 reviewed by Lawrence Wood

At a time when so much spiritual writing is earnest, edifying and all-too-purposeful, these books by Brian Doyle will buttonhole and charm you.

Books

Strife in Gilead

Feb 08, 2005 reviewed by Lawrence Wood

Here is a novel without glamour and without any obvious appeal for beach or airplane reading. John Ames, 76 years old, has long served the same church in Gilead, Iowa, as did his father before him.

Living by the Word

A wandering faith

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16

Jul 27, 2004 by Lawrence Wood

In 1492, the Jews were expelled from Spain. For centuries they had been tolerated there, and their labor had helped to build a great country. But King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, anxious to establish their hold over a newly united Spain by means of the Catholic Church and the Inquisition, gave the Jews a stark choice: they must be baptized or flee.

Living by the Word

A lot of junk

Luke 12:13-21

Jul 27, 2004 by Lawrence Wood

Here in the rural upper Midwest, it seems every other person has a pole barn. Usually it’s full of old tires, a trailer, dozens of tools gathering rust, coffee cans loaded with lug nuts and screws. Ed and Edna’s place is pretty typical. Edna's cupboards, bureaus, garage, attic and spare bedroom have been crammed full of things that define her. (“Oh, you know Edna Furbelow,” says her neighbor, “she collected Hummels.”) Now that Edna has died and her husband’s pole barn has finally gotten emptied, everything must go.

Living by the Word

Above and beyond

Luke 24:44-53; Acts 1:1-11

May 17, 2003 by Lawrence Wood

Just like that, Jesus is gone. He reappears just long enough to say goodbye. Like a wraith, like a dream, he leaves behind no children, no estate, no writings, no trace of himself except this feeling that his presence was real, that his absence is temporary. Christians have this uncanny feeling that he was just here. He must have just stepped out.

Living by the Word

Labors of love

1 John 5:1-6; John 15:9-17

May 17, 2003 by Lawrence Wood

These are some of the nicest, happiest verses in scripture, easy to read because we all agree that we should love one another. Sunday school teachers affirm the thought, countless potholders and pillows are embroidered with it: Love one another. And then there's Robbie. Robbie lives a hard life and runs through help like water. After a while you want to tell her enough's enough.

Features

Taste test

A pastoral call

Oct 23, 2002 by Lawrence Wood

"I have become all things to all people,” Paul wrote to the Corinthians, apparently not foreseeing how we would regard his wry boast. Today his efforts to ingratiate himself with very different people sound inauthentic, phony—and impossible. “You can’t be all things to all people,” is how one of my seminary professors put it.

The Christian Century