Home > Author > Michelle Huneven
121 " Norths were warriors, who organized and led people, and our warriors were Charlotte and Jennie. Souths were healers, who loved and nurtured: Sam and Curtis. Easts were visionaries and artists, who saw the world in new ways: Riley and me. Wests were sages and teachers, who trained and enriched our minds: Adrian and Belinda. “But, Helen . . .”—Jennie waved her hand—“in young leadership groups, I’m always an East! I’m totally an East! Dana or Riley should switch with me. I’m so not a North!” “Everyone’s a bit of everything,” said Helen. "
― Michelle Huneven , Search
122 " We couldn’t even see one another’s faces. Yet that darkness was alive. Breathing. Full of expectation. I wept from the moment the lights went out—many did—so here we were, weeping silently in the darkest time of the year. Then the rear doors opened, and we stood. The choir, holding lit candles, came in singing “O Come All Ye Faithful.” They lit the candles of the people sitting at the end of each row, and the light was passed person to person until we were in a candlelit hall, the ceiling and corners all lost in an ancient, glowing darkness, like the dark background of Rembrandt paintings. Into the absolute darkness, so dense and full of human longing, the light had come. "
123 " We sat in a dense, velvety blackness for what seemed like an age, but was probably two minutes. We couldn’t even see one another’s faces. Yet that darkness was alive. Breathing. Full of expectation. I wept from the moment the lights went out—many did—so here we were, weeping silently in the darkest time of the year. Then the rear doors opened, and we stood. The choir, holding lit candles, came in singing “O Come All Ye Faithful.” They lit the candles of the people sitting at the end of each row, and the light was passed person to person until we were in a candlelit hall, the ceiling and corners all lost in an ancient, glowing darkness, like the dark background of Rembrandt paintings. Into the absolute darkness, so dense and full of human longing, the light had come. "
124 " We called out what we loved about the AUUCC (the community, the gardens, its sturdy staff and finances) and what we wanted to change (the ugly sanctuary, the older white demographic, “a sometimes ponderous traditionalism”). “I’d like to see a high school student on the board,” said Jennie. “I’d like more ways to meet people,” said Riley. Curtis said, “And don’t you think there could be more, I don’t know, religion?” We all stared at him. “What?” he said “It is a church, and Rev Tom is a great guy. But I keep waiting to hear, you know, about God and Jesus and what we’re supposed to believe in. "