The Candleberry Tales
by Karl D. Lehman
“Humor has one foot firmly on the ground of reality, and another in other clouds of imagination. Good nonsense makes its own sense. It is in this nonsensical sense that humor becomes both a challenge to what is taken for granted and a harbinger of undreamt possibilities. And it can also be fun, as is the case with all the stories in this book.” Dr. Justo L. González
A light-hearted reflection on faith, community, and the human experience and a unique addition to contemporary Christian literature.
Forward by Dr. Justo L. González
The Prologue
Rev. Harvey Stilton and His Truly Amazing Machine
The Church in the Sky
The Night of Aunt Sheila's Visit
The Church Mouse Academy
The Offbase Incident
Middlelogue
West of Eden
Don Key Hogie of Skidaway
Take My Yolk Upon You
APE
My Fair Preacher
Thus Spoke Sarah Brewster
The Boys of Blakely
Epilogue
And so the journey begins . . .
Dave Tucker’s infamous bus
“I highly recommend that you join them on their journey.”
Rev. Tom Hagood
Praise for The Candleberry Tales
“I must enthusiastically declare that, even apart of any other virtues, Lehman’s stories are fun to read,” Dr. Justo L. González
In The Candleberry Tales Lehman provides us with thoughtful, hilarious, and at times frustrating as well as challenging stories of Christian daily-life interactions. Humanizing and humorizing, the situations of Christian leaders and contractions, Lehman dares the readers to think about God, sources of authority, congregational structures and community, institutional despair and hope, and the mystery of God in stories.
Dr. Carlos F. Cardoza Orlandi
Frederick E. Roach Chair in World Christianity Baylor University
Karl Lehman, in The Candleberry Tales using his keen humor invites us to look at the Gospel in a fresh way. We are reminded that while our religious experiences may be messy and may look different for each of us, it continues to be an important part of one’s life. He also remind us, as we read the journey of each character, that not only is it okay to have a sense of number as we travel our own religious journey, a sense of humor may be necessary.
Juanita Steadman
Executive Director, Together Georgia Atlanta, Georgia
The Candleberry Tales has something of Chaucer’s wit and satire, poking fun at the eccentricities of those who presume to represent Christianity in our day. As with Chaucer, Lehman invites us to consider the varieties of religious experience in the church—or, rather, the churches—with their manifest foibles and eccentricities on full display,. In these updated tales we meet the twelve “Early County O’Postles” on the road in a dilapidated old church bus, bound not for glory but for Camp Candleberry. As they share their tales, we discover their pieties and proclivities with their often delightful—if not absurd consequences. Along the way Lehman leaves no one unscathed, rendering every member of this ecumenical troupe with suitable levity.
Dr. Mark S. Burrows
Author of Meister Eckhart’s Book of Darkness and Light: Meditations on the Path of the Wayless Way.
In this book, The Candleberry Tales, Karl Lehman weaves a captivating story about the annual journey of eleven rural pastors traveling on a wobbly school bus through rural Georgia, who each take turns sharing outlandish and highly humorous stories themed by a scriptural reference. I high recommend that you join them on their journey as they reveal not only their eclectic theological beliefs, but a refreshing critique on the future of the twenty-first-century church.
Rev. Tom Hagood
Pastor, Columbia Presbyterian Church Decatur Georgia
Karl D Lehman 