God Hires Gardeners
by William H. McCann, Jr. is a collection of 21 flash fiction stories. Stories range in length from fewer than 75 words ("Book of Job: A Reprise") to many stories that run between 500 and 750 words in length. This is a book that can be read in a single setting of an hour or so, or can be relished one story a day for 21 days. There are a great many genres to be found here, from absurdism to satire, from children's literature to comedy and magical realism. The purpose of the book is to show readers the relevance of the Bible and of Jesus Christ to their daily lives in twenty-first century America. The book does not approach the Bible as the inerrant word of God but as relevant to the average person. Jesus is not just some guy dressed in white robes and beard. Instead he wears khakis, a collared golf shirt, and sandals; he could be walking around your neighborhood, standing in line behind your sister at the neighborhood ice cream store. The community of Christians who are rehearsing "Walking on Water" are the kinds of individuals found in churches across the country. Indeed, only if Jesus and his followers (as exemplified in "Walking on Water"-a teacher, a school principal, firefighter, teenage girl, etc.) relate to ordinary people, can be visualized as people they might know, perhaps even be themselves, is it possible to make the Bible, particularly the New Testament, relevant in our fast-moving world. This is the purpose of
God Hires Gardeners.