Different Seasons: Twelve Months of Wisdom and Inspiration - Hardcover

Dale Turner

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0965374440 ISBN 13: 9780965374446

Publisher: High Tide Press, 1998

Synopsis

Former Seattle Times columnist Dale Turner shares some of his most enlightening and beloved articles in Different Seasons, the product of his 15 years as a journalist and more than 50 as a Congregational minister.

From the start of every year, holidays and celebrations mark the passage of time. Dr. Turner writes lovingly about these, but also about the times in between-the glory, grief, love, courage, compassion, and joy found in everyday living. These essays celebrate the search for meaning in life, while concentrating on the struggles of real people. The good news is that life offers so much that is wonderful for those who are willing to look for it, every day, week, and month of the year.

From a boyhood in West Virginia and Ohio to education at Yale Divinity School, and from being pastor in Michigan, Kansas, and Washington to ministering to the sick in Japan and preaching in Great Britain, Dr. Turner led a full and fascinating life, captured in this month-by-month journey through the year. Different Seasons is a timeless resource, full of inspiring stories and thought-provoking ideas and observations, which will be shared among friends and family for years to come.

About this title

About the Author

The Reverend Dr. Dale Turner (1917-2006) began his career as a minister in Michigan in 1943. He had first stepped inside a church at age 18. Since his parents were of different faith backgrounds, Catholic and Protestant, they had chosen not to attend church.

Dr. Turner attended West Virginia Wesleyan, a Methodist College, because of its athletic program. He intended to become a high school football coach. But, he was offered two graduate school scholarships, one for physical education at Columbia University and one for ministry at Yale Divinity School. The ministry won out, and his decision would affect the lives of many, many people.

Dr. Turner spent 10 years in Lawrence, Kansas, teaching at the University of Kansas and preaching at the Plymouth Congregational Church. He moved to Seattle in 1958 to lead the University Congregational Church. As a minister and activist, he spoke out against the war in Vietnam during the 1960s, vocally supported the rights of gays and lesbians, and was instrumental in forming the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He retired in 1982, then wrote a weekly column for the Religion page of the Seattle Times until autumn of 2004. His latest book, Imperfect Alternatives: Spiritual Insights for Confronting the Controversial and the Personal, was published in 2005.

Dr. Turner passed away June 5, 2006. He was survived by his wife of 58 years, Leone, as well as three sons, three daughters-in-law, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. One of his sons preceded him in death.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Courage: We need courage not only to face life's big tests, but the small ones as well . . . We need to remember that it isn't the big trees that trip us up as we walk through the forest, but the little vines on the ground-the exposed roots and low underbrush.

Simplicity: Those who learn to live lives of simplicity and calm learn how to choose between what is primary and what is secondary; between what is urgent and what can wait; between what is of great value and what is of little consequence. They learn the art of a selective procrastination - putting off indefinitely what they never really need to do at all.

Compassion: Compassion is an important, but often overlooked, necessity in a world of violence and callousness . . . We may not be able to take away another person's grief and pain, but we may share it. A German proverb says a sorrow shared is a sorrow halved, and a joy shared is a joy doubled.

About this edition

• Publisher: High Tide Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0965374440
• ISBN 13: 9780965374446
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 241