by H. Claude Young, Jr.
personal paperback 111 pages
published: 1979
genre: non-fiction Christian short stories
This is one of my read it and get rid of it books, but I only made it to page 14. The author was a superintendent in the United Methodist Church and I wish he were writing to a more general audience!
Some of the stories had really good pieces in them, but I stopped reading because it felt as though he were writing for other UMC "in the know" people. So many irrelevant and uninteresting names of people I've never heard of and truly don't care about. It's time to move this book along!
In his story Language of the Heart, he wrote: "All Christians who have worshiped in unfamiliar cultures can testify to this heart language. God speaks to worshipers in their hearts regardless of the particular tongue being used . . . " I love this idea that we can praise and worship together even if we don't speak the same language (English, French, etc.)
In his story Mission Is Where You Find It, I love love love that after an initial hesitation about his position, people who were flagrantly sinning turned to him for prayer and compassion. I love that he chose to stay in a tourist home and show the other people living there that "being a minister does not take all the fun out of life, and that the Christian faith might offer them ways to 'the good life' that they were never going to find otherwise."
Yes! Too many people view Christians negatively - uptight, judgmental, etc. (Not without good reasons, sometimes.) It's a challenge to live out our faith joyfully and unapologetically.
Although there were pieces of stories that I liked, I find I just cannot finish reading this little book of short stories. On to another book living on my shelf!
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