What do you think?
Rate this book
Things Seen and Unseen: A Year Lived in Faith
"Gracefully written and moving ... Things Seen and Unseen starts with Nora Gallagher entering the labyrinth of her life ... and ultimately it leads to the center of her being."-- The Boston Globe
It started with an occasional Sunday, a "tourist's" visit to a local church. Eventually Nora Gallagher entered into a yearlong journey to discover her
faith and a relationship with God, using the Christian calendar as her compass.
Whether writing about her brother's battle against cancer, talking to homeless men about the World Series, or questioning the afterlife ("One world
at a time"), Gallagher draws us into a world of journeys and mysteries, yet grounded in a gritty reality. She braids together the symbols of the
Christian calendar, the events of a year in one church, and her own spiritual journey, each strand combed out with harrowing intimacy. Thought provoking and profoundly perceptive, Things Seen and Unseen is a remarkable demonstration that "the road to the sacred is paved with the ordinary."
"Like Kathleen Norris in Amazing Grace , Gallagher is renewing the language of ultimate concerns."-- San Francisco Chronicle
"The deep serenity that suffuses Gallagher's work, the lyrical cadences in which she writes, do not blunt the sharp edges of what she discovered in her quest for meaning."-- Los Angeles Times
It started with an occasional Sunday, a "tourist's" visit to a local church. Eventually Nora Gallagher entered into a yearlong journey to discover her
faith and a relationship with God, using the Christian calendar as her compass.
Whether writing about her brother's battle against cancer, talking to homeless men about the World Series, or questioning the afterlife ("One world
at a time"), Gallagher draws us into a world of journeys and mysteries, yet grounded in a gritty reality. She braids together the symbols of the
Christian calendar, the events of a year in one church, and her own spiritual journey, each strand combed out with harrowing intimacy. Thought provoking and profoundly perceptive, Things Seen and Unseen is a remarkable demonstration that "the road to the sacred is paved with the ordinary."
"Like Kathleen Norris in Amazing Grace , Gallagher is renewing the language of ultimate concerns."-- San Francisco Chronicle
"The deep serenity that suffuses Gallagher's work, the lyrical cadences in which she writes, do not blunt the sharp edges of what she discovered in her quest for meaning."-- Los Angeles Times
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
March 10, 2009
I. loved. this. book. It's taken me quite a while to get through it, I will admit, but it really is wonderful. It is a journey through the liturgical year in an Episcopal church in California, told through the eyes and ears of a lay person. It is beautifully written, and written in such a way that you can read a little section and put it down, savor it for a while, and then pick it up a little later. I think that's probably the best way to read it. If I were to teach seminary or div school students, I would set this book as required reading. She speaks so very eloquently of what it means to be a church, and how it is we begin to do that. Sorry to gush -- I just couldn't help myself!
June 14, 2012
I closed this book and sighed. It is a fascinating read and is an apt snapshot of a time and place in the Episcopal Church. There are no strident declarations of faith here or fist shaking admonitions. It is a story about one year in the life of someone who, like the rest of us, is stumbling around in the gloaming.
February 4, 2015
What an enjoyable walk through the liturgical year with Nora. She is insightful, reflective and very likable. She leads me back along the trail to my Episcopal roots. Much like Wendell Berry’s fox, which Gallagher holds up as it “makes more tracks than necessary,” my mind was back and forth through several stages in my own spiritual journey and through several church families. I agree with Berry that we should emulate the fox, because the tracks in the wrong direction are still of value for the insight they provide and error they clarify, much like reading Things Seen and Unseen did for me.
It was ironically fitting that Gallagher headed each chapter with a season of the church calendar and then, in true Episcopal form, she titles the last chapter “Ordinary Time,” which is in fact Roman Catholic and not Episcopal at all. She takes this liberty, because she, wait for it,“likes the idea of it.” I giggle now even as I type. Yes, Episcopalians allow themselves a lot of leeway because they “like the idea of it.” Founded by a King looking for a way around his vows they do not have a strong doctrine set down by a Thomas, Luther, Calvin, or Zwingli, and they do not have magisterial leadership like that of the Pope.
We are introduced to a number of congregational members through her involvement in a “Base Community,” like a Covenant Group or dedicated prayer group, it brings together congregational members who may not become close under any other circumstance, but through this group share their joys and challenges and spiritual journeys together. The bonds often become stronger than family as she stresses the strength of the church family.
Gallagher serves in the soup kitchen operating out of the church’s facility, which provides a wonderful glimpse into the daily challenges of ministering to that population. Her characters ring true to me as I remember my time providing Welfare to Work counseling. She wrestles with issues of leadership and the nature of working with volunteers. With a non-profit administration lens she provides some very insightful reflections.
