A Dresser of Sycamore Trees: 2the Finding of a Ministry

In Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, Keizer, a lay Episcopal minister and author of No Place But Here , finds the end of a winding path that took him to the small, rural parish of Island Pond. There he is husband, father and high school teacher, and attends as well to the spiritual lives of communicants, many of them immigrants from other lives, who reside at what initially seems to him ``the end of the world.'' Keizer's anecdotal account pauses frequently to marvel at what he has received from his informal, even unorthodox ministry. He pays tribute to his ordained mentors, particularly one whose ``moxie, his jovial evangelism, his blithe testing of every assumption and pretense, his daring of himself to go an extra mile--and then another'' appear to be echoed in Keizer's personal journey. The serendipitous blending of faith and work in one man's life is not without humor, making this an arresting and entertaining journal. (Oct.)