Let me frame it this way: Try to come up with a song you couldn’t live without on a two-day car trip. I will send a free copy of my book to the person who submits a song that ends up either 1) making me cry or 2) inspires me to get out of my car and dance on I-81 with my Portuguese Water Dog, Hobbes.

I went through my Ipod and came up with this list to get us started.

When My Morning Comes Around—Iris Dement

Thank you (falettin me be mice elf)—Sly and the Family Stone

Show the Way—David Wilcox

The Ballad of Mary Magdalen-Cry, Cry, Cry

Arvo Part-Te Deum

God Only Knows—The Beach Boys (Don’t laugh, this song is to pop music what The Odyssey is to western literature)

Pacing the Cage-Bruce Cockburn

Why I Am-Dave Matthews

Midnight Train to Georgia—Gladys Knight and the Pips

Gabriel and the Vagabond-Foy Vance

Child of the Wild Blue Yonder—John Hyatt

Soundtracks to Saving Private Ryan-John Williams

Some Kind of Wonderful-Joss Stone

Nine in the Afternoon-Panic at the Disco

Tony-Patty Griffin

Musicology-Prince

Sign O’ the Times-Prince

A Few Words in Defense of Our Country- Randy Newman

My Love Will Follow You-Richard Shindell

Although It Is The Night-Rob Mathes

Showdown at Big Sky-Robbie Robertson

Tumbling Dice—Rolling Stones

Staralfur—Sigur Ros

Glosoli-Sigur Ros

Valley of Tears—Solomon Burke

Voodoo Child (Live at Montreux)-Stevie Ray Vaughan

Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own-U2

Yahweh-U2

Agnus Dei—Rufus Wainwright

October-Eric Whitacre

Start Me up—The Stones (Predictable, but great at 6am)

An Ending-Brian Eno

The High Road—Broken Bells

Lying in the Hands of God-Dave Matthews

No More I Love You’s-Annie Lennox

Hurt-Johnny Cash

Charlie Darwin-The Low Anthem

Theologian and prolific author Dr. Marcus J Borg wrote me a kind email saying he had just finished reading Chasing Francis and had really enjoyed it. I emailed him back and told him that my publishing company was putting new resources into marketing the book after it recently received a surprise endorsement from the Archbishop of Canterbury. He graciously agreed to pen a few words in support of the book as well. He wrote,

“A powerful and wonderful book! I was deeply moved by this story of the conversion of an evangelical pastor to a much broader vista of God’s passion for the world.”

Marcus J. Borg, author of Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time and The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions

Some years ago I read a book Dr Borg co-wrote with renowned theologian NT Wright titled, The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions. This book left a profound mark on me, not only because its content was so rich, but also because it was written as a conversation between two world class theologians who deeply disagree with each other on a wide variety of issues, but who share a genuine affection for each other. Imagine that! I remember thinking, why can’t more people who have divergent theological views speak to one another in this tone of civility and mutual respect? Why do so many believe that anyone who disagrees with them theologically is automatically the enemy and therefore should be treated as such?

For me The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions set a bar for how Christians living in the age of rage and vitriolic polarization could relate to one another. Thanks Marcus for the kind words about my book.

Gareth has the spiritual gift of encouragement.

So why write a spiritual memoir? People write memoirs because they want to make sense of their lives. It works. Literally as you write, you find yourself following the footprints of grace through your life and discovering God in places you hadn’t expected. You also find yourself asking why he seemed to be absent in other places as well.

One thing I have learned in this process is how important it is to “own your story.” I haven’t always done this well, and I fight the temptation to disown parts of my story everyday when I sit at my computer to write. The truth is we all have a past that is filled with mistakes we regret. Others have wounded us, sometimes profoundly, and we’ve done our share of inflicting pain on others and ourselves along the way as well. But rather than own our stories in their totality, most of us engage in some form historical revisionism. We edit out the parts of our past stories we don’t want to own.

Have you ever heard an actor in an interview bemoan the fact that a scene in a movie they just made didn’t make it into the final version of the film, a scene they really loved? In film making they say it, “ended up on the cutting room floor.” Writing this memoir I’m learning that there is a film editor in our hearts who snips away at the films of our lives, often choosing to leave the more painful parts (and even a bunch of the wonderful parts) on the editing room floor of our soul. I know firsthand that there is an enormous danger in not owning our whole stories, namely, if you don’t own your whole story, it will start to own you.

When you leave the most painful pieces on the editing room floor and don’t acknowledge they really happened, you literally become dis-integrated. To accept as a whole package the totality of everything we’ve done and that’s been done to us; to name it, own it, grieve it, celebrate it, this is where Shalom is found. Its also hell getting there.

