Customer Reviews

The Sacred Journey: A Memoir of Early Days

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I first read this book 5 years ago, following a divorce. Since then, I have reread it nearly every year, along with "Now and Then" and "Telling Secrets". Mr. Buechner very eloquently and unashamedly addresses the issue of his life's tradgedies, and how God reached into his life through these events. But even more importantly, he tells of how his story is our story. "...the same steel that secures your life against being destroyed secures your life also against being opened up and transformed by the Holy power that life itself comes from..." (From the book)

In his wide-open honesty, Mr. Buechner lets the reader know that we are really all the same: we all have the joys and pains of life, and we all have the same access to the Holy Power that life ultimately comes from.

I have been deeply touched by this book.

Rev. Buechner has an amazing gift for crafting language to portray exactly what he feels and needs to say. He writes this autobiographical and spiritual book, he says, with the hope that the reader will see the threads of his or her story weaving in and out of his own.

Buechner's work is popular, and this book is the perfect introduction, explaining the major events of his childhood, which shape his life, minsitry, and writing. Sacred Journey is certainly not a self-help book, but you will be encouraged toward reflection on your life past and present, and if you let him, Buechner will shape your life.

The mystery of our lives. The oddity of memory. The things that make us who we are. Frederick Buechner explores all of these topics in the first volume of his autobiographies, "The Sacred Journey."

Slowly--word by word and line by line, Buechner has won my respect as an author. How he unravels the story of his own life, how he makes the past breathe, gives it life...it has all combined to deepen my esteem for him. He is one of the greatest living authors.

Buechner's honest search for something universal in his story has captivated me. We all stand, in one way or another, in the shadows of our own lives. Alone, we cannot even comprehend the whole of our own journeys. The value of Buechner's excavation of his past is that when others view it, it may help them see the importance of their own journey.

In spite of the author's uncertainness about writing them, I have found Buechner's autobiographies to be of great value. I am thankful for the man's openness, courage and skill (they are fun to read).

I give "The Sacred Journey" my wholehearted recommendation.

I have read The Magnificent Defeat, Godric and the meditation book, Listening to Your Life. I've read other books by Richard Rohr that have blown me away in how they've illuminated Christianity for me but I've never read anything quite so beautiful, so rich with humanity as this slim little volume.

It is rare that words fail me but it seems that anything I could say about this work wouldn't do it any justice at all. It's not about Christianity, it's about looking into your life, listening to all the strangeness, horror and wonder and perchance finding what God might be saying.

and still my words fail. Read this and take the journey yourself. You'll see what I mean.

Perhaps the best thing about Rev. Buechner's book is that, in reading about his early journey toward finding Christ, it really will, as so many have noted, help you reflect on your journey. Buechner writes about how our lives are like novels, that they have a structure and a meaning, and indeed, they do, if we take the time to delve into them and try to process them. God, of course, is the Author of that meaning, and as Buechner finds meaning in his life, so too can we find meaning in ours. This is one I am sure I will read again and again. (Fair warning -- the cover photograph will come to haunt you as you read about what happens to Buechner's father!)

I like the fact that Buechner does not paint a surfacy, sugar-coated picture of his life in the several memoirs. He is honest almost to a fault and he crafts it all into a story that teaches while it fascinates. I've never been bored by Buechner and that is quite an accomplishment because I've read quite a few of his books.
To be honest, I prefer his non-fiction to his fiction. I know some readers are the opposite. In any case, with some folks, even celebrities, you wonder why in the heck they bothered to write their autobiography. This is not true with Buechner. Even breaking it up into several books, each is constructive and extremely readable in its own way.

check out doug thorpe's comments on this book; he's a Seattle Pacific University muse, so his words must be golden. here's my two cents:

the writing style of the sacred journey seems deceptively simple, even hypnotic, and buechner has done a masterful job at piecing his memories together into a meaningful (and occasionally preachy) message. in fact, he provides a first-rate example of how to do exactly that which he suggests, pour over one's past for surprising glimpses of God's grace-filled touch. if nothing else, buechner sure knows how to write a stirring introduction.

The Sacred Journey is memoir, poetry and philosophy in one slim novel and I loved it! Buechner's book is messy- somewhat disjointed feeling, and yet beautiful and touching. The seeming unorganized stories come together much like real life does... where big moments hardly matter and the small, seemingly unimportant, conversations can change everything. Buechner tries, and I think succeeds, in using his own life (filled with very real pain- like his Father's suicide) to show the humanity and great journey we all have in common. His spirituality is not overbearing, it is honest and real, while at the same time rooted and sound. I found myself extremely encouraged in my own journey of faith because of this book.

At first, I was a little put off by his over-thought and extreme poetic style of writing. I felt like he was wasting words and beating around the bush until, almost as if he read my thoughts he says "...I started to sense that words not only convey something, but are something; that words have color, depth, texture of their own, and the power to evoke vastly more than they mean; that words can be used not merely to make things clear, make things vivid, make things interesting and whatever else, but to make things happen inside the one who reads them or hears them." (P. 68) and then it sort of clicked for me. This memoir isn't simply a retelling of his major life moments, it is actually an attempt to explain and paint humanity and the vast array of feelings and emotions that entails. After reading that quote, I sort of relaxed and sat back to enjoy the ride and let the book just take me wherever he was going.

One thing that is amazing to me is how optimistic Buechner is, despite the harshness of his life and his emotionally under-developed family. I found this paragraph particularly beautiful: "To do for yourself the best that you have in you to do -To grit your teeth and clench your fists in order to survive the world at its harshest and worst- is, by that very act, to be unable to let something be done for you and in you that is more wonderful still. The trouble with steeling yourself against the harshness of reality is that the same steel that secures your life against being destroyed secures your life also against being opened up and transformed by the holy power that life itself comes from. You can survive on your own. You can grow strong on your own. You can even prevail on your own. But you cannot become human on your own." (P. 46)

Adding these quotes to my review do not spoil this book, as I could never convey the art that is found here by chopping out little portions, and I could copy down a number of other amazing paragraphs, but I will leave that up to the individual to read- or borrow my underlined copy, but I do want to end with the message that Buechner himself ended with. After becoming a Christian and later deciding to attend seminary he says: "It was a long way to go, and there is no question but that there is a vastly longer way to go still, for all of us, before we are done. And the way we have to go is full of perils, both from without and from within, and who can say for sure what we will find at the end of our journeys, or if, when that time comes, it will prove to be anything more than such a beautiful dream... Faith. Hope. Love-- As words so worn out, but as realities so rich. Our going-away presents from beyond time to carry with us through time to lighten our step as we go. And part at least of the wisdom of the third one [Love] is... `Never question the truth of what you fail to understand, for the world is filled with wonders.' Above all, never question the truth beyond all understanding and surpassing all other wonders. That in the long run nothing, not even the world, not even ourselves, can separate us forever from that last and deepest love that glimmers in our dusk like a pearl, like a face. " (P. 112) So well said, and more importantly, so true! Buechner basically promises that becoming a Christian is not the end of your journey, nor is it the beginning; it is just part of the whole of what God is doing in your life and in the lives of others. We aren't done ye and this side of heaven, we never will be. Beautiful.

This book talks about Mr. Buechner's life. It is a bit scattered at times as he can take one sentence and make an entire paragraph, but overall is a good look at how places and memories make up our lives.