As a previous Treasurer, I found Trinity’s budget typical and inspiring as a testament of their faith. Part and parcel of trusting the Holy Spirit moving among them, they find themselves over budget by $17k for the current year and tentatively budget $30k into the red for the next year. Yes, in the red; running a soup kitchen on prayed-for, quickly rotting carrots that show up exactly when the soup pot is alarmingly empty. This phenomenon was openly discussed in one of my previous church families and was lauded for its ability to guarantee the tapping of currently unforeseeable funding. Gallagher quotes James Carroll describing the Holy Spirit as the “gift of imagination” and “the spark of fire that fills us with desire for the future.” Indeed.
Trinity is depicted throughout the process of calling a new priest with the hopes of enlivening a dwindling number of “pledging units” and they call an openly homosexual candidate who has been serving as interim right around the time Bishop Righter was being tried in a church court for ordaining a practicing homosexual priest in 1990 claiming it went against a 1979 resolution. Their subcommittee on Sexuality hosts a workshop where Gallagher accuses the church of being irrelevant throughout the sexual “revolution”. The workshop spawns a subcommittee to work on ‘Homosexual Union Blessings’. I will not leap into that pit right now.
Moving off that hot button topic and onto a spiritual practice Gallagher brings to light several times throughout the course of the journey. She talks about the creation of a canvas labyrinth for meditative walking. I really enjoyed her gem from Dorothy Day in the context of the Communion of Saints or the “Communion of Workers” as Day calls them. Gallagher imagines the labyrinth as a spiritual tool handed down as a “gift from the artists who conceived and made it, a gift from the Middle Ages.”
Thank you Nora for sharing your spiritual journey and sharing your church family with your readers. You have joined in the Communion of Workers and invite your readers to do the same by example.
It was ironically fitting that Gallagher headed each chapter with a season of the church calendar and then, in true Episcopal form, she titles the last chapter “Ordinary Time,” which is in fact Roman Catholic and not Episcopal at all. She takes this liberty, because she, wait for it,“likes the idea of it.” I giggle now even as I type. Yes, Episcopalians allow themselves a lot of leeway because they “like the idea of it.” Founded by a King looking for a way around his vows they do not have a strong doctrine set down by a Thomas, Luther, Calvin, or Zwingli, and they do not have magisterial leadership like that of the Pope.
We are introduced to a number of congregational members through her involvement in a “Base Community,” like a Covenant Group or dedicated prayer group, it brings together congregational members who may not become close under any other circumstance, but through this group share their joys and challenges and spiritual journeys together. The bonds often become stronger than family as she stresses the strength of the church family.
Gallagher serves in the soup kitchen operating out of the church’s facility, which provides a wonderful glimpse into the daily challenges of ministering to that population. Her characters ring true to me as I remember my time providing Welfare to Work counseling. She wrestles with issues of leadership and the nature of working with volunteers. With a non-profit administration lens she provides some very insightful reflections.
As a previous Treasurer, I found Trinity’s budget typical and inspiring as a testament of their faith. Part and parcel of trusting the Holy Spirit moving among them, they find themselves over budget by $17k for the current year and tentatively budget $30k into the red for the next year. Yes, in the red; running a soup kitchen on prayed-for, quickly rotting carrots that show up exactly when the soup pot is alarmingly empty. This phenomenon was openly discussed in one of my previous church families and was lauded for its ability to guarantee the tapping of currently unforeseeable funding. Gallagher quotes James Carroll describing the Holy Spirit as the “gift of imagination” and “the spark of fire that fills us with desire for the future.” Indeed.
Trinity is depicted throughout the process of calling a new priest with the hopes of enlivening a dwindling number of “pledging units” and they call an openly homosexual candidate who has been serving as interim right around the time Bishop Righter was being tried in a church court for ordaining a practicing homosexual priest in 1990 claiming it went against a 1979 resolution. Their subcommittee on Sexuality hosts a workshop where Gallagher accuses the church of being irrelevant throughout the sexual “revolution”. The workshop spawns a subcommittee to work on ‘Homosexual Union Blessings’. I will not leap into that pit right now.
Moving off that hot button topic and onto a spiritual practice Gallagher brings to light several times throughout the course of the journey. She talks about the creation of a canvas labyrinth for meditative walking. I really enjoyed her gem from Dorothy Day in the context of the Communion of Saints or the “Communion of Workers” as Day calls them. Gallagher imagines the labyrinth as a spiritual tool handed down as a “gift from the artists who conceived and made it, a gift from the Middle Ages.”
Thank you Nora for sharing your spiritual journey and sharing your church family with your readers. You have joined in the Communion of Workers and invite your readers to do the same by example.
June 13, 2010
I reread this book recently and loved it just as much as I did the first time, possibly more. Beautifully-written, smart, honest, perceptive, sometimes really funny. The book describes a calendar year of the author's religious life (she's a member of a liberal Episcopalian church in California) and is wonderfully forthright about her struggles and difficulties as well as times of clarity and hopefulness. Aside from obvious Christian references (God and Jesus especially), what struck me this time around is how much what she describes is like Buddhist practice: dealing with impermanence and disappointment; ritual and the present moment; discerning what is really true.