Here’s one last thing I’m learning. Every life is revelatory. Your and my story reveals to others something about the heart of God that no one else’s life story can reveal. In a sense I can’t fully know God without knowing something about your life story. Your life is revelatory of God’s love, his ability to heal and redeem. Even his ability to work through his apparent absence.

We owe it to share our stories with each other in appropriate places, ways, and times. When we do, others will see the thread of grace in our lives and be able to say, “So that’s what the heart of God is like. That’s how he works.” I guess what I’m trying to say is that I am not sure any of us have exclusive proprietary rights to our life stories. At some level they belong to all of us. I know this might hack off lawyers who specialize in intellectual property rights, but I think this is how it works in the economy of God.

Of course, there is a time for everything. Now may not be the right time to tell our story to anyone. Maybe we still have work to do before we’re ready or we don’t have the right community to tell it to yet. That’s OK. You’ll know when its time.

Fredrick Buechner wrote a book titled, A Room Called Remember. Here’s a relevant passage from it.

“To remember my life is to remember countless times when I might have given up, gone under, when humanly speaking I might have gotten lost beyond the power of any to find me. But I didn’t. I have not given up. And each of you, with all the memories you have and the tales you could tell, you also have not given up…So in the room called Remember it is possible to find peace—the peace that comes from looking back and remembering to remember that though most of the time we failed to see it, we were never really alone.”

As it turned out, the Bishop was scheduled to be in New York City later that week and we agreed to meet for coffee. Bishop Griswold could not have been more gracious. The ninety minutes we spent together weren’t nearly enough for us to cover all the interests and passions we share in common–our powerful, (if not mystical) encounters with St Francis while traveling in Assisi, our love for the beauty and power of the liturgy and Eucharist, our mutual attraction to the contemplative life, and more.

Bishop Griswold was kind enough to write an endorsement for Chasing Francis: A Pilgrim’s Tale. I received it early this morning.

“Cron provides us with a deeply moving account of loss and discovery which brings to mind words of Jesus and the experience of the Apostle Paul. It also bears witness to the ability of the saints from the past, in this case Francis of Assisi, to speak with a full voice to contemporary seekers and persons of faith.”

Frank T. Griswold, Twenty-Fifth Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church

Needless to say, receiving this email was a magnificent start to my day. Bishop Griswold kindly gave me a copy of his book Praying Our Days: A Guide and Companion. I began using this great book in my prayer time this morning. I highly recommend it.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Chasing Francis: A Pilgrim’s Tale is doing something I am told doesn’t happen very often in the publishing world. It was released three years ago and its picking up more attention, sales, and interest now than when it first came out. Go figure. Its a late bloomer. As my grandmother used to say, “Keep those cards and letters coming, kids.”

This is the place where you can learn about my speaking schedule, read my musings about life, culture, writing and faith, download some of my music and sung liturgies (eventually), and get the latest news about what I’m doing and thinking. Hopefully the latter will not be boring, insipid, or overly self-interested. Regardless, I would be grateful if you’d let one or two people know about the new site.

First, good news. A few weeks ago a friend tweeted me and asked if I had heard the talk the Archbishop of Canterbury gave at the Fresh Expressions: Changing the Landscape gathering in Lincoln, UK. (Fresh Expressions is the equivalent term to our Emerging Church in the UK). It turns out he spoke at length about my book, Chasing Francis: A Pilgrim’s Tale. I was blown away by his enthusiasm for it, so I reached out to him and asked if he would be willing to give an endorsement to the next printing, which will probably run this summer. To be honest, I didn’t expect he would write back. Its not like he doesn’t have a lot on his plate at the moment. I was surprised when he got back to me right away with this endorsement:

“I’ve now read it twice and found it equally compelling both times. It’s challenging, disarming and delightful, and the vision behind it is a serious one. It’s a remarkable book.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury, The Most Rev. Dr. Rowan Williams

Needless to say, I was honored.

Chasing Francis: A Pilgrim’s Tale is a weird book. It came out three years ago, but seems to have nine lives. In fact, it has recently been picking up in sales and getting reviews in more and more blogs. My friend Mike Morrell says Chasing Francis is a book with “a long tail.” I sure hope so. I have a yearly college bill that rivals the national debt. Navpress has dedicated some money towards promoting the book again and I’m hoping it will get more traction. Regardless, I am pleased to have received such enthusiastic endorsements from someone whose writings and work I admire so much.

Please feel free to tell people about Chasing Francis: A Pilgrim’s Tale and thanks for stopping by my new and improved site.