“Getting Lost in that Book”

Dear Beloveds,

I spent summer days doing a lot of things while growing up, but the two things I did most of all, especially the summers of my grade school years were playing baseball (and watching baseball on T.V. and listening to baseball on the radio) and reading. 

One summer day shortly after fourth grade ended, I spent an entire afternoon in the children’s room of the Leominster (MA) public library and sat in a red, vinyl, chaise lounge on the floor in a back corner of the room and read “A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeleine L’Engle. I like to read. I read a lot. I read all the Hardy Boys books, I read all the Matt Christopher books, you get the idea. But I had not yet been completely captivated by a story like “A Wrinkle in Time”. I was so engrossed in the book that I totally forgot my mom was supposed to pick up after two hours and I didn’t go outside. A frantic search for me ensured while I continued reading, oblivious. Finally, mom came in and found me and I finished the book at home. 

“A Wrinkle in Time” hit a lot of spots for me as child that it still does all these years later. Science, spirituality, and the difficulty of being an nerdy bookworm in a culture that values baseball players. 

A lot of Unitarian Universalists like to read, but reading is not as popular even among the bookish as it once was.  New literacies in visual media and sound have developed alongside technology and I now listen to as many books as I read with my eyes. This month I encourage you to read. Pick up a book if you haven’t in a while. Try something new. Maybe try listening to a book. For the adventurous among you, I have a reading challenge!

Now back to my book,

Rev. Tony