Sue Monk Kidd's God's Joyful Surprise: A Road Well Traveled

Sue Monk Kidd's 1989 memoir God's Joyful Surprise: Finding Yourself Loved is in that pantheon of works whose titles tell you all you need to know, like Snakes on a Plane and Saw III. From the opening memory of her stress-induced heart trouble, we can identify. We know where this book is going, and so it goes.

Along the way, Monk Kidd strews some precious nuggets, experiences and quotations to enrich our own store of memories.

The book is assigned reading this year in Education for Ministry (EfM), an extension program of the School of Theology at the University of the South in Sewanee, TN.

A mom, teacher, and inspirational writer, Monk Kidd asks herself in chapter 3, "Have I written about God more than I've experienced Him?" Yes, her images of her life tell us. It's "algebra pie," a circle of life sub-sub-divided where God is "just another slice." It's spinning like a centrifuge, nothing left at its center. Pruning the rose bushes helps her to see how her life is overgrown with empty activity. She's obsessed with her failure to find the drawing of a light bulb that's supposed to be in her child's "find-me" puzzle. When she glances at the page upside-down, she sees it in plain sight, so large that it encompasses other objects, and a lightbulb goes off for her.

Central to her message is the idea that any event can startle us into some kind of epiphany. It's also a premise of the EfM program. She mentions the burning bush and the potter's wheel from the Bible, those roses and that lightbulb, and also her daughter's game of knocking on doors and opening them: they are all striking events that God can use to speak to us, provided that we listen for his knocks on our doors.

For a retired teacher like me, her best illustration may be an evening worship service for children when a firefly came in through a window, distracting the children. Instead of calling for attention, she turned out the lights. The children's awe was worth more than the lesson (148).

We may need silence to hear God. She tells how, stressed and sick, she retreats to an abbey for a couple of weeks. She immediately makes a list of objectives and a schedule. Healing comes only when she lays all that aside. She learns -- over and over -- "not to do battle with each distraction as it comes" (197). [I recently heard amusing advice on how to calm our own wayward thoughts. Ask, "I wonder what my next thought will be?"]

Looking for ways to "pray without ceasing," she cites inspiration bits from some great sources:

• Thomas Merton - "We already possess what we need, [but] we don't experience it." He says you need to find "your grateful center" (202).
• Paul - "Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31). She gives the example of worker on an assembly-line at a farm equipment factory who learned to see her repetitive work as feeding the world (218).
• Meister Eckhart - Wordless prayer is possible when "God laughs into you, and you into God."
• Karl Rahner - (appropos the light bulb anecdote) We "can and must always re-learn how to see." [My church's interim rector Pat Miller observed that Jesus seldom tells us how to behave, but often tells us how to see.]
• Madeleine L'Engle - "Nothing is so secular that it can't be sacred" (117).
• Morton Kelsey - "Conceptual thought does not have the same power as...images" (176).

That last quotation about images is central to Monk Kidd's approach, and to our EfM program as well. I see why our EfM editors chose this book. I found advice for EfM participants in Monk Kidd, both best practices and common pitfalls:

• Think of the Bible as "a person," not just a book. I agree: the Bible has personality, moods, self-conflicts, and evidence of growth.
• Role-playing when you read Scripture can open you up to seeing more than you're used to seeing in a familiar story. Monk Kidd demonstrates when she gets "into" the mind of a leper healed by Jesus (178).
• If you visit Paris in Spring expecting to experience Paris in Spring, you may not be open to appreciating the things you don't expect.
• Treat a passage of Scripture like a statue: walk all the way around it (181).
• Study in a small community. There are limits to what we can get alone.
• Monk Kidd is floored by the idea, "What if conversion happens, not all at once, but continuously ?" So Episcopalian, so EfM!

My favorite of all her anecdotes may be one about her son, on his way to play his first Little League game. No, he said, he did not believe that his team could win, "but I'll practice believing until I do."

Remembering my Mother's Cousin Pat

With the passing of my mother's cousin Patsy Jean Mathers, I know of no other "grown-ups" who remain from my childhood. We're next.

(from the tribute wall at h-p-w.com)

Mrs. Patricia “Pat” Jean Mathers formerly of North Henderson and Galesburg, passed away at the Courtyard Estates of Knoxville at the age of 99, March 3, 2026.

Pat was born in Bay City, Michigan on September 12, 1926, the daughter of Sigard and Opal (Craig) Clark. She spent her early life in Chicago where she lived until her family moved to the country near Rio. At 19 years, she taught at Mt. Vernon School near North Henderson where she met her husband, Gene Mathers. They married in 1949 and became parents of David, Laura and Elizabeth.

