Frederick Buechner has always been one of those theological, pastoral voices that I have personally drawn from in my life. His writing is a unique language of poetry, theology and philosophy that creates a verbal canvas of grace.
He has written many books that I hope you would consider investigating. Below are some great thoughts from many of his volumes:
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“Go where your best prayers take you.” ~Frederick Buechner
“Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery it is. In the boredom and pain of it, no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it, because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.” ~Now and Then: A Memoir of Vocation
“Life is grace. Sleep is forgiveness. The night absolves. Darkness wipes the slate clean, not spotless to be sure, but clean enough for another day’s chalking.” ~ The Alphabet of Grace
“Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving.” ~ Frederick Buechner
“Lust is the craving for salt of a man who is dying of thirst.” ~ Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC
“Many an atheist is a believer without knowing it just as many a believer is an atheist without knowing it. You can sincerely believe there is no God and live as though there is. You can sincerely believe there is a God and live as though there isn’t.” ~ Beyond Words: Daily Readings in the ABC’s of Faith
“Maybe it’s all utterly meaningless. Maybe it’s all unutterably meaningful. If you want to know which, pay attention to what it means to be truly human in a world that half the time we’re in love with and half the time scares the hell out of us. Any fiction that helps us pay attention to that is religious fiction. The unexpected sound of your name on somebody’s lips. The good dream. The strange coincidence. The moment that brings tears to your eyes. The person who brings life to your life. Even the smallest events hold the greatest clues.” ~Lecture to a Book of the Month Club
“You can survive on your own; you can grow strong on your own; you can prevail on your own; but you cannot become human on your own.” ~The Sacred Journey
“Grace is something you can never get but only be given. The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn’t have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It’s for you. I created the universe. I love you. There’s only one catch. Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you reach out and take it. Maybe being able to reach out and take it is a gift too.” ~Wishful Thinking
“Of the Seven Deadly Sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past … to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back – in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you.” ~Wishful Thinking
“Your vocation in life is where your greatest joy meets the world’s greatest need.” ~Frederick Buechner
“Compassion is sometimes the fatal capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else’s skin. It is the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too.” ~Frederick Buechner
“You never know what may cause them. The sight of the Atlantic Ocean can do it, or a piece of music, or a face you’ve never seen before. A pair of somebody’s old shoes can do it. … You can never be sure. But of this you can be sure. Whenever you find tears in your eyes, especially unexpected tears, it is well to pay the closest attention. They are not only telling you something about the secret of who you are, but more often than not God is speaking to you through them of the mystery of where you have come from and is summoning you to where, if your soul is to be saved, you should go next.” ~Beyond Words
“In his holy flirtation with the world, God occasionally drops a handkerchief. These handkerchiefs are called saints.” ~Frederick Buechner
“In the entire history of the universe, let alone in your own history, there has never been another day just like today, and there will never be another just like it again. Today is the point to which all your yesterdays have been leading since the hour of your birth. It is the point from which all your tomorrows will proceed until the hour of your death. If you were aware of how precious today is, you could hardly live through it. Unless you are aware of how precious it is, you can hardly be said to be living at all.” ~Frederick Buechner
I had mentioned an incredible book in my message this weekend, and I have had an ongoing list of requests for the title. I’ll supply a link for the book below. The book is called “Between Heaven and Hell” and it is written by Peter Kreeft. Historically, John F. Kennedy, Aldous Huxley and C.S Lews all died on the same day. Kreeft, who is a brilliant writer and philosopher, crafts a fictitious posthumous conversation between the three men as they enter some sort of transitionary plane somewhere between Heaven and Hell after they died.
