Walter Wangerin Jr.
Zondervan, 176 pages
Walter Wangerin is well-known for his collections of stories, including the award-winning “The Book of the Dun Cow” and “Ragman.” For many years he served as an inner-city pastor and from that experience many of his stories arose. Readers familiar with those stories will recognize his particular voice and vision in this new collection. The stories are drawn from ordinary experiences with his family and others. Yet in these events, the light of God’s grace is revealed. This is Wangerin’s gift: simple stories that point to the extraordinary presence of God. The result is a heightened anticipation of God in world. Where will grace next be revealed? These stories cause you to enter that search and ask that question. They are divided into nine sections of two stories each; taken together they comprise a theological compendium of grace revealed in ordinary life. The cynic might describe the stories as too simple and predictable, bordering on Hallmark sentimentality. The believer – one looking for grace and paying attention to God – will find in them encouragement and confirmation. Wangerin is intent on the gospel. These stories help the rest of us in the same pursuit. The title of the book reminds one of Leonard Cohen’s famous line: “There is a crack in everything, that how the light gets in.”