In her 40’s she completed her degree in education from Monmouth College. She worked at Harrington Home, First Galesburg Bank and Bergner’s.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Gene, son David, daughter Laura, and twin brothers, Robert and Richard.

Pat is survived by her daughter, Elizabeth (David) Timmons of East Moline, Illinois, daughter-in-law, RoseMary Mathers of North Henderson, Illinois, son-in-law, Jay Brandenburg of Oceanside, California; grandchildren, Melissa, Molly, David, Katie, Sara, Emily, Chris and four great grandchildren.

A special thank you to the staff at Courtyard Estates for their continuous compassion and care.

From the Tribute wall:

• Jenny Clark Spangler
  I was Pat's first cousin on the Clark side of the family. My father was Uncle Sig's brother. I spent a great deal of time at the Mathers farm in North Henderson during summers. Pat was always in a hurry to get somewhere, and whenever the family and other farmers in the area saw a cloud of dust coming up from one of the gravel roads, they knew that Patsy Jean (what Gene called her) was on the move!
• Rita Sprague
  I loved having Pat as a neighbor. She always treated me in such a kind way. She was so sweet with my daughter, Michele. We enjoyed our many visits with her sitting in her garage. My sympathy to Liz and the rest of the family. Rita Sprague
• Galesburg Rescue Mission and Women's Shelter
  Dear Beloved Family of Patricia "Pat" Mathers: On behalf of the Board and Staff of the Galesburg Rescue Mission and Women's Shelter, we would like to express our sincere sympathy. Thank you for your selection of the Galesburg Rescue Mission and Women's Shelter to receive one of the memorial designations. It is such an honor to receive them on behalf of a lady of such respect and integrity and a long-standing leader in our community.
• Nancy Howard
  Pat Mathers was one of the first women leaders I admired. I was 30 when I re-entered the workforce in 1986 after being a stay-at-home mom for several years. Pat had oversight of the downtown First Galesburg National Bank tellers and customer service. She was a great example of professionalism, navigating situations with unhappy customers or employees with grace and confidence. Her people skills and teaching methods were what I admired most. Sometimes teaching in the workplace has as much impact on others as in the education system. I became a manager in Carhartt and used many of the qualities I saw in Pat. My sympathy to the family and my gratitude for the impact in my life of this fine woman. Nancy Tracy Howard

I took this photo of Mom with her cousin when Pat passed through Atlanta on a bus. Pat said at the time that she would not be traveling again. I would heartily agree with her. She had gone from Galesburg to California, to Atlanta, and she had a long way to go. This was a final visit. My sister Kim and I visited Pat two or three times. Here's a story, with a link to a video North By Northwest

Theology for Breakfast: Forward Day by Day Nov - Dec 2025 - Jan 2026

Every morning I read the scripture assigned by the Episcopal Book of Common prayer, then relax into a short reflection on those readings offered by the quarterly Forward Day by Day, a different writer for each month. Every quarter I've culled highlights. See my responses going back to 2013.

November 2025 - Reflections by Bird Treacy Treacy describes herself as "a Christian formation director, Godly Play trainer, consultant, writer, and cat lady" who lives with her wife in Massachusetts.

She tells us to "play dress up" with the parables. Think of the ones who aren't at the center of the story -- not the prodigal son but the envious older brother; not the person who sells his property to buy the field with its hidden treasure, but the one "who sells the field without a second thought."

Reading how Herod responds to John, she puts herself in his place, too. He's scared. And so have history's most horrible tyrants been.

She remembers liking an evangelical rock group's song about rejecting "this world." She has come to realize how wrong-headed that was, when this is God's creation, with so much to love.

I'm planning to use her idea of "dress up" and "put yourself in" for a presentation to a group at my church on the theme of Reading the Bible as Literature." When we read "God's word" as if God wrote it, we miss the human experience of God and the world that inspired the writers. Understand the shifts in the writer's thoughts and feelings. Most scriptures were written to be read aloud. Read like an actor. Another way to say it: Let the Word be Flesh and dwell among us!

December 2025 - Reflections by Dorothy Sanders WellsThe author is a former lawyer and current Bishop of Mississippi, my home for 17 years.

This woman shares a wealth of memorable anecdotes and characters. She conjures even the people she didn't know personally in ways that intensify passages from the daily Scriptures.

Her elders repeated themselves often, telling her about their greats and great-greats in slavery and Jim Crow. She thinks of their urgency when she reads 2 Peter 1-12a, "I intend to keep reminding you."