May 29, 2017
I discovered this book the way I do most books — by way of someone wiser who placed it in my hands.
Nora Gallagher, a journalist, returned to organized religion at mid-life and traced her life at Trinity Episcopal Church in Santa Barbara, Ca., through the calendar of the church year. As we move from Advent, to Christmas, to Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost, she tells us the state of her soul and faith journey as she volunteers for the soup kitchen, serves on vestry, and helps call an openly gay man to be the rector. (This was quite bold in the mid-1990s.)
This is a perfect read for someone like me. I, too, returned to my Christian roots, at almost mid-life. I was 37 and it was the year after my father died. I was ripe for the prayer and quiet and a way to understand the seasons of life. I was ready to be an Episcopalian and move into a faith more in line with my liberal leanings. As the woman who was to become my spouse said, "Come to my church, we have women clergy. Our rector is a woman and so is our deacon." I went. At first, only for the "important" days. Eventually I came to believe every day is important. I was received in the church. I got involved. I let it into my heart.
Gallagher writes with humor and healthy questioning. It is a relief to know that I can still have faith and be comforted by a loving God while still not embracing every line of every prayer.
There are many great passages. Here are a few that stood out for me:
"All that Jesus said is to love God, love others, and forgive your enemies. If you do these things, you will have eternal life. Ethernal life is not a reward in heaven for being good; it's what you experience when you really love. People of other faiths who practice loving certainly must experience the same thing."
"Karen Torjesen, in her book When Women Were Priests, describes 'house churches,' which were the meeting places for the early Christians. Torjesen believed the early church was countercultural in tone, and was marked by a fluidity and flexibility that allowed women, slaves, and artisans to assume leadership roles.
... the fate of people, of the world demands that one not be merely a good listener, or a good friend, but yes, to be in trouble. — Fr. Daniel Berrigan, Jesuit priest and activist
"When I interviewed him I asked him how many times he had been jail. He replied, 'Not enough.'"
"I think of Mary Magdelene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, those whom Jesus befriended: the marginal, the outcast, the oppressed. And, not to forget, the hopeful. They stood in that tomb and endured its emptiness. Then they ran outside to tell the others. They gave all they had for something new."
Nora Gallagher, a journalist, returned to organized religion at mid-life and traced her life at Trinity Episcopal Church in Santa Barbara, Ca., through the calendar of the church year. As we move from Advent, to Christmas, to Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost, she tells us the state of her soul and faith journey as she volunteers for the soup kitchen, serves on vestry, and helps call an openly gay man to be the rector. (This was quite bold in the mid-1990s.)
This is a perfect read for someone like me. I, too, returned to my Christian roots, at almost mid-life. I was 37 and it was the year after my father died. I was ripe for the prayer and quiet and a way to understand the seasons of life. I was ready to be an Episcopalian and move into a faith more in line with my liberal leanings. As the woman who was to become my spouse said, "Come to my church, we have women clergy. Our rector is a woman and so is our deacon." I went. At first, only for the "important" days. Eventually I came to believe every day is important. I was received in the church. I got involved. I let it into my heart.
Gallagher writes with humor and healthy questioning. It is a relief to know that I can still have faith and be comforted by a loving God while still not embracing every line of every prayer.
There are many great passages. Here are a few that stood out for me:
"All that Jesus said is to love God, love others, and forgive your enemies. If you do these things, you will have eternal life. Ethernal life is not a reward in heaven for being good; it's what you experience when you really love. People of other faiths who practice loving certainly must experience the same thing."
"Karen Torjesen, in her book When Women Were Priests, describes 'house churches,' which were the meeting places for the early Christians. Torjesen believed the early church was countercultural in tone, and was marked by a fluidity and flexibility that allowed women, slaves, and artisans to assume leadership roles.
... the fate of people, of the world demands that one not be merely a good listener, or a good friend, but yes, to be in trouble. — Fr. Daniel Berrigan, Jesuit priest and activist
"When I interviewed him I asked him how many times he had been jail. He replied, 'Not enough.'"
"I think of Mary Magdelene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, those whom Jesus befriended: the marginal, the outcast, the oppressed. And, not to forget, the hopeful. They stood in that tomb and endured its emptiness. Then they ran outside to tell the others. They gave all they had for something new."
August 7, 2009
Nora Gallagher writes a lovely book that rambles through a liturgical year. Highlights of it surround caring for friends that are dying, working in the church soup kitchen which is populated with unusual characters, and seeing a new pastor into office, which seemed like it would be controversial because of his sexuality, but wasn't, because the church loves him.
