I’m enjoying the enlightening discussion of Flannery O’Connor’s stories on Jonathan Rogers’ blog. You may remember that I wrote about being disturbed by “The River” last summer. That’s the story for this week, and the group has open my eyes to this terrific work. It’s still disturbing, but it’s disturbing like a Reformed pastor’s smack-down now. This will likely be one of favorite stories from now on.
“The River” is wonderful. Disturbing and tragic, yet wonderful.
I didn’t understand the story at all last summer. This time, because of the discussion on Jonathan’s blog, I see it as a beautiful spiritual journey. The idea that we must die to ourselves and flee sin in order to live forever with Christ is profoundly illustrated in this story.