Sister Penelope in Expectation

It’s not that these things are unimportant. But as Sister Penelope reminds readers, they are at most groves in an ancient wood stretching thousands of years back, and into an infinite glory ahead. One can only get the bird’s-eye view of the great wood – of its vast and ancient splendor, its growing saplings in the burned-out places, hidden valleys sheltering small creatures, and aerie-laden peaks – by getting above the trees themselves, and then returning to the place we have been called to live and work within that forest. Sister Penelope gets her expansive vision through reading scripture within the context of history, theology, and scientific discovery. She teaches us the practice of Christian expectation: learning how to recognize the ever-evolving encounter between the people of God and the Spirit-filled word of God that extends beyond death itself.