Rev. Dr. Jeff Garrison
Series introduction In the summer of 1976, I began working at Fox Holsum Bakery in Wilmington, NC. I had just finished my first year of college. For the summer, I had a job traying bread. At the end of the summer, as I wrote about last week, the plant manager asked if I would be … Read more Harvey and Ernest in the Bakery
This is the second story in my bakery saga. Unlike the first story about Linda, which I wrote years earlier and revised, this is a new story. While the bakery was always hot, this post isn’t nearly as steamy as the first one. It also has more technical detail that’s required to fully understand what … Read more A College Boy in the Bakery
I’m catching up on some recent reading… Tilar J. Mazzero, The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It. (Harpers Business, 2009), 264 pages. Late last year, I listened to the author’s “Great Courses” lectures on “Creative Nonfiction.” She often used examples of her own writing including this book. I … Read more Four Books: Champagne, Skid-row, Generosity, & Mountain Midwifery
In last week’s sermon, I mentioned this blog post, which failed to transition from my old “thepulpitandthepen.com” blog to this one. So I am posting it again. The highlight of Christian worship is the Lord’s Supper. We break bread and share wine together, uniting ourselves through a very ordinary act with all the saints who … Read more A Lighthearted Yet Serious Look at the Lord’s Supper from a Protestant Perspective
Introduction In the summer of 1976, I began working at Fox Holsum Bakery in Wilmington, NC. I had just finished my first year of college. I was hired for a summer job, to tray off bread. At the end of the summer, the plant manager asked if I would be interested in continuing to work … Read more Coming of Age at the Bakery
For some reason, this post didn’t make it over from the transfer from my old thepulpitandthepen.com blog. So I decided to “resurrect” it and add a few photos of the river from which this journey begins. Resurrection There is a section in the Hastings Cemetery in Michigan where children who died during or before birth … Read more Resurrection: A Poem
Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer (2014) This is the story narrated by an unnamed man who doesn’t fit in, anywhere. A bastard. His father was a French Catholic priest and his mother a Vietnamese maid. In many ways, the narrator is of two minds. Given the opportunity to study in the United States, he learns the ways … Read more Two Books: A spy thriller and a self-congratulatory humorous look at gumption
Lisa Deam, 3000 Miles to Jesus: Pilgrimage as a Way of Life for Spiritual Seekers (Minneapolis Broadleaf Books, 2021), 211 pages including notes and a few drawings and maps Early pilgrims In the centuries between the crusades and the Reformation, there were many devout Christians who made pilgrimages. While Rome and Santiago de Compostela (the Way … Read more Two books on Pilgrimage
Haw River 1975 I pause, standing in the door of the gas station at the edge of Pittsboro, a Coke in one hand and a pack of peanuts in the other. Ripping open the peanuts with my teeth, I shake a few from the bag into my mouth, chasing it with a swig from the … Read more Haw River: a short memoir and a book review
The sun drops below the hills.It’s time to leave the broad waters of Laurel Forkand follow the sounds of rushing water paralleling the muddy dirt road lined with mountain laurel. Reaching Hereford Road,the mare in the pasture looks up from her hayand gaits over to the fence. I rub her head and she presses tight against my … Read more Walking up Laurel Fork Road