Secrets in the Dark: A Life in Sermons

by Frederick Buechner, Brian D. McLaren (Foreword by), Brian D. McLaren

Overview

Frederick Buechner has long been a kindred spirit to those who find elements of doubt as constant companions on their journey of faith. He is a passionate writer and preacher who can alter lives with a simple phrase.

Buechner's words, both written and spoken, have the power to revolutionize and revitalize belief and faith. He reveals the presence of God in the midst of daily life. He faces and embraces difficult questions and doubt as essential components of our lives, rather than as enemies that destroy us. "Listen to your life!" is his clarion call. This theme pervades this definitive collection of sermons, delivered throughout Buechner's lifetime. Presented chronologically, they provide a clear picture of the development of his theology and thinking. Reflecting Buechner's exquisite gift for storytelling and his compassionate pastor's heart, Secrets in the Dark will inspire laughter, hope, and bring great solace. Turn the pages and rediscover what it means to be thoughtful about faith. See why this renowned writer has been quoted in countless pulpits and beloved by Americans for generations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061146619
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	03/13/2007
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	134,412
Product dimensions:	5.31(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.72(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Frederick Buechner, author of more than thirty works of fiction and nonfiction, is an ordained Presbyterian minister. He has been a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and was honored by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His most recent work is Beyond Words: Daily Readings in the ABC’s of Faith.

Read an Excerpt

Secrets in the Dark

A Life in Sermons

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By Frederick Buechner

HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Copyright © 2006 Frederick Buechner
All right reserved.
ISBN: 0060842482

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Chapter One

The Magnificent Defeat

The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. And Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and Jacob's thigh was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, "Let me go, for the day is breaking." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go, unless you bless me." And he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." Then he said, "Your name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed." Then Jacob asked him, "Tell me, I pray, your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved." The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his thigh.

-- Genesis 32:22-150;31

When a minister reads out of theBible, I am sure that at least nine times out of ten the -people who happen to be listening at all hear not what is really being read but only what they expect to hear read. And I think that what most people expect to hear read from the Bible is an edifying story, an uplifting thought, a moral lesson -- something elevating, obvious, and boring. So that is exactly what very often they do hear. Only that is too bad because if you really listen -- and maybe you have to forget that it is the Bible being read and a minister who is reading it -- there is no telling what you might hear.

The story of Jacob at the river Jabbok, for instance. This stranger leaping out of the night to do terrible battle for God knows what reason. Jacob crying out to know his name but getting no answer. Jacob crippled, defeated, but clinging on like a drowning man and choking out the words, "I will not let you go, unless you bless me." Then the stranger trying to break away before the sun rises. A ghost? A demon? The faith of Israel goes back some five thousand years to the time of Abraham, but there are elements in this story that were already old before Abraham was born, almost as old as humankind itself. It is an ancient, jagged-edged story, dangerous and crude as a stone knife. If it means anything, what does it mean? And let us not assume that it means anything very neat or very edifying. Maybe there is more terror in it or glory in it than edification. But in any event, the place where you have to start is Jacob: Jacob the son of Isaac, the beloved of Rachel and Leah, the despair of Esau, his brother. Jacob, the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. Who and what was he?

An old man sits alone in his tent. Outside, the day is coming to a close so that the light in the tent is poor, but that is of no concern to the old man because he is virtually blind, and all he can make out is a brightness where the curtain of the tent is open to the sky. He is looking that way now, his head trembling under the weight of his great age, his eyes cobwebbed around with many wrinkles, the ancient, sightless eyes. A fly buzzes through the still air, then lands somewhere.

For the old man there is no longer much difference between life and death, but for the sake of his family and his family's destiny, there are things he has to do before the last day comes, the loose ends of a whole long life to gather together and somehow tie up. And one of these in particular will not let him sleep until he has done it: to call his elder son to him and give him his blessing, but not a blessing in our sense of the word -- a pious formality, a vague expression of good will that we might use when someone is going on a journey and we say, "God bless you." For the old man, a blessing is the speaking of a word of great power; it is the conveying of something of the very energy and vitality of his soul to the one he blesses; and this final blessing of his firstborn son is to be the most powerful of all, so much so that once it is given it can never be taken back. And here even for us something of this remains true: we also know that words spoken in deep love or deep hate set things in motion within the human heart that can never be reversed.

So the old man is waiting now for his elder son, Esau, to appear, and after a while he hears someone enter and say, "My father." But in the dark one voice sounds much like another, and the old man, who lives now only in the dark, asks, "Who are you, my son?" The boy lies and says he is Esau. He says it boldly, and disguised as he is in Esau's clothes and imitating Esau's voice -- the flat, blunt tones of his brother -- one can imagine that he has almost convinced himself that what he says is true. But the silence that follows his words is too silent, or a shadow falls between them -- something -- and the old man reaches forward as if to touch the face he cannot see and asks again, "Are you really my son Esau?" The boy lies a second time, only perhaps not boldly now, . . .

