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    The Remarkable Ordinary: How to Stop, Look, and Listen to Life
    The Remarkable Ordinary: How to Stop, Look, and Listen to Life
    The Remarkable Ordinary: How to Stop, Look, and Listen to Life
    Ebook113 pages2 hours

    The Remarkable Ordinary: How to Stop, Look, and Listen to Life

    By Frederick Buechner

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    About this ebook

    Learn to see God's remarkable works in the everyday ordinary of your life.

    Your remarkable life is happening right here, right now. You may not be able to see it--your life may seem predictable and your work insignificant until you look at your life as Frederick Buechner does.

    Named "the father of today's spiritual memoir movement" by Christianity Today, Frederick Buechner reveals how to stop, look, and listen to your life. He reflects on how both art and faith teach us how to pay attention to the remarkableness right in front of us, to watch for the greatness in the ordinary, and to use our imaginations to see the greatness in others and love them well.

    Pay attention, says Buechner. Listen to the call of a bird or the rush of the wind, to the people who flow in and out of your life. The ordinary points you to the extraordinary God who created and loves all of creation, including you. Pay attention to these things as if your life depends upon it. Because, of course, it does. 

    As you learn to pay attention to your life and what God is doing in it, you will uncover the plot of your life's story and the sacred opportunity to connect with the Divine in each moment.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherZondervan
    Release dateOct 3, 2017
    ISBN9780310352525
    Author

    Frederick Buechner

    Frederick Buechner is the author of more than thirty published books and has been an important source of inspiration and learning for many readers. A prolific writer, Buechner’s books have been translated into twenty-seven languages. He has been called a "major talent" by the New York Times, and "one of our most original storytellers" by USA Today. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, Buechner has been awarded honorary degrees from institutions including Yale University and Virginia Theological Seminary.

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    • 5/5
      I love Ray Bradbury, but because of Dandelion Wine rather than Fahrenheit 451. I forget that Bradbury even wrote Fahrenheit 451, so I guess that's why people don't get what I mean when I tell them that Frederick Buechner is the Ray Bradbury of Christian Literature. Buechner is a soft, warm, calming, childlike yet wise voice that calms the waters of my soul.

      This short yet touching book taught me in the same way that my mother and grandmother taught me about comfort and love by simply rocking me to sleep and humming lullabies. It's a gentle but profound propagation of ideas rather than a stern and loud propaganda of tenets and rules. To truly love every single person you can manage to; to see Christ in the face of Hitler; to listen to the rhythms of your life; to "consider the lilies of the field"; to look with the imagination as well as with the eyes; to give all that you know and all you don't know about yourself to all you know and all you don't know about God; to stop believing in doctrines and creeds but rather believe that it happened; to see, not just the story of our lives, but the plot to that story; to recognize the saints in your life, not plaster saints or moral exemplars, but "people through knowing whom we become more alive"; to search for the answer without words, "I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you"; to know that "Jesus is crowned again and again in the hearts of those who believe in him amidst confession and tears and great laughter"; "to go out into the world, even if the world scares the hell out of you, and bores you to death, and intimidates you, and confuses you--that is the only life"; to listen for the whispers of the wings as if Hamlet could observe his world and see that, somehow, Shakespeare had written it and him; to realize that nobody has peace until everybody has peace, that we were all made by a loving God to love one another and to be bringers of peace; to remember our own poverty, hungers, and hopelessness; to rather die for evermore believing as Jesus believed, than live for evermore believing as those that deny him; that "joy is knowing, even for a moment, that underneath everything are the everlasting arms."
    • 4/5
      A little slow in places but after reading yellow leaves this accidental wise man tells of his life and the key points in it is subtly inspiring. sometime life is just hard. He took the blows and saw the best in it and that is where he found God.

    Book preview

    The Remarkable Ordinary - Frederick Buechner

    About Frederick Buechner

    Frederick Buechner brings the reader to his knees, sometimes in laughter, sometimes in an astonishment very close to prayer, and at the best of times in a combination of both.

    The New York Times Book Review

    With profound intelligence, Buechner’s novel does what the finest, most appealing literature does: it displays and illuminates the seemingly unrelated mysteries of human character and ultimate ideas . . . One of our finest writers.

    Annie Dillard, Boston Globe

    If Frederick Buechner subordinated his nature and chose to write on naughts and nothings, he would still exalt his readers. When he is in representative harmony and writes of the accessibility of God to humanity and of humanity’s agreement with its potential divinity, we, the readers, are lifted up, buoyed up, and promised wholeness.

    Maya Angelou

    You don’t have to be in the habit of going to church to listen to such a literary minister; you don’t have to be a believer to be moved by Mr. Buechner’s faith.

    John Irving

    Frederick Buechner is a beacon. When we can’t remember what is true and what it all means, he’s the person we turn to.

    Anne Lamott

    Frederick Buechner has inspired me not only with his writing, but with his generosity of spirit. I’m incredibly thankful.

    Rachel Held Evans

    He isn’t trying to persuade—he’s trying to understand what he himself believes and thinks. And that honesty is more persuasive than the most polished argument.

    John Ortberg

    Frederick Buechner doesn’t just show us how to write; he shows us how to live.

    Philip Yancey

    Frederick Buechner is not just a wordsmith but an image-smith—he’s the bridge between Gutenberg and Google.

    Len Sweet

    To each new generation, his work is a revelation.

    The Lutheran

    Frederick Buechner gives new life to Christian truth.

    Katelyn Beaty

    He raises the bar not only for Christian writers, but for all of literature.

