This is a strange collection of little vignettes and even minor epics. Ostensibly this is a series of stories about God, people interacting with or being touched by God, and in some cases little tongue in cheek conversations with God. This may or may not sound appealing on its face, but the tone of this collection is a little tongue in cheek, with an earnest but not cloying faithfulness and reverence. It’s like if your hippie California aunt who sings in the church choir and is the nicest person in the world wrote a collection of stories.
Here’s a few:
38
The child wanted to name the rabbit Actually, and could not be dissauded from this.
It was the first time one of our pets was named after an adverb.
It made us uncomfortable. We thought it to be bad luck.
But no ill befell any of us nor did any ill befall the people who visited our home.
Everything proceeded beautifully, in fact, until Actually died.
ACTUALLY
39
The girl from the pharmacy who delivered Darvon to Philip K. Dick, the science fiction writer, wore a gold fish necklace.
“What does that mean?” asked Dick.
She touched it and said, “This is a sign worn by the early Christians so that they would recognize one another.”
“In that instant,” Dick writes, “I suddenly experiences anamnesis, a Greek word meaning, literally, loss of forgetfullness.”
Anamnesis is brought on by the action of the Holy Spirit. The person remembers his true identity throughout all his lives. The person recognizes the world for what it is–his own prior thought formations–and this generates the flash. He now knows where he is.
So:
I grew up in a minorly religious household, but went to a crazed and growing even more crazed evangelical church, so discussions of faith are both anathema (in that they move me not), but they also don’t offend or upset me too much. These are well-crafted moments that are often quite good and only sometimes a little too clever for their own good.
(Photo: https://www.amazon.com/Ninety-Nine-Stories-God-Joy-Williams/dp/1941040357/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=99+stories+of+god&qid=1549734760&s=gateway&sr=8-1)