Pastor's Bookshelf

The Holy Man
by Susan Trott
Wiles Hill Witness (September-October edition)

As we reach the end of summer, there is one more “Summer Reading” book that I would recommend. The Holy Man, by author Susan Trott is a small book with much more power than its size would suggest. While the characters in this book are all fictional, the problems that set them on the path are universal, and Trott uses the short, unassuming format in these pages to address the deep issues at the heart of our lives together with wit and wisdom.

Despite its title, this is not a story about one person’s life. Instead, it is a compilation of many small stories about people who from all over the world who make the trek to visit the holy man who lives at the top of an isolated mountain. Coming from many different walks of life, all the characters have realized that something is missing. They each leave behind the business of their lives for however long it takes to make it to the door of the holy man’s hermitage. There they find their answers in unexpected ways.

I first read this book several years ago when I received it as a gift. Since then, I have kept it close to hand, and I often find myself picking it up to re-read one episode or another as I have encountered life issues dealt with in its pages. Each time I read it, I am struck by how Trott’s pen strikes so close to the heart of issues that we prefer not to think about – questions of self-obsession, judgmentalism, delusion, pride, and deep-seated anger among many others.

Recently, I have begun to read chapters of The Holy Man as one of my devotional conversation partners. Reading a different chapter each day or sitting with one chapter daily for a week at a time, I find these short “treatises” a helpful jumping off point for prayer and deeper meditation on the stumbling blocks that keep me from finding the Shalom of a closer walk with God. And, any writing that helps us move toward a deeper, stronger faith, brings us a step closer to the Holy One who is all around us waiting to be found. Perhaps this book can help you and those you care for in your journey as it has helped me.