Gathering Graces 4/20/2020 Getting Reacquainted With Madeleine

I have been reading books by my favorite author, Madeleine L'Engle.

L'Engle is probably most well know as the author of "A Wrinkle in Time".

But her works encompass a variety of genres from young adult fiction, adult fiction, theological reflection, memoir, non-fiction and poetry.

I have always appreciated Madeleine L'Engle's world view.

Many of her writings have helped me shape my own world view.

Her writings are full of these thoughts.  Her thoughts and lessons are reflected in all her works.

In 2012, Paul and I visited New York City for the first time.  As part of this trip, we visited St. John the Divine Cathedral.  The significance of this trip was the fact the Madeleine L'Engle was the writer in residence at this cathedral, and many of her books are set at this cathedral.

Inside the Cathedral

The outside of the Cathedral

The Cathedral Close, the setting for many scenes in L'Engle's books.

It ha been her poetry that has really helped me, and given me perspective over the past weeks.

One I recently read seems to resonate with what is happening today.  She wrote this poem in the year 1966.  Another time when the world was shifting and changing.  I was three years old when she wrote this poem.  And now, at the age of 56, the message is still the same.

I Am Become Like A Pelican....

I am become like a pelican in the wilderness...
For I have eaten ashes as it were bread,
and mingled my drink with weeping...
But thou, O Lord, shalt endure for ever.
Psalm 102:6, 9, 12

God is dead? Well, of course God is dead!
Where have you been?  Did you not see the dark
Cover the hill and strike against the cross?
We killed him then two thousand years ago
And once was not enough.  We kill him now
In each denial, each unloving act.
Daily we kill him, trampling on his name,
Spitting on his word.  And we are told,
And rightly, that he died between two thieves
And not two candles shining on an altar.
And yet there, too, perhaps most terribly,
He's crucified each day by priest and those
Who take him, unaware of all the clouds
Of witnesses encompassing them in song
And prayer, who kneel there coldly unaware
Of those who suffer in the adjoining pew.
We do not understand his feast; we live
Again his crucifixion, but forget,
Each time we crucify him there again
Between those candles whose bright flame is lost
To darkened eyes, that when he died for us,
We kill him, but we cannot keep his light
From blazing forth in flame for everyone
Who fouls his word and calls him dead and cries
In loneliness because his name is lost.

And yet, receiving now my heart's true food
I feel his light rush coursing through my blood.
Nourished by his spilled wine and broken bread,
I know that my Redeemer is not dead.

Madeleine L'Engle

In November 2000, she told an interviewer for Religion and Ethics Weekly that suffering and grief are a part of life.

"In times when we are not particularly suffering, we do not have enough time for God," she said. "We are too busy with other things. And then the intense suffering comes, and we can not be busy with other things. And then God comes into the equation. Help. And we should never be afraid of crying out, 'Help!' I need all the help I can get."