Interrupted by God by Tracey Lind
Pilgrim Press

Very early in Tracey Lind’s first book—page one of the Preface, actually—the Dean of Cleveland’s Trinity Episcopal Cathedral sets the tone for her coffee-table quality volume of devotional essays and accompanying photographs. Born of Jewish and Christian parents, she is also a lesbian who spent a large amount of time ministering to homeless men and women most folks avoid out of embarrassment or nervousness. Lind considers herself “belonging to the edge, to the fringe.” Identifying herself as an Evangelical Universalist-- meaning she follows Jesus, but doesn’t necessarily expect you to do the same-- Lind confides that by living on the edge, “I can see all kinds of things that I couldn’t see if I only lived in the center of safety and privilege.”

Well said!

Since the dawning of Christianity, when the faith was still considered an aspect of Judaism, its practitioners have lived on the edge, in between worlds, cultivating a “double vision” of life in this world, while waiting for the next world. And as times have changed, and the faith became not only tolerated, but also accepted, and eventually demanded, true followers have still pursued this vision of flesh and Spirit, of Now and Then...pursuing God, caring for the sick, dying, and downtrodden while the rest of the civilized world built factories and highways and chased after profit.

If for no other reason than Lind’s engaging stories of her encounters with the poor and the destitute— tales of homeless couples left with no choice but to give birth in abandoned houses, yet comforted and aided by other squatters; or drunken winos showing up for Easter services with no shame on their faces— Interrupted By God is an intriguing collection of narratives from the edge of a hidden, but very human society. But the book is even more than that.

Crammed within the 240-page collection of nouveau-Rockwell-esque prose pieces and gentle Gay Pride-isms resides a mystic heart looking for The Lover of her soul-- unabashedly spouting scriptural riffs; talking about Joy and Love; recounting fascinating experiences; with knowledgeable references to Desmond Tutu, Annie Dillard, Thomas Merton, Abraham Heschel, C.S.Lewis, The I-Ching, Martin Luther, and African American spirituality.

All that, in a book published at Cleveland’s Pilgrim Press. Support your local mystics—Truth and Beauty, baby.

from Cool Cleveland contributor Daiv Whaley (:divend:)