RGBP: Cultural Friday Five

It's Saturday; oh well. I feel like playing. The questions:

Name a:

1. Book
2. Piece of music
3. Work of art
4. Film
5. Unusual engagement with popular culture

that have helped/ challenged you on your spiritual journey.

Book: too many to mention. Ursula Le Guin's Four Ways to Forgiveness is one. My friend Max calls her "St. Ursula," and rightly so; what she does with relationships is riveting. I cried most of the way through Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees. The ending made me want to stand up and shout.

Piece of music: Right now I'm in an old-time gospel bluegrass phase. All week, since my friends began caring for Rob, I've had "Jesus, Won't You Come By Here" stuck in my head. My standby answer, though, would be damn near anything by Linda Allen. "Holden," from the Victory Music Washington Notebook CD, called me back to faith when I didn't know where to search for it. The song is about slowing down, paying attention, and the prayer that naturally flows from being present to life. The chorus:

And it was God on the mountain, though that may sound strange to you
God was in that village, and I know it to be true
God, that holy conjurer, what else could I do
But talk to you?
Talk to you.

Work of art: Oh, heavens. All of creation.

Film: Gandhi. 'Nuff said.

Unusual engagement with popular culture: I'm not even sure that I engage with popular culture. Or what this question even means. I will tell you that I'm fascinated with storytelling, though. In all its forms.

Bonus: Is engagement essential to your Christian faith, how and why?

Of course. Incarnation requires being there.