Memento Mori (or Remember, You Will Die)
Reflections on the life of Frederick Buechner, plus a brand-new list of books to add to your TBR pile and a look at how TikTok is changing the face of publishing as we know it.
Death is one of the few certainties of life.
It links us to one another, daily defining the level of urgency with which we face each sunrise, and, if we’re willing to accept its inescapability, instructing us in how to live with wisdom. I’m often drawn to writers who set ink to page with death in mind. It’s produced one of my favorite books, as well as many of my favorite authors, one of them being Frederick Beuchner.
On August 15, Buechner died in his Virginia home at the age of ninety-six. By the time of his death, he had amassed a body of work including thirty-nine books in genres ranging from essays and poetry to fiction and autobiography.
I am indebted to Buechner in more ways than one, but mostly for how he reawakened in me an affection for theological writing. Midway through my four-year stint in seminary, my reading life grew parched, as much of graduate-level theological writing wanders toward intellectual transfer with little care given to craft. I gained a lot of knowledge, but struggled to find the beauty in it.
Then I stumbled upon Buechner’s Wishful Thinking, in which he unspools key theological terms that have become, as he describes them, “shopworn.” In his entry for grace, he writes:
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.”
After that, I couldn’t get enough. I turned to his Pullitzer-nominated novel, Godric, which boasts promises almost too good to believe.
What’s lost is nothing to what’s found, and all the death that ever was, set next to life, would scarcely fill a cup.
I turned to him for understanding vocation.
The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.
His words helped me better grasp presence and faithfulness.
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, 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.
Perhaps most important of all, he blew into flame the kindling that had gathered within me toward the subject of home in his brief collection Longing for Home.
The home we long for and belong to is finally where Christ is. I believe that home is Christ’s kingdom, which exists both within us and among us as we wend our prodigal ways through the world in search of it.
Few writers have met me in the crossroads of theological depth and commitment to their craft—Buechner was one of them. As I’ve thought about the way his words have struck me over the years, I can’t help but sum up his life as little more than one faithful to his task. He understood his gifts, he was willing to tell the truth, and he committed himself to that work for more than six decades.
Remembering our mortality has a way of injecting a fresh dose of perspective. And, when we’re willing to pay it attention, can orient us to a life faithful to our calling, one with the potential to call back the wanderers, the weary, the worn, like me.
“The life that I touch for good or ill will touch another life, and that in turn another, until who knows where the trembling stops or in what far place and time my touch will be felt.”
August Reads
Mother Swamp by Jesmyn Ward—While working on her next novel, Ward took a detour to explore a swamp settlement of escaped slave women. Told through the lens of the last of nine generations of women, this short story has a slim page count but packs the kind of punch we’ve come to expect from one of our greatest living writers.
Moon Witch, Spider King by Marlon James—The second installment in James’s The Dark Star Trilogy follows Sogolon the Moon Witch, a character from the first, adding new depth and scope to the search for the mysterious boy. I can’t applaud enough James’s imagination, which is on vivid display from beginning to end, but my appreciation for the work can’t overcome the ubiquitous graphic sexual violence and the general bleakness of this world.
Upgrade by Blake Crouch—Yet again, Crouch has pulled off an imaginative thriller that feels all too prescient. In a not-too-distant future, technology exists allowing human beings to literally upgrade their genome. When an agent tasked with policing the illegal practice has his own genome hacked, he’s involuntarily swept up in a nail-biting plot that will keep you locked in until the final page.
The It Girl by Ruth Ware—I never miss a Ruth Ware novel. Some don’t always land—I really disliked her last release—but this one, I believe, is her best yet. While the twist wasn’t all that surprising, the story is a slow burn with great character development and a compelling, nuanced plot.
Celebrities for Jesus: How Personas, Platforms, and Profits Are Hurting the Church by Katelyn Beaty—When it comes to the evangelical church today, it’s easy to write books swinging away at low hanging fruit. But Katelyn’s latest resists that impulse in order to offer a levelheaded critique of evangelicalism’s obsession with platform in order to woo readers to a more compelling vision for the church—the one we were always meant to live out.
September’s Most Anticipated
The Winners by Fredrik Backman—With The Winners, Backman brings his beloved Beartown trilogy to a close. Readers can travel back to the dysfunctional ice hockey town one more time in a final installment sure to get plenty of dust in your eyes and leaving your heart thoroughly warmed as we head into the winter season.
How to Inhabit Time by James K.A. Smith—Best known for his Cultural Liturgies series, Smith turns his focus to the subject of time to encourage Christians toward a greater awareness of the Spirit that remembers the past and anticipates the future while remaining faithful in the present.
All That’s Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien—When her brother is tragically murdered, a young woman returns to her Australian home to uncover the answers police have failed to find. Desperate for closure, her search draws her into an exploration of the place she’s long called home and how its history may offer the answers she seeks.
Reading Roundup
Frederick Buechner Books: An Introductory Reading Guide—If you’d like to give Buechner a try, Englewood Review of Books has a helpful guide to getting started.
The Unlikely Author Who’s Absolutely Dominating the Bestseller List—TikTok is changing the way books are found, published, and appearing on bestseller lists. For Texas author Colleen Hoover, it has literally transformed her career.
There’s More Than One Way to Ban a Book—Pamela Paul on the high-stakes game of banning books.
The Books Swallowed by the Black Hole of the Coronavirus—The Atlantic has rounded up a list of nine books that didn’t get the attention they deserved thanks to a global pandemic dominating the headlines.
How to fall back in love with reading—Been in a reading slump as of late? Alissa Wilkinson has a few tips on getting your nose back in a book, even when your brain feels like mush.
Afterword
You’ve heard of Wordle, but have you tried Waffle? If the former has grown stale for you, try out this riff on the runaway hit. In Waffle, you’re given fifteen “swaps” (read: “attempts”) to rearrange tiles to spell out each word and column correctly.
Every puzzle can be solved within ten swaps, and like its inspiration, the tiles change colors based on their proximity to the correct solution. When it comes to spelling games, for my money, Spelling Bee remains supreme, but Waffle is a fun—and free—alternative to having your way with words.