    Mako Fujimura

    Also by Frederick Buechner

    Beyond Words: Daily Readings in the ABC’s of Faith

    The Book of Bebb

    The Clown in the Belfry: Writings on Faith and Fiction

    A Crazy, Holy Grace

    The Eyes of the Heart: A Memoir of the Lost and Found

    Godric

    The Longing for Home

    The Magnificent Defeat

    Peculiar Treasures: A Biblical Who’s Who

    A Room Called Remember: Uncollected Pieces

    The Sacred Journey: A Memoir of Early Days

    Secrets in the Dark: A Life in Sermons

    The Son of Laughter

    Speak What We Feel (Not What We Ought to Say)

    Telling Secrets: A Memoir

    Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s ABC

    The Yellow Leaves

    ZONDERVAN

    The Remarkable Ordinary

    Copyright © 2017 by Frederick Buechner Literary Assets, LLC

    Requests for information should be addressed to:

    Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

    Epub Edition August 2017 ISBN 9780310352525

    ISBN 978-0-310-35190-0 (softcover)

    ISBN 978-0-310-35163-4 (audio)

    ISBN 978-0-310-35252-5 (ebook)

    Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible (RSV). Copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

    Any Internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book.

    All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

    Art direction: Curt Diepenhorst

    Interior design: Denise Froehlich

    Zondervan Editorial: John Sloan, Robert Hudson, Gwyneth Findlay

    First printing August 2017 / Printed in the United States of America

    Information about External Hyperlinks in this ebook

    Please note that footnotes in this ebook may contain hyperlinks to external websites as part of bibliographic citations. These hyperlinks have not been activated by the publisher, who cannot verify the accuracy of these links beyond the date of publication.

    Contents

    Foreword

    Introduction

    PART 1 STOP, LOOK, AND LISTEN FOR GOD

    1. The Remarkable Ordinary

    2. To See Is to Love, to Love Is to See

    PART 2 LISTENING FOR GOD IN THE STORIES WE TELL

    3. The Laughing Room of Maya Angelou

    4. The Subterranean Grace of God, or Why Stories Matter

    PART 3 TELLING THE TRUTH

    5. A Long Way to Go

    6. Holy Moments

    7. Better Than I Used to Be, but Far from Well

    8. The Presence of Peace

    Notes

    Foreword

    The issuing of a new Frederick Buechner book began as a project three years ago. Some of his unpublished 1987 Norton and 1990 Laity Lodge lecture materials were the well from which this volume, The Remarkable Ordinary, would spring. If it’s one thing publishers of Frederick Buechner hear, it is whether there is more that he has written. The answer is now yes.

    Most book jackets for Buechner say something like this: Frederick Buechner’s books have been translated into twenty-seven languages. He has been called a major talent by the New York Times and one of our finest writers. He has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.

    What those jackets don’t say is what Buechner does on the page, as far as inspiration, as far as hope, as far as faith.

    Frederick Buechner is a writer for devout skeptics and loyal believers. Those who read him find out that while he believes in a God who works in the ordinary world, he understands why there are questions as to why he doesn’t unleash his extraordinary powers into a hurting world. He wonders with the reader and does not condemn. But he does seek out God’s mystery and his power. And he finds both, in the common things and in the painful things.

    Buechner writes with the brush of an artist about things we know and think we know. The things we have heard over and over in church, and now seem worn and tired, Buechner makes fresh and gives new angles to find even more depth.

    Buechner writes about grace and beauty, love and hope, darkness and light, tragedy and blessing, despair and joy . . . But he does so in a way that is unexpected, freshly creative, not bound in time, sometimes outrageous, sometimes scandalous, but always speaking about the God we know we can believe in.

    Now to the subject of this book. Frederick Buechner shows the reader how to stop, look, and listen to life. He reflects on the connection between art and faith, and how both teach us how to pay attention to the remarkableness of our lives, to watch for the greatness in the ordinary, and to use our imaginations to see the greatness in others and love them well. As we begin to stop, look, and listen to our lives and what God is doing in them, we begin to uncover the plot of our life’s story. And as we learn where the plot is taking us in our search for meaning and peace, we finally have the eyes to catch glimpses of joy through our devotion and prayer.

    Anyone familiar with Buechner’s writings, particularly his memoirs, will already know about his father’s suicide and his family’s attempts to deal with that tragic loss; indeed, his father’s death haunts much of Buechner’s writing, and he tells the story over and over again throughout his books. This book is no different, but in the lectures from which this book is derived, he tells his story in a more personal way, giving us a slightly different lens through which to view tragedy and God’s presence within it.

    As my fellow colleague and editor Caleb Seeling and I reflected about the content of this book, we began to feel that though it is about the ordinary things of life, it is not an ordinary book. It is not ordinary because it points to the extraordinary that we can find in every day we wake, in every discussion we have, in every walk we take, in every moment we come upon. Many times we say life is typical, mundane, common, routine, or dull. Buechner convinces us that every moment is worth it. Our steps are all the beginnings of a walk into a hall of art, life, and meaning that will never disappoint.

    JOHN SLOAN

    EDITOR

    Introduction

    I am haunted now as I never was before by the sense that we all of us have the mark of God’s thumb upon us. We have the image of God within us. We have a holy place within us that gets messed up in a million ways. But it’s there, and more and more I find myself turning inward toward that and trying to learn how to be quiet. Someone once gave me a book called Creative Silence, and I thought, Oh, that’s just what I need.

    So I’m writing, I suppose, hoping to get another few steps in that direction, toward turning off the eternal chatter, the endless dialogue that goes on inside most of us. Or at least, I can speak only for

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