Walking on Water

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8543116121986858859.post-77454868953563344432008-01-18T10:33:00.000-08:002008-01-18T11:43:19.656-08:00Walking on Water<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tl_5k_GnTX4/R5EBGkQrxUI/AAAAAAAAALQ/0HNf2AtGGc8/s1600-h/wow.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_tl_5k_GnTX4/R5EBGkQrxUI/AAAAAAAAALQ/0HNf2AtGGc8/s200/wow.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5156904260640425282" border="0" /></a>When I was 9 or 10 years old the Stonewall library was in the old post office, a serious building on the corner of main street and centre avenue. It was built when the town's quarries were still active and the two level building was made of large, rough, limestone blocks. Inside the aroma of dry dusty paper permeated the narrow aisles; you know the smell - at least I hope you do - there's nothing like it. The ceilings were high, the few windows were thickly glazed and the high stacks of books meant that light was indirect. The young adult section was housed downstairs at the bottom of a wide staircase that turned back on itself and disappeared in shadow. I recall the trepidation I would feel as a I walked down these steps alone, into the shadows, curious why there should be no lighting where the stairs made entry to the basement stacks. A glimmer shone deeper in the room, but those first few steps as one entered were shadowed - a true threshold. At least, that's how I remember it, the day I found A Wrinkle in Time on the shelf. There are few books from my childhood that I recall reading for the first time. Most simply didn't have a huge impact on me. I remember being in grade seven, staying up all night to finish The Sword of Shannara. Likewise I remember having to find and read every volume of J.J. Fortune's the "race against time" series. Both of those series captured my imagination for very different reasons. Shannara was like a Star Warsy version of The Lord of the Rings loaded with strong characters and high emotions (though I noticed in later reads that scenes of "high emotion" were often prefaced by one character clasping another's shoulder and earnestly sharing their feelings). Race against time followed the hair racing adventures of a modern day archaeologist and his nephew - lots of action, modern but also with a strong connection to the wisdom of antiquity. But a Wrinkle in Time was truly extraordinary. not derivative of anything else though in that genre of fantasy which overlaps our world with others (ie. Narnia). But Wrinkle seemed less fantasy and more science because it was one of the first books, and for me the first book, that was written with some understanding of quantum physics. It reminded me that our own world is actually fantastic in the fantasy sense - it's a mystery and much of what we know about it continues to be turned over as science discovers more ways of looking at things - and theology discovers more ways of looking at God. In Wrinkle (and its sequels) Madeline L'Engle wove together strong characters, intriguing plot, scientific principles and theological understanding to craft a story that blew me away. Walking on Water is a collection of L'Engle's reflections on art and Christianity and on that oddity, the Christian artist. I found it interesting and helpful in terms of informing my own journey. One complaint is that it feels very much like a collection of reflections - the tangental explorations of her thoughts and memories are often very short as she shares a moment here, an observation there. Which is good in the bad way of making you wish there was more. But I suppose her point is that I should spend some time reflecting. So I will. I'll also definitely return to some of her fiction works - I haven't read her in years and years and I want to go back and see how the worlds have changes.Andrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16626782654130983699noreply@blogger.com