Continues...

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Excerpted from Secrets in the Dark by Frederick Buechner Copyright © 2006 by Frederick Buechner. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

1	The magnificent defeat	1
2	The birth	9
3	Message in the stars	16
4	The face in the sky	22
5	The sign by the highway	27
6	The calling of voices	35
7	A sprig of hope	42
8	Come and see	50
9	A room called remember	46
10	Faith	65
11	Hope	73
12	The two stories	82
13	Emmanuel	90
14	Love	97
15	Delay	105
16	Air for two voices	114
17	The clown in the belfry	123
18	The truth of stories	131
19	Growing up	138
20	The church	146
21	The kingdom of God	154
22	Two narrow words	162
23	Faith and fiction	169
24	The good book as a good book	184
25	Paul sends his love	195
26	Adolescence and the stewardship of pain	205
27	The longing for home	221
28	The great dance	238
29	The news of the day	245
30	The secret in the dark	251
31	The seeing heart	258
32	Let Jesus show	265
33	Jairus's daughter	272
34	Waiting	279
35	The word of life	286
36	A 250th birthday prayer	291
37	The newness of things	298

What People are Saying About This

William H. Willimon

“Buechner is one of our best worker of words. Now, in this fine collection, we’ve got the best of Buechner.”

J. I. Packer

“The topography of Buechner’s world is beautifully mapped by this set of self-revealing sermons and essays.”

Rob Bell

“Brilliant…overflowing with images and questions and honesty and insights that will haunt you for days.”

Walter Brueggemann

“Buechner uses words with such transformative power that any comment on them is like the moon palely reflecting the sun.”

Editorial Reviews

Buechner uses words with such transformative power that any comment on them is like the moon palely reflecting the sun.

Walter Brueggemann

Buechner is one of our best worker of words. Now, in this fine collection, we’ve got the best of Buechner.

William H. Willimon

The topography of Buechner’s world is beautifully mapped by this set of self-revealing sermons and essays.

J. I. Packer

Brilliant…overflowing with images and questions and honesty and insights that will haunt you for days.

Rob Bell

"[A book] that will inspire or challenge you."

Chicago Sun-Times

This collection of sermons will refresh your soul. I highly recommend this book for your enjoyment and inspiration.

Canadian Mennonite

[A book] that will inspire or challenge you.

Chicago Sun Times

Buechner eloquently explores the beauty of language, the joy and pain of being human, and the hope of the Gospel.

Houston Chronicle

He has the rare gift of taking biblical text and helping us to see it [...] in a completely new way.

Lexington Herald Leader

One of the most insightful spiritual writers of our age... - a must for Buechner’s many fans.

Kansas City Star

...his work is a revelation...Here Buechner’s storytelling abilities and eye for detail are at their best.

The Lutheran

[Buechner] eloquently explores the beauty of language, the joy and pain of being human...and the hope of the Gospel.

Dallas Morning News

Novelist and Christian writer Buechner (Brendan; The Alphabet of Grace) delivered a number of memorable sermons in more than four decades of service as a Presbyterian minister. This collection contains 37 of them, all featuring the intricate stories, fascinating connections and personal touches that are Buechner's signature. By presenting them chronologically, the evolution of his favorite themes of listening to your dreams, finding your calling and the importance of home are evident. Most touching are the sermons directed at youthful audiences (Buechner was a chaplain at two private boys' schools), such as "The Calling of Voices," in which he pleads with young people to pay attention to the deep gladness in their lives, following it to their life's vocation. For instruction on how to read the Bible, readers should turn to "Love," which recommends that the rule of love, found in the "great commandment" (Matthew 22:36-38), be used as a guide for biblical interpretation and perspective. In "Faith and Fiction," Buechner considers what it means to be a saint-not one who necessarily lives an exemplary life, but who is a "life-giver." Many of these sermons have been published elsewhere, but bound together, they become an elegant and life-giving memoir. (Mar.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Presbyterian minister Buechner (Beyond Words: Daily Readings in the ABC's of Faith) has authored and compiled this collection of 37 sermons, many of them previously unpublished. Each sermon, which spans eight to ten pages, calls for readers to examine their behavior and reminds them that there is more to this life than just this world or even this known universe. Buechner writes, "For a human being to say that the cosmos is all there is strikes me like a worm in an apple saying that the apple is all there is." Using similar analogies, he leads readers on an introspective journey wherein he discusses faith, love, hope, the church, and forgiveness, among other topics. Yet the text is not rife with deep theology or hermeneutics; it does not ask that the reader understand doctrine or accept dogmas. It is instead written for the lay reader, who can find enlightenment and goodness and possibly hope for the future in these sermons. A foreword by theologian and storyteller Brian D. McLaren (A New Kind of Christianity) introduces this poignant, practical, deeply philosophical, and powerful work. Highly recommended.-Wesley A. Mills, Empire State Coll., SUNY at Rochester Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

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