She tells how, when very young, she used to make animal noises in the hall when her dad would take a shower after work. "Who's there? a cat? a horse?" he would always say, and she would laugh at his guesses. Only one time, it wasn't her. Only after he dressed did he realize that a couple of burglars in the house had been scared off by his voice. This is her response to "The day of the Lord will come like a thief." She has more: "I hope to meet that unexpected coming as my father did, with a well-practiced, loving response."

A phrase from Hebrews 10:39 about "those who shrink back" reminds her of a story of American soldiers held prisoner late in World War II. Anxious guards demanded that the sergeant order all his Jewish soldiers to step forward. Instead, he ordered all 1000 men to do so. "We're all Jews," he said, saving some 300 soldiers in his company. The example, I hope, would give me courage if I ever face "the time of trial."

She names Thaer Khalid al-Rahal, a young father who risked and lost his life on an overcrowded boat from Syria to Europe trying to find work to pay for his child's medical treatment. Zechariah's order not to oppress "the widow, the orphan, the alien, the poor" takes power from being remembered by name.

A boy's shame over his dirty clothes kept him from engaging in her church's after-school program. Everything changed when a parishioner donated a washing machine to the boy's school. The story humanizes the angelic vision of Zechariah 3:4, "Take off those dirty clothes."

Her uncle reprimanded the foreign-born workers in his field for allowing one of their own community to gather fruit for his family. She wonders, did the uncle feel betrayed by his workers? Did he ever regret his hardness of heart to the poor father? The author says, "Sometimes we are the owner of the vineyard [in the parable] and sometimes we are the tenants. In all, we seek to do Christ's will."

A blended family had lived together many years when they learned that the father's ex-wife had died in childbirth. No one else was there to take care of the baby. Without hesitation, the family adopted the little girl. "Imitate what is good," says 3 John 11.

The Bishop's final entry is on New Year's Eve, which she remembers for being "Watch Night" in Black churches. Members would gather waiting to commemorate the first minute of 1863 when the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect. Its promise was limited and even after full civil rights were recognized, those rights were not enforced. She suggests reviving the tradition "as a reminder of our patiently awaiting the day of God's justice for all of God's people." A fitting response to James 5:7, "Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord."

January 2026 - Reflections by David SibleyRector of St. Paul's in Walla-Walla Washington, Sibley describes himself variously as "nerdy" and "terrified." He writes, "My default bias in many situations is to presume that I am the problem." I identify. So many of his observations speak to me. (Feeling unworthy of love, he takes comfort in the "Good Shepherd" who goes out of his way for the sheep that strayed.)

He notes that Elijah performed miracles, confronted authorities, and defeated fifty false prophets, but was still hiding, afraid and sick of not being listened to (1 Kings 19.11). He hears God between these contradictions, as in the silence between earthquake, wind, fire.

All the characters who witness the emergence of Lazarus from the tomb are "bound" by grief and worry. "Unbind him," Jesus says to all of us, and unbind ourselves. (This reminds me of Ken Medema's song "Moses" about the rod that God commanded him to throw down. Medema writes, What do you hold in your hand today? To what or to whom are you bound? Are you willing to give it go God right now? Give it up, let it go, throw it down?)

The proof that baby Jesus is our Savior isn't in the gifts of the Magi, but in the fact that, after seeing him, they "go home another way," changing the course of their lives. Sibley asks, "How does your life witness to receiving the unconditional favor of the living God?"

Tracing the story of Nicodemus from the leader's cautious meeting in darkness, embarrassment at not grasping what Jesus says to him, bewilderment at leaving him, but then speaking up in council, being ridiculed, then bringing costly ointments to entomb Jesus properly. God works through our own stories in similar ways.

"Original sin has never been about apples and snakes; it is a description of hyman nature. We have never been able to will ourselves to perfection."

Jesus asks Peter, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter answers, the Messiah. Sibley says we all have different answers as our lives shift: Creator of All, God in a Manger, Mourner for a Friend, Healer of the Sick, Forgiver of Sins, Companion in Pain and Suffering, the One who Rises from the Dead.

He points out that, unlike his neighborhood covenant with the H.O.A. that expects duties in return for upkeep, God's covenant with Noah goes just one way. "Salvation comes not from our own hands but from God's magnificent grace."

The woman at the well is bad news to her society. She comes to the well in the heat of the day, presumably to avoid the disdain of the women who gather earlier. She must rely on men for support, and she keeps getting dumped. Then, she's also beneath contempt for the Apostles, good Jews from Jerusalem who despise Samaritans. If this woman can hear God speak to her (and be the first person in the Gospel to hear Jesus make an "I am" statement, echo of the "I am who I am" from the burning bush), why shouldn't we be able to hear God speak to us, also?