A Is for Alabaster: 52 Reflections on the Stories of Scripture (Anna Carter Florence) -- A Review

A IS FOR ALABASTER: 52 Reflections on the Stories of Scripture. By Anna Carter Florence. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2023. Xiii + 223 pages.

There are many ways to tell biblical stories, among them is a form known as abecedary. This is a form of telling stories or sharing information using the alphabet as a primer. Each letter of the alphabet serves to mark a word or phrase. It could be a name or an idea, but it is designed to be memorable. It is also an ancient tool of storytelling that was especially popular in the world of medieval Europe. It is also present in different forms in Scripture, such as the Book of Lamentations. It is also the form of presentation chosen by Anna Carter Florence has chosen to share reflections on stories of the Bible. The form is revealed in the very title of the book: A Is for Alabaster.

Anna Carter Florence serves as the Peter Marshall Professor of Preaching at Columbia Theological Seminary. She drew inspiration for this book from a trilogy of books written by Frederick Buechner: Wishful Thinking: A Seeker's ABC, Peculiar Treasures, and Whistling in the Dark: A Doubter's Dictionary. As a preacher, I have often turned to Buechner's books, especially in my early years. Buechner always seemed to have a useful quote to liven up a sermon. So, if you know Buechner’s works, you will get a sense of what Florence seeks to do with this book, which contains fifty-two reflections on biblical people and ideas.

As the book’s subtitle reveals, this book is a collection of fifty-two reflections on a series of biblical stories that the author feels are worth exploring. She provides twenty-six reflections on each testament. Florence shares with the reader that she thoroughly enjoyed creating this book, which involved picking the characters and images that would match each letter of the alphabet. To accomplish her task, she tells us that she had to "get creative to make room for everyone. Jacob, for instance, finds his place with 'I is for Israel.' Jonah takes 'F is for Fish." (p. 3) As for Jesus, she tells us that she had to go rogue to describe him. Thus, she has "G is for Growing Up." There is also "W is for Walking on Water," although he did claim the privilege of wandering in and out of everyone else’s letters (p. 3). The goal here is to draw the reader into the biblical stories in an interesting fashion. She reminds us that reading Scripture is “more about the journey than the destination” (p. 4), thus this form of storytelling allows the reader to wander about in Scripture.  

As we work our way through the fifty-two reflections, we discover new ways of envisioning the biblical story. Since Florence is a preacher and teacher of preachers, you get that homiletical feel. She roots the reflections in serious biblical scholarship, but she also brings the stories alive. Generally, each meditation is three to four pages in length, which makes them a nice series of weekly or daily devotions. Each of the fifty-two reflections is accompanied by the appropriate reading from scripture, which is printed in the book. Florence writes "Whether you're new to biblical literature or well seasoned and experienced in this regard, I hope you'll find encouragement here for your own reading journey—and even inspiration and a fresh take on some familiar stories A to Z, if that's what you're looking for" (p. 4).

As we work our way through this collection of reflections we'll encounter people like Abigail, Esther, Naomi, and King Solomon (you will find his story of seeking wisdom under "K is for King Solomon" since she uses S in the Old Testament for Salt (Salt stands in for Lot's wife). As for why Lot’s wife looked back, Florence suggests she looked back “for the same reasons we do. And when we see that, we have empathy—which is to say, humanity. We can read this story and know a truth about ourselves: we look back so we can move forward and then, if we can, move on” (p. 81). There is, as one would expect, a reflection titled "A is for Alabaster." In that reflection that gives a title to the book, Florence invites us to consider the story of the woman in Mark 14 who breaks open the alabaster jar so she can pour nard on Jesus' head, preparing him for burial. You might enjoy "T is for Troas," where Carter recounts the story of Paul's lengthy sermon that leads young Eutychus to fall asleep and then out the window. He dies, but Paul brings him back to life. Florence uses the story to chide preachers not to bore their audiences to death! And the preacher in me says I understand!

One way of reading the Bible is to start with Genesis and continue through to the Book of Revelation. The problem is that readers often get bogged down in certain parts and give up. A Is for Alabaster doesn’t cover every biblical story. That’s not the point. What is the point, is getting a sense of the different elements of the biblical story so one can experience the biblical story in an enjoyable and insightful way. While this is a book that can be read individually, it can also be read in groups. To aid that process, Florence provides the readers with a group discussion guide. There is also a Scripture index, which should prove useful for preachers, especially lectionary preachers.

If you enjoyed Buechner's abecedaries, as I did, I think you will enjoy Anna Carter Florence's version of that storytelling device found in A Is for Alabaster. In this book, written first of all for a general audience, we experience a resource that is thoughtful, provocative, and imaginative. While it doesn't cover every element of the biblical story, it takes the reader into the biblical story so that one can get a sense of the different elements of that story. That’s what is important, especially as we seek to alleviate the biblical illiteracy that afflicts the church today.  As you might expect, the book ends with “Z is for Zachaeus!”