±«Óãtv

Good morning.Ìý

Writing a book must be very lonely.ÌýÌý It’s not just the challenge of the empty page.Ìý Or how to handle all the material as the book grows.Ìý The author sits, struggles and shares their deepest feelings.Ìý It’s a solitary exposure of the self.Ìý

In the middle of Charlotte Square in the heart of Edinburgh from a week on Saturday, you’ll find the Book Festival.ÌýÌý It will be thronged with book lovers from all over the world.Ìý And this is where you’ll hear some of the most personal material in the Festival.Ìý

I like to hear authors speaking about their work and what they are trying to say.Ìý I like listening to the questions from the very bookish audience.Ìý It must be an encouraging experience for an author to know that people are reading their books and going on the journey with them.Ìý

But it’s very different from most of the rest of this huge Festival.Ìý This is not primarily performance or entertainment.Ìý The author tries to draw the audience into his or her experience – this is what I think; this is what I feel; this isÌýwhatÌýthe journey of my life is like.Ìý

Not many of us will write books.Ìý But most of us will be tested in ourselves by the challenges and experiences of life.Ìý I think for example about the challenge of parenting and of leadership.Ìý And the painful challenges of illness and loss.Ìý The journey can be hard.Ìý

Lord God
The book which tells the story of our lives
Is different for each of us
Bring your love and healing care
To the difficult passages
And sustain us today and every day.Ìý Amen.

Ìý