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    Seeds: Meditations on Grace in a World with Teeth
    Seeds: Meditations on Grace in a World with Teeth
    Seeds: Meditations on Grace in a World with Teeth
    Ebook75 pages1 hour

    Seeds: Meditations on Grace in a World with Teeth

    By Greg Belliveau

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    About this ebook

    In the vein of Donald Miller, Anne Lamott, Debbie Blue, novelist Greg Belliveau’s collection of creative nonfiction, Seeds, dissects the fragmented, consumer-driven, anti-relationship of our American culture and offers a refreshing look at redemption, grace, and Christian community in a world filled with teeth.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCrossLink Publishing
    Release dateAug 21, 2017
    ISBN9781386165743
    Seeds: Meditations on Grace in a World with Teeth
    Author

    Greg Belliveau

    Greg Belliveau is the author of the novels Blood Roots, Go Down To Silence, as well as a collection of Creative Nonfiction entitled Seeds: Meditations on Grace in a World with Teeth. He is a Christopher Isherwood Grant recipient, and a Christy Award finalist for Go Down To Silence.

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      Book preview

      Seeds - Greg Belliveau

      SeedsLargeFrontRGB.jpg

      SEEDS

      SEEDS

      Meditations on Grace in a World with Teeth

      Greg Belliveau

      Seeds: Meditations on Grace in a World with Teeth

      Copyright © 2017 by Greg Belliveau.

      CrossLink Publishing

      www.crosslinkpublishing.com

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for brief quotations in reviews, without the written permission of the author.

      Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law.

      Scripture quotations are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

      Endorsements for

      Seeds: Meditations on Grace in a World With Teeth

      Belliveau doesn’t skirt around the edges of the darkness–he looks the pain and fear, and chaos of life in the face and sees grace. He knows how much we need each other and offers hope that we might just find ourselves part of a broken community held in love.

      Debbie Blue, author of Sensual Orthodoxy, From Stone to Living Word, and Consider the Birds

      "Over the last several years I’ve lamented that my favorite living writers are aging or have recently passed away. Where are the other living titan spiritual writers of this generation? They are few and far between. But when I read through Seeds, I knew I had happened upon one in Gregory Belliveau. His reflections on our vices and on God’s grace are crisp, clear, captivating, and dripping with wisdom. They’re beautiful, forcing me to reflect deeply on God’s ways, on my own, and on where my ways diverge from God’s. Belliveau’s writing and way remind me of two literary giants: David Foster Wallace and Frederick Buechner. I can’t wait to see what else Belliveau has in store for us."

      Marlena Graves, author of A Beautiful Disaster: Finding Hope in the Midst of Brokenness

      Belliveau weaves personal stories full of charm, humor, and honesty to engage Scripture and the Christian faith. The result is a collection of essays deeply relevant for our times. Belliveau reminds the people of the gospel why we journey together.

      Dr. TC Ham, Associate Professor of Biblical Studies, Malone University

      For Patricia, Kaitlin, and Meghan

      ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      This book grew out of the amazing seven-year experience in the inner city of Springfield, OH, called Midtown Christian Community. Many of these essays were first written for that special group of people. I want to thank all those who participated in that community of grace and peace, where giving a cold cup of water to the thirsty, food to the hungry, clothes to the naked in Christ’s name became seeds of restoration for all involved.

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      THE STORY ARC OF US

      LILIES, ROOTS, AND EARTHWORMS

      DALE B. AND THE EIGHT-FOOT, FULLY MANEUVERABLE, BALLOON-HEADED, CHEAP PLASTIC-SHEET GHOST

      SEEDS

      THE GREEN DANCE: AMERICA, ENVY, AND UNQUENCHABLE GRACE

      SHIRTLESS RAY ZOMBROWSKI

      UPSIDE DOWN

      A LITTLE ARISTOTLE GOES A LONG WAY: OR FUN WITH DICK AND JANE

      EXPLETIVE BOB, CARTOON BUBBLES, AND THE SAMARITAN WOMAN AT THE WELL

      IT IS THE JOURNEY AND NOT THE DREAM: A MEDITATION ON LIVING

      THE STORY ARC OF US

      John 14:27

      I have taught creative writing and humanities courses at the university level for over twenty years now, and at the beginning of every class I do the same thing. I write on the board: WHY DO THE ARTS MATTER? I then draw a sweeping story arc right next to that with the written words at the bottom: YOU ARE BORN. I then proceed to have the students fill in the arc with the various plot points as we progress further along.

      We begin with elementary school where I tell them that their parents touted them as gifted, above the curve in every category, and soon they graduate elementary school, then middle school, high school, then because they are lucky and privileged: the university. Fifteen years of education! They grumble, moan, explain that it is too long, etc…, and then I ask: Well, then you graduate—what comes next?

      A job! they scream, now fully engaged, fantasizing about success and potential and leaving institutionalized learning forever.

      And why do you want a job? I ask.

      To make money! they shout in unison.

      I proceed to draw several money symbols and congratulate them on their business acumen. I keep drawing money symbols one after the other and tell them that they indeed are successful, but now that they have made so much money, they are lonely.

      What’s next? I ask.

      Marriage or partner, they say. And now they are both making money, buckets of money, buy a house, a car, dogs, cats, but they still want more. Children! they say. And I write it on the board, now nearing the top of the story arc. I then proceed to draw a dotted line back down to You are born and explain that now their children start their own story arcs. We go back to the top again where they conclude: retirement, travel, grandkids, old age, older age, old, old, old age … then … inevitably: death.

      What percentage of us die? I ask.

      100 percent they say. A somber tone is now palpable in the classroom.

      I draw a tombstone complete with epitaph and perhaps some grass about the bottom edge.

      And then I proclaim: Congratulations. You have lived a successful, fulfilled life. Then I pause, look at each one of them, and say, But that really is not the story of you, is it? In fact, that story arc is actually a big fat lie. It’s not our life at all. The students

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