My personal favorite part was the inclusion of this prayer:
May you walk with God
In the sharp pain of growing
In the midst of confusion
In the bright light of knowing
May you live in God
In God's constant compassion
In God's infinite wisdom
In God's passion for peace
May you walk with God
And live in God
And remain with God
This night, and forever. Amen.
My personal favorite part was the inclusion of this prayer:
May you walk with God
In the sharp pain of growing
In the midst of confusion
In the bright light of knowing
May you live in God
In God's constant compassion
In God's infinite wisdom
In God's passion for peace
May you walk with God
And live in God
And remain with God
This night, and forever. Amen.
April 24, 2018
I could’ve sworn it took me much longer to finish this book. I loved her prose as well as the words of those she chose to quote: such lyrical, revelatory language. But it also wasn’t easy to get through. But maybe that was how it was supposed to be: that slowly taking in this book was meant to be like the author’s habit of walking labyrinths, wending her way in meditation and prayer.
Favorite quotes:
“‘What a waste it is to be surrounded by heaven, by a sky “made white by angels’ wings” and to be unaware of it,’ writes Esther de Waal. ‘Perhaps the first step is that we really should want to unearth God in our midst...[to] let the mundane become the edge of glory, and find the extraordinary in the ordinary.’ To find not perfection, but possibility.” p. 27
“I went to church as if it were a ballet. I went to the ballet on Sunday, felt many different kinds of feelings, couldn’t bring those feelings into line with my intellect or figure out how to integrate them into my own experience, and so they gradually faded as the week wore on. It didn’t connect. I suspect that many people who faithfully attend church remain in such a state and don’t know what to do about it. (And those who watch us from the outside wonder, rightly, What’s the point of all this?) What I finally understood was that simply going to church doesn’t do it, but neither does not going to church.” p. 66
“Turner adds, ‘To the extent that the church recommends its traditional teaching and yet at the same time fails to be a family in which loneliness is remedied, it will fail to recognize the necessary framework for understanding its own teaching...What we need to form is a moral and political community which is something more than a lonely crowd in pursuit of private ends.’” p. 68
“Faith is not about belief in something irrational or about a blind connection to something unreal. It’s about a gathering, an accumulation of events and experiences of a different order. These experiences are gradually convincing enough, or you have paid them so much attention, they reach critical mass. The famous ‘leap’ comes at the beginning, when there is not enough experience to justify the effort. Even then, something begins faith—a memory of a reality or of an experience that doesn’t quite fit with everything else, the longing a soul has to find its shape in the world.” p. 79
“...Anne Lamott writes, ‘I know Jesus drinks himself to sleep.’” p. 125
“I offer to pray with her. God help Lois make this decision, I think, as we pray. I don’t understand until much later, as I’m driving away, that she needed me to go out on a limb with her and be responsible, with her, for making what may have been the wrong decision. She needed me to help carry the load. I didn’t. That had nothing to do with respecting Lois’s autonomy; it was about washing my hands. We pretend to respect the autonomy of people who are sick or dying; in actuality, we hang them out to dry. I see something then, just at the periphery, about faith. I want to remain clean, innocent, above the fray, but faith requires me to get down and dirty, to risk making a mistake for the sake of another, to join in the awful intimacy of Lois’s suffering.” p. 145
“‘Do you believe in an afterlife?’ Jodie asks.
“‘Yes,’ I say. ‘Something happened to Jesus, but I can’t imagine what it will be like.’
“Then I remember an afternoon Jodie came over with other friends and we sat outside in the backyard.
“‘Do you remember that afternoon?’ I ask Jodie. ‘When everything was so easy?’
“‘No,’ she says.
“‘It was sunny and everyone was relaxed, nothing special was going on. I was so glad to see you. I felt completely in the present. No part of me was missing. I think that has something to do with eternity.’
