A reliable reviewer needs to offer a concise summary of what the book is about. I was trying to explain to a friend what Courtney Ellis’s fine new book is about. “It’s about birds, but it’s not really a bird book,” I explained. “It’s about grief, but not just about grief.” “It’s about hope but more than hope.” “Oh, and each chapter describes a different species of bird.” My friend said, “A Christian bird book about hope through grief. Sounds like a pretty narrow niche!” But it’s really not a narrow niche; the beauty of this book is that the whole is much bigger than the sum of its parts.
Because this book is also about parenting three littles during a pandemic. It’s about the complicated dynamics of an extended family gathering at a death. It’s about growing up in the upper Midwest and fishing with your taciturn grandfather. It’s about paying attention, not just to the birds, but also to your life, to the natural world around you, and the human world about you. It’s about faith, hope and love.
“Looking Up” is a great title for this book, because it has several meanings as metaphor. It can mean hope, as in “things are looking up.” When I was an active pastor, I used to take a little pamphlet called “Looking Up While Lying Down” to congregants in the hospital. It encouraged them to look beyond their present circumstances to a hopeful future in faith.
“Looking Up” can also mean paying attention. Yogi Berra once famously said: “You can observe a lot by looking!” There’s a lot of truth in that. I love to cook, and when asked what makes a good cook I always say “paying attention.”
Courtney Ellis loves birds. After she got the bird bug, she turned her attention to all manner of other things. There is also some wonderful humor about herself. She tells a touching story about a time when she was a little girl. She was in a boat with her grandfather and she got her finger caught in an oar lock. Her grandfather got some oil and rescued the finger. This is the same grandfather whose dying and death are the backdrop of her story and her coming to terms with her grief.
Throughout her story she displays a pastor’s heart, wise understanding and deep empathy for the human condition. Here is an excerpt about grieving: “Every person is grieving. Every person in our pews. Every person on our highways. In our supermarkets, at our offices and schools. Each person on your street, in your home.”
Read this book. It’s full of insights, good theology, and she writes beautifully. We live in troubled times. Immersed in the news of wars and rumors of wars, of global warming and gun violence, our anxiety threatens to overtake us. In this lovely book, Courtney Ellis wisely counsels us to “look up. Look at the birds!”
(“Looking Up” is published by InterVarsity Press, 2024.: https://www.ivpress.com/looking-up?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR3Xdd8l4Oq1mIrBwXooSdi4YuhUiSbKN6JXIM_7c_jT2ZttXZmD3feceyk_aem_AahDuVg9Z2LAD4f0Xusu1-Z6Hk8l-6c7lY85mFTWXBa2qO4LWE1M10ax4cGRl8eAbwMgQgRmrGKYP08FjTAJI41Y
Yes, I know your mom’s homemade eggnog is the best ever, but sometimes you just want to open a bottle or carton of the stuff from the local store.
Once again, as the old year passes and the new year beckons, it is my custom to look back at my most viewed posts of the year. I started this blog in 2009 and 2022 was our best year for both views and visits. This year wasn’t quite as good, but we still had 63,922 views and 50,310 visitors. I thank everybody that came by.
My daughter-in-law introduced me to this wonderful recipe. This is simplicity itself. Just eggs, milk, flour and butter whisked together and baked, and you have a lovely breakfast or brunch dish that has a texture somewhere between a pancake and a fluffy omelet. Serves four to six. 
When I Survey . . . 