- This is the Day
- Posts
- July 11
July 11
Frederick Buechner, Madam Liz, Ivan Toms, and Benedict of Nursia
David Barnhart
July 11, 2025
Strassbourg Cathedral, 2022. Own photo.
Today is the birthday, in 1926, of Frederick Buechner, Presbyterian pastor and author, whose theological writing continued to influence progressive Christianity.
This is also the birthday, in 1901, of “Madam Liz,” Gwendolyn Lizarraga, a Belizean businesswoman, politician, and advocate for women’s rights. She insisted on equal pay for her workers and was the first woman to hold political office in Belize.
Today is also the birthday, in 1952, of Ivan Toms, a physician and anti-apartheid activist in South Africa. Not only did he provide medical services to Black communities affected by apartheid, he went on a three-week hunger strike to protest the destruction of a shanty town. He also resisted being conscripted for compulsory service and spent time in prison. In addition to being outspoken about his Christian faith, he was also an advocate for gay and lesbian rights and an early advocate for HIV prevention.
Today is the feast day of Benedict of Nursia in several Western denominations, although he died on March 21, 547. His is the Rule of Saint Benedict, directing how monastic communities should conduct their lives together including not owning private property, sharing meals together, and the importance of manual labor.
Reflection:
Saint Benedict of Nursia wrote:
“Idleness is the enemy of the soul; and therefore the brethren ought to be employed in manual labor at certain times, at others, in devout reading.”
Frederick Buechner wrote too many quotable things to count. Here is one of my favorites:
“After centuries of handling and mishandling, most religious words have become so shopworn nobody's much interested anymore. Not so with grace, for some reason. Mysteriously, even derivatives like gracious and graceful still have some of the bloom left.
Grace is something you can never get but can only be given. There's no way to earn it or deserve it or bring it about any more than you can deserve the taste of raspberries and cream or earn good looks or bring about your own birth.
A good sleep is grace and so are good dreams. Most tears are grace. The smell of rain is grace. Somebody loving you is grace. Loving somebody is grace. Have you ever tried to love somebody?
A crucial eccentricity of the Christian faith is the assertion that people are saved by grace. There's nothing you have to do. There's nothing you have to do. There's nothing you have to do.
The grace of God means something like: "Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are, because the party wouldn't have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It's for you I created the universe. I love you."
There's only one catch. Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you'll reach out and take it.
Maybe being able to reach out and take it is a gift too.”
Prayer: God, thank you for grace. Amen.