“‘Yes,’ she says. ‘I know what you’re talking about. I know exactly what you’re talking about. I’ve had those moments, too.’” p. 154
“Seen through our modern eyes, the lives of saints and pilgrims seem excessive, bordering on the crazed: Joan and her voices, Francis and his kiss upon the leper’s lips, Julian of Norwich nearly walked into a cell, bands of pilgrims walking barefoot toward a shrine. Excess marks the lives of saints and pilgrims. Viewed through the lens of faith, however, these lives reveal this truth: the love of God for us is excessive and deserves, even demands, extravagance in return.” p. 178
“‘You know, you have a choice, in our culture, to have a cultural Christianity or a committed Christianity,’ Robert says. ‘A cultural Christianity is a Christianity where you go to a nice church and you take your children to a nice church where you have a liturgy that pleases you without any depth of commitment. A committed Christianity challenges people to cross that bridge from a cultural inclination to a commitment in faith.’” p. 194
“In answer to a question regarding the afterlife, Henry David Thoreau is said to have replied, ‘One world at a time.’ It is here, all around us, the kingdom we seek, in ordinary things and in time, in what we allow into us.” p. 202
“For a Eucharistic prayer Roy Parker sings a version of e. e. cummings: ‘We thank God for this amazing day / For leaping greenly spirits of trees / And a blue true dream of sky / And for everything which is natural / Which is infinite, which is Yes.’” p. 203
Favorite quotes:
“‘What a waste it is to be surrounded by heaven, by a sky “made white by angels’ wings” and to be unaware of it,’ writes Esther de Waal. ‘Perhaps the first step is that we really should want to unearth God in our midst...[to] let the mundane become the edge of glory, and find the extraordinary in the ordinary.’ To find not perfection, but possibility.” p. 27
“I went to church as if it were a ballet. I went to the ballet on Sunday, felt many different kinds of feelings, couldn’t bring those feelings into line with my intellect or figure out how to integrate them into my own experience, and so they gradually faded as the week wore on. It didn’t connect. I suspect that many people who faithfully attend church remain in such a state and don’t know what to do about it. (And those who watch us from the outside wonder, rightly, What’s the point of all this?) What I finally understood was that simply going to church doesn’t do it, but neither does not going to church.” p. 66
“Turner adds, ‘To the extent that the church recommends its traditional teaching and yet at the same time fails to be a family in which loneliness is remedied, it will fail to recognize the necessary framework for understanding its own teaching...What we need to form is a moral and political community which is something more than a lonely crowd in pursuit of private ends.’” p. 68
“Faith is not about belief in something irrational or about a blind connection to something unreal. It’s about a gathering, an accumulation of events and experiences of a different order. These experiences are gradually convincing enough, or you have paid them so much attention, they reach critical mass. The famous ‘leap’ comes at the beginning, when there is not enough experience to justify the effort. Even then, something begins faith—a memory of a reality or of an experience that doesn’t quite fit with everything else, the longing a soul has to find its shape in the world.” p. 79
“...Anne Lamott writes, ‘I know Jesus drinks himself to sleep.’” p. 125
“I offer to pray with her. God help Lois make this decision, I think, as we pray. I don’t understand until much later, as I’m driving away, that she needed me to go out on a limb with her and be responsible, with her, for making what may have been the wrong decision. She needed me to help carry the load. I didn’t. That had nothing to do with respecting Lois’s autonomy; it was about washing my hands. We pretend to respect the autonomy of people who are sick or dying; in actuality, we hang them out to dry. I see something then, just at the periphery, about faith. I want to remain clean, innocent, above the fray, but faith requires me to get down and dirty, to risk making a mistake for the sake of another, to join in the awful intimacy of Lois’s suffering.” p. 145
“‘Do you believe in an afterlife?’ Jodie asks.
“‘Yes,’ I say. ‘Something happened to Jesus, but I can’t imagine what it will be like.’
“Then I remember an afternoon Jodie came over with other friends and we sat outside in the backyard.
“‘Do you remember that afternoon?’ I ask Jodie. ‘When everything was so easy?’
“‘No,’ she says.
“‘It was sunny and everyone was relaxed, nothing special was going on. I was so glad to see you. I felt completely in the present. No part of me was missing. I think that has something to do with eternity.’
“‘Yes,’ she says. ‘I know what you’re talking about. I know exactly what you’re talking about. I’ve had those moments, too.’” p. 154
“Seen through our modern eyes, the lives of saints and pilgrims seem excessive, bordering on the crazed: Joan and her voices, Francis and his kiss upon the leper’s lips, Julian of Norwich nearly walked into a cell, bands of pilgrims walking barefoot toward a shrine. Excess marks the lives of saints and pilgrims. Viewed through the lens of faith, however, these lives reveal this truth: the love of God for us is excessive and deserves, even demands, extravagance in return.” p. 178
“‘You know, you have a choice, in our culture, to have a cultural Christianity or a committed Christianity,’ Robert says. ‘A cultural Christianity is a Christianity where you go to a nice church and you take your children to a nice church where you have a liturgy that pleases you without any depth of commitment. A committed Christianity challenges people to cross that bridge from a cultural inclination to a commitment in faith.’” p. 194
“In answer to a question regarding the afterlife, Henry David Thoreau is said to have replied, ‘One world at a time.’ It is here, all around us, the kingdom we seek, in ordinary things and in time, in what we allow into us.” p. 202
“For a Eucharistic prayer Roy Parker sings a version of e. e. cummings: ‘We thank God for this amazing day / For leaping greenly spirits of trees / And a blue true dream of sky / And for everything which is natural / Which is infinite, which is Yes.’” p. 203
February 4, 2022
3.5 stars. The concept of a church member, not church staff, going through the liturgical year is something that intrigues me. The subtitle is A Year Lived in Faith. I appreciated the author's journey through an "ordinary" year. In the ordinary, she deals with her brother's cancer, death of a friend, volunteering at a soup kitchen and serving houseless people. There is the story of the ordination of the priest, who is gay, at her Epicopal church, and the discussion around that as church members, on whether they should call him to be their rector. Throughout her memoir, I could sense the "stuff" of everyday life that people face and have to make every day life decision on: A friend's illness, a relative's cancer, church life, marriage, etc.
