Before the Idea

A Review? Yes. But a book? Really?

Hi, I’m Jeanne Torrence Finley, and I’m writing a book with Noel Paul Stookey about his life,  spiritual journey, music, and social justice commitments.  I welcome you to this newsletter about our book--working title, For the Love of It All -- which is now about eighty percent complete in draft form. Here you’ll find snippets from transcripts of interviews, links to music, background research, cultural commentary, questions for you, progress reports, and lots more. I’ll be the main writer, but invariably <grin> Noel will show up. 

Who’s idea was this book?

The story begins in November 2015 with a writing assignment I was given just after 130 people were killed in coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris, France, that included a mass shooting in the Bataclan (theatre) that left 90 dead. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility. Almost immediately anti-Muslim sentiment and violence increased globally among people who didn’t understand the difference between the Islamic religion and a militant, fundamentalist Islamist group.

Since 2007 I’d been a part of a team of writers who  produced a weekly digital United Methodist curriculum on current affairs and faith. After the Paris attacks, I was in line for the next issue. The editors and I decided that the topic had to be interfaith understanding. In doing the research I ran across One Light, Many Candles, a multi-faith program in word and song presented by Noel Stookey and his wife, the Reverend Betty Stookey.  Probably I wouldn’t have started reading more about Noel and Betty had I not learned that Betty is a clergywoman, ordained in the United Church of Christ (UCC)  and a graduate of Harvard Divinity School. As a clergywoman myself, I made some baseline assumptions about them -- that we had similar views on theology, social justice, and gender equality. (By the way, Noel has not heard all of this till now.)

What attracted me to Noel’s story?

I listened to his music, first through videos I found on the Internet, and then by ordering his CD/DVD, At Home: The Maine Tour, which had been released a couple of months earlier (recorded during nine concerts in the summer of 2014 at various venues in Maine, the state where the Stookey family had made their home since 1973).  I found in his songs deeply reflective lyrics, occasional comic relief, profound but humble reverence, and beautiful melodies played by an accomplished guitarist. 

As a former college English teacher and life-long lover of poetry,  I appreciated Noel’s eye for image, the rhythm of his words, his vocal interpretation, and the freshness of his metaphorical language, especially when it deals with spirituality. As a progressive Christian sensitive to the hackneyed use and abuse of religious language, I noticed his avoidance of religious words and phrases that may carry a lot of negative associations for people skeptical of religion and spirituality.  In addition, at the time my husband and I were still in deep grief over the loss of our 33-year-old daughter to cancer, and I found healing and hope in Noel’s music. 

When I watched the DVD of the performances, I took note when he introduced the “Wedding Song.”  He told the story of Peter’s requesting a song to bless his wedding and how that song was written and how, even though it had come to him in the first person, he had changed the pronouns to third person so instead of beginning with “I am now to be among you ….” the version that was recorded and became popular began with “He is now to be among you ….”  Then he said, 

Isn’t it curious that now, some [50] years later, one of the big stumbling blocks in the religious community is the patriarchal sense of the Divine, which is so old school.  Now for those of you who may be resisting this change, I have a little poem for you.

In matters of theology, it is wise to remember

In Christ there is no east or west, in God there is no gender. 

There was loud applause. (If you want to see a recent performance of Noel’s disclaimer, check it out here.). That wouldn’t have happened in some of the congregations I’ve known over the years since seminary in the 1970s--how difficult it was in the 80s and 90s-- and even since--to introduce inclusive language about human beings and how even more difficult it was to raise questions about patriarchal language about God.  Noel did it with good humor, and his remarks were received accordingly.

I loved At Home: The Maine Tour so much that I wrote a  review of it for Sojourners magazine, and it was accepted. And I thought, “Wow!. That was fun. Noel’s music and story need to be shared with a wider audience. Wonder what would happen if I proposed a book?”