It was written in 1998 and you could kind of sense it in some parts. And that was nice. I enjoyed her writing. Anytime a writer gives the reader imagery to see and develop for themselves, I'm all in. Here are a few of the quotes I highlighted:
First sentence:
Here I am in an empty church. -3
In this church, Trinity Episcopal in Santa Barbara, we practice to be thin, to live in space, to go through the narrow door. -3
In Advent, the holy breaks into the daily. -5
John cries in the wilderness, in Advent, feeling his way into God. -29
I took all this to the Eucharist and sank into its depths, into its heart, into the body and the blood. I put my pain into the flesh of something, rather than into the air, into the blood of a body, into a heart. To sink in there for comfort, as only a body can give comfort, to sink my pain in deep. -34
A friend of mine, a writer, once said he had no gift for religion. A friend of his, a believer, told him not to worry, God would find him. -65
Later, Jesus wold accomplish each f these "temptations," but in reversal of those days in the desert. He would change stones into bread: a few loaves of bread and five fish would feed five thousand. He would "hurl himself from a tower" and be "caught by angels," by giving up his life on the cross. He would be worshipped, by humbling himself as a servant. -85
In the guild hall nearby, Grey Brothers is leading the choir in practice. They are singing, "Domine deus, filius patris, miserere nobis." God the Father, God the Son, have mercy on us. -104
"Abbot Lot came to Abbot Joseph and said, 'Father, according as I am able, I keep my little rule, and my little fast, my prayer, my meditations and contemplative silence, and according as I am able, I strive to cleanse my heart of thoughts. Now what more should I do?' The elder rose up in reply and stretched out his hands to heaven and his fingers became like ten lamps... He said, 'Why not be totally changed into fire?'" -106
And I saw something else, Good Friday's shadows, way in the back of his eyes. -110
St. John Chrysostom said that there is a liturgy after the liturgy, that work in the world is inseparable from worship. -111
St. John of the Cross said it is sometimes easier to see in the darkness than in the light. -126
The intent of crucifixion was to do more than kill. It was to dismantle the human person. "Torture" derives from the Latin word meaning "to twist." -127
We are living in the shadow of the resurrection in community, I think; we are tasting and seeing. -157
The third member of the Trinity arrives without warning and, unlike the youthful, dramatic son, moves into stay. -158
I ask God a simple question: How will I live now, with my brother so ill, what can I do? As I walk one of the great outer rings, I feel the purest peace. And the answer comes, this thinnest of threads: everything is contained in my love, even this. -233
Last sentence:
Ann grins. She says, "Nothing is lost." -234
It was written in 1998 and you could kind of sense it in some parts. And that was nice. I enjoyed her writing. Anytime a writer gives the reader imagery to see and develop for themselves, I'm all in. Here are a few of the quotes I highlighted:
First sentence:
Here I am in an empty church. -3
In this church, Trinity Episcopal in Santa Barbara, we practice to be thin, to live in space, to go through the narrow door. -3
In Advent, the holy breaks into the daily. -5
John cries in the wilderness, in Advent, feeling his way into God. -29
I took all this to the Eucharist and sank into its depths, into its heart, into the body and the blood. I put my pain into the flesh of something, rather than into the air, into the blood of a body, into a heart. To sink in there for comfort, as only a body can give comfort, to sink my pain in deep. -34
A friend of mine, a writer, once said he had no gift for religion. A friend of his, a believer, told him not to worry, God would find him. -65
Later, Jesus wold accomplish each f these "temptations," but in reversal of those days in the desert. He would change stones into bread: a few loaves of bread and five fish would feed five thousand. He would "hurl himself from a tower" and be "caught by angels," by giving up his life on the cross. He would be worshipped, by humbling himself as a servant. -85
In the guild hall nearby, Grey Brothers is leading the choir in practice. They are singing, "Domine deus, filius patris, miserere nobis." God the Father, God the Son, have mercy on us. -104
"Abbot Lot came to Abbot Joseph and said, 'Father, according as I am able, I keep my little rule, and my little fast, my prayer, my meditations and contemplative silence, and according as I am able, I strive to cleanse my heart of thoughts. Now what more should I do?' The elder rose up in reply and stretched out his hands to heaven and his fingers became like ten lamps... He said, 'Why not be totally changed into fire?'" -106
And I saw something else, Good Friday's shadows, way in the back of his eyes. -110
St. John Chrysostom said that there is a liturgy after the liturgy, that work in the world is inseparable from worship. -111
St. John of the Cross said it is sometimes easier to see in the darkness than in the light. -126
The intent of crucifixion was to do more than kill. It was to dismantle the human person. "Torture" derives from the Latin word meaning "to twist." -127
We are living in the shadow of the resurrection in community, I think; we are tasting and seeing. -157
The third member of the Trinity arrives without warning and, unlike the youthful, dramatic son, moves into stay. -158
I ask God a simple question: How will I live now, with my brother so ill, what can I do? As I walk one of the great outer rings, I feel the purest peace. And the answer comes, this thinnest of threads: everything is contained in my love, even this. -233
Last sentence:
Ann grins. She says, "Nothing is lost." -234
March 31, 2020
enlightening and encouraging take on living and learning and loving as a follower of Christ and as a normal flawed human being. told with wit and grace. one favorite line is quote by author from a therapist. "You're going to have to enlarge your capacity to suffer" another in acknowlegements. a friend returns from Norway and reports that on many of the graves is a single word 'taak', thanks.
July 20, 2021
I grew up in the Episcopal church. Ms Gallagher’s writing closely describes my experience in the church. I left the church in the 1970’s and returned in the mid 1980’s when I started having children. I attended St Thomas EC on Hollywood Blvd in West Hollywood when growing up. My daughters were confirmed at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. Full circle. I love this book.
February 23, 2017
I read this book years ago, when I was first dabbling with the Episcopal church. I admire Gallagher's use of the church calendar as the backbone for the book. It's a detailed and loving testament to the tensions and joys of a church community.
May 1, 2024
I probably had this book on my bookshelf for over 25 years. I am so glad I read now as I appreciated the process of looking at church through the church calendar as opposed to living the church calendar.
October 3, 2019
I have very mixed thoughts about this book. Parts of it are pretty good.....other parts sound like one side of a conversation with a therapist. Reading for a book discussion group which helps.
March 11, 2021
Enjoyed. A few incites. More a year of her life in connection with her church.
January 11, 2023
Add this to the list of quite wonderful spiritual memoirs. I folded multiple corners to mark places in the text I want to remember and revisit.
January 23, 2024
A year in an Episcopal Church with all the good.and the bad of daily life
October 31, 2015
Things Seen and Unseen is probably one of the best books I've read on ones spiritual journey. Nora Gallagher takes us on a year long journey into the workings of a church. Fortunately she doesn't delve too deeply into church history and background but shares with us the day to day events of Trinity Episcopal Church in Santa Barbara. I particularly enjoyed how she arranged the contents of the book; starting with Advent and ending with Ordinary Time. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on the Epiphany and found all the chapters very readable. As reader, I found that church life is nothing esoteric in the grand scale but very ordinary much like the events in home-life. Church was community - learning to take care of each other and valuing each other despite background. We learn that there can be a fine line between those who make it and those who end up waiting for their daily rations in the soup kitchen. Miss Gallagher has a particular sensitivity toward the sick and dying and we feel it as she struggles with her brother's diagnosis of bladder cancer. The book is a fine blend of church doctrine, the liturgical events in the christian calendar and ones personal journey as a member of the church vestry. Highly recommend for anyone on a personal search for spirituality and the meaning of life.
Read
June 2, 2010I read Practicing Resurrection shortly before I read this book, and I like Practicing Resurrection much better.
Neither has a strong narrative arc, but Practicing Resurrection is full of beautiful heartbreaking moments, so the lack of a strong cohesive arc isn't felt as strongly, while Things Seen and Unseen feels much more stumbling. There are still plenty of bits I like, but I am both much less engaged and much less moved. (It's also somewhat ironic reading stories of her being so un-pastoral, knowing that in her next book she will discuss discerning a vocation to the priesthood.)
Neither has a strong narrative arc, but Practicing Resurrection is full of beautiful heartbreaking moments, so the lack of a strong cohesive arc isn't felt as strongly, while Things Seen and Unseen feels much more stumbling. There are still plenty of bits I like, but I am both much less engaged and much less moved. (It's also somewhat ironic reading stories of her being so un-pastoral, knowing that in her next book she will discuss discerning a vocation to the priesthood.)
Read
August 8, 2009A few quotes:
"If, instead of waiting for stones to be changed to bread, we share the food we have; if, rather than waiting for the fantasy job or lover, we take on the people and work of our lives; if, rather than waiting for rescue, we lay down our lives for our friends—then we depart the world of deadly illusion for a living reality in which 'every day the real caress,' as Anais Nin wrote 'replaces the ghostly lover.'"
"Simply going to church doesn't do it, but neither does not going to church."
"False piety and forced fellowship are still abundant, arguments over the placement of pews take up precious time . . . ."
"If, instead of waiting for stones to be changed to bread, we share the food we have; if, rather than waiting for the fantasy job or lover, we take on the people and work of our lives; if, rather than waiting for rescue, we lay down our lives for our friends—then we depart the world of deadly illusion for a living reality in which 'every day the real caress,' as Anais Nin wrote 'replaces the ghostly lover.'"
"Simply going to church doesn't do it, but neither does not going to church."
"False piety and forced fellowship are still abundant, arguments over the placement of pews take up precious time . . . ."
May 9, 2016
Although this is an introspective, well-written memoir of the author's faith journey, there were too many times where reliance was on tradition or world-view in terms of decision making, rather than the word of God. In that sense, it is not one I would recommend for those seeking a relationship with God, nor was it greatly helpful or inspiring as a treatise on faith. I did respond to and love the sheer practicality of the faith; i.e. remembering that God desires for us to love others as ourselves. This church's ability and desire to reach out beyond their doors with love and acceptance is not only commendable, but an example to be emulated.
July 5, 2015
I started this in June and then went on vacation, so I lot had faded by the time I picked it up again. But there is an awful lot in here. Two parts I especially liked were 1) her description of the Holy Spirit as a "scatterbrained woman at a very large computer in heaven" and 2) when she feels the presence of a recently dead friend as not full of sentiment or emotion but as "detached kindness, without emotion, clarity without sentiment, the purity and refreshment of a sun-dried sheet." And a quote from C.S. Lewis about it being "business-like" and "an extreme & cheerful intimacy." Good. To read again.
January 26, 2010
So beautifully written. I am Jewish so I don't understannd why I am so attracted to Christian writers. I love Anne Lamott, I really enjoyed Angry Conversations with God, I am so inspired by Sue Monk Kidd, and Walking a Literary Labyrinth ws one of the most beautiful books I've ever read. Nora's book is so heartfelt and moving. Most Jewish memoirs are about the Holocaust which I've been reading since age 12. So if anyone knows any modern spiritual memois by Jew, preferably a woman, please let me know.
Read
March 29, 2015I really enjoyed this book. The way it is written reminds me of the writings of Kathleen Norris. One of the reviews quoted on the back of the book says that she writes in "lyrical cadences" and her work is suffused with "deep serenity". This really sums it up for me. She dwells mainly on her life within her church and her relationships with the other congregants as she takes the reader through a church year, with all the attendant rituals , readings and activities and discussion of the meaning she finds in them.
July 24, 2013
I read this book about 5 years ago and I was not terribly impressed. Upon giving it a second reading, I really like it. Clearly my mood and place in life affects my judgement of what I'm reading.
This is the story of one woman's faith journey. She is fortunate enough to end up in a congregation that has little money, but a big heart; a congregation actually intereted in the last, lost, least and little of the world and in supporting each other's spiritual needs.
Worth the read - even twice!
This is the story of one woman's faith journey. She is fortunate enough to end up in a congregation that has little money, but a big heart; a congregation actually intereted in the last, lost, least and little of the world and in supporting each other's spiritual needs.
Worth the read - even twice!
July 16, 2008
Things Seen and Unseen has the same spiritual memoir, through-the-liturgical-year style as The Close, The Cloister Walk, and The Abbey Up the Hill. It was a quick read (mostly on the train), with several quotable gems. "Ashes to fire," and "the meal is the prayer," stand out.
To my surprise, one of my co-workers makes an appearance "with a towel over his arm."
To my surprise, one of my co-workers makes an appearance "with a towel over his arm."
Want to read
August 3, 2009I am out of renewals so it has to go back for now. It's been an interesting and thoughtful read so far, but slow going. The slowness is good, though, because it proceeds at a contemplative pace. My only difficulty is with the vast array of people mentioned - I'm having a little trouble keeping track of everyone.
August 8, 2014
If you are a liberal or an Episcopalian, which seems to be the same thing these days, you will like this book. I am a conservative Lutheran, so I had trouble with some of the things the author and her church grappled with. But the book is well-written and thought provoking. It took me nearly a month to get through it; it's not much of a page-turner.
June 3, 2008
I love Nora Gallagher. This was a glimpse into a year in her church and in her life. Her spirituality reminds me what I like about Episcopalian churches. Not just lip service, Nora Gallagher is a Christian who does works in the world, and struggles with her faith.
December 4, 2008
The monastery I frequented in the hills of Santa Barbara, now burned and gone, had such a great bookstore. This book was one of those purchases. They also sold all of Cornell West's books, which I later found out from the monks was due to Cornell's frequent visits there.
January 11, 2011
Nora Gallagher writes of her journey to and in faith in such an honest and humble way, it is touching me deeply, as I am searching in this new phase of my life for what God wants of me.. Oh, my He does work in mysterious ways. Thank you , Jill.
I believe that I will reread this with every season
I believe that I will reread this with every season
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews