Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Gracious Uncertainty
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1934
WEBSITE:
CITY: Crozet
STATE: VA
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
| LC control no.: | n 2007011646 |
|---|---|
| LCCN Permalink: | https://lccn.loc.gov/n2007011646 |
| HEADING: | Sigloh, Jane, 1934- |
| 000 | 00361nz a2200121n 450 |
| 001 | 7099195 |
| 005 | 20070216075902.0 |
| 008 | 070216n| acannaabn |n aaa |
| 010 | __ |a n 2007011646 |
| 040 | __ |a DLC |b eng |c DLC |
| 100 | 1_ |a Sigloh, Jane, |d 1934- |
| 670 | __ |a Sigloh, Jane. Like trees walking, c2007: |b ECIP t.p. (Jane Sigloh) data view (Sigloh, Jane, b. 1934) |
| 953 | __ |a sh48 |
PERSONAL
Born 1934; married; husband’s name Denny; children: six.
EDUCATION:Sweet Briar College, undergraduate degree, 1956; Hollins University, M.A.; Yale Divinity School, M.Div., 1988.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Episcopal priest. Previously high school English and writing teacher. Emmanuel Church, Staunton, Virginia, rector, 1992-98. Then chaplain to the House of Bishops and a teacher in the Preaching Excellence Program. Also leader of retreats.
AVOCATIONS:Wine making, cooking, gardening.
RELIGION: EpiscopalianWRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Jane Sigloh studied English and creative writing at Sweet Briar College, where she earned an undergraduate degree, and in graduate school at Hollins University, where she obtained her first master’s. She went on to teach high school while she raised a family of six children with her husband. After her children grew up and left home, Sigloh enrolled at Yale Divinity School and earned her M.Div. when she was well into her forties. She became an Episcopal priest and was rector of Emmanuel Church in Staunton, Virginia. She retired in 1998 and later became a chaplain to the House of Bishops, which is part of the Episcopal Church’s governing body, and a teacher in the Preaching Excellence Program—which offers programs to clergy, including deacons and seminarians, to guide their preaching. She also conducts retreats and speaks on the topics of faith and aging. Sighloh has written two books: Like Trees Walking: In the Second Half of Life and Gracious Uncertainty: Faith in the Second Half of Life.
Like Trees Walking
Her first book. Like Trees Walking, takes a look at the journey of aging. blending poetry, fiction, philosophy, and biblical passages in a compilation of reflections that the publisher’s website termed “possessed of both reverent awe and irreverent honesty.” Michele Dargan, writing online at the Palm Beach Daily News, quotes Sigloh as saying that the “relentless series of losses … sight, hearing, memory, coordination and, most of all … friends,” can lead to feelings of “despair.” The key, Sigloh states, is to continue to engage in work, but work that “has meaning beyond the self.”
In the foreword to Like Trees Walking, James Lott observed: “These wise, witty, often profound meditations are a gift, a vade mecum for those of us who cluster just around seventy or beyond. But they are also a gift to those who feel even in their youth the coming on of age, who observe the aging of those they love, and who inevitably will stand at the bedsides of their dying elders, trying to understand whatever final words, or silence, they hear.” Online at Spirituality and Practice, Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat noted that “this sturdy and creative book illustrates that going through old age with a “yes” can be … gratifying, even enlightening.”
Gracious Uncertainty
Sigloh followed Like Trees Walking with Gracious Uncertainty, where she takes a second look at aging and its many attendant issues. She addresses topics such as many of life’s unknowns, the shifting of one’s convictions and certainties in the face of change, freedom versus sacrifice on life’s path, the nature of sin, and the part faith and prayer play in life. She also uses personal stories and even tragedies—such as the death of her son Ethan—to root her reflections. At the end of the book, Sigloh gives a set of questions for discussion—paired to the preceding chapters. A contributor to the publisher’s website called the book an “intimate, at times humorous, and often spirit-provoking guide through the unknowns of the later years.”
In their foreword to the book, Julie Shields and James Lott noted: “Aging can result in calcified certainties, in despair over loss, or in a nostalgia that is ultimately delusive. … These reflections provide a different model of the wisdom that can come as we grow older: the capacity to wonder about life, to open ourselves to the wind of the Spirit, and to rest in what Jane calls ‘gracious uncertainty’.” A reviewer in Publishers Weekly said of Gracious Uncertainty that it features writing that is “simple, yet lyrical.” The critic applauded Sigloh as an “honest, intelligent, and companionable guide for readers wishing to bring grace into the process of aging.”
BIOCRIT
BOOKS
Sigloh, Jane, Like Trees Walking: In the Second Half of Life, Cowley Publications (Lanham, MD), 2007.
Sigloh, Jane, Gracious Uncertainty: Faith in the Second Half of Life, Rowman & Littlefield (Lanham, MD), 2017.
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, October 9, 2017, review of Gracious Uncertainty, p. 63.
ONLINE
Emmanuel Episcopal Church Website, http://emmanuelgreenwood.org/ (March 21, 2018), author profile.
Palm Beach Daily News Online, https://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/ (March 5, 2013), Michele Dargan, author profile.
Rowman and Littlefield Website, https://rowman.com/ (March 20, 2018).
Spirtuality and Practice, https://www.google.com/ (February 28, 2018), Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, review of Like Trees Walking
Retreat at Bethesda to explore aging with grace, humor
news
By Michele Dargan - Daily News Staff Writer
0
Posted: 12:00 a.m. Tuesday, March 05, 2013
The Rev. Jane Sigloh knows firsthand about pursuing work that she’s passionate about in the second half of life.
For years, Sigloh worked as a high school English and writing teacher. When her children went to college, Sigloh enrolled in Yale Divinity School, earning a Master’s in Divinity and becoming an Episcopal parish priest. In 1998, she retired from the parish priesthood.
But to Sigloh, retirement didn’t equate to not working. It meant she could pursue the portions of her work that she loves.
“I don’t have to worry about raising money and fixing the roof (of a church),” Sigloh said. “My focus is pastoral care, preaching, writing and teaching. It’s a wonderful liberation. Now I’m able to do what I love most of all, and I do it on my own schedule.”
In 2007, Sigloh, of Charlottesville, Va., published her book Like Trees Walking, about the journey into the second half of life. Since then, she’s kept busy, giving talks and holding retreats geared toward aging and those who are watching their loved ones age.
Sigloh will hold a retreat from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday in the parish hall of The Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea on “Aging with Grace and Good Humor.” The event is for people 65 and older as well as those in their 40s and 50s who are watching their parents or loved ones struggle with aging. A $10 donation at the door is requested. For reservations, call Regine at (561) 655-4554.
Sigloh will lead a short forum from 10:10 a.m. to 10:50 a.m. Sunday, free of charge, on “The Challenge of Faith in the Second Half of Life.”
“There’s a huge sense of despair that can set in and that’s a bad thing,” Sigloh said. “I think younger people can help their parents move into old age with a positive and more realistic attitude. There are a lot of books out there that talk about aging as a marvelously positive experience, but it’s not like that in a lot of ways.
“When you’re older, you face a relentless series of losses,” she said. “You lose sight, hearing, memory, coordination and, most of all, you lose your friends and that’s really hard. Sometimes it feels like it’s one funeral after another, and you’re trying to balance the reality of it.”
The secret to staying positive is to always do some type of work, she said.
“To the day you reach over the great abyss, you should be doing work, but it doesn’t have to be back-breaking work,” Sigloh said. “If you stop working, life loses it’s meaning and purpose. You can do a little bit of gardening or knitting as long as the work has meaning beyond the self. A lot of people sink into depression if they don’t have a purpose in life anymore.”
The Rev. Kate Kelderman, associate for ministry development at Bethesda, is Sigloh’s daughter. Kelderman suggested that her mother come to Bethesda to do the retreat.
“I know this topic of conversation is relevant for an older congregation, and Bethesda has older parishioners who tend to be here this time of year,” Kelderman said. “The message she shares is really great and I didn’t want people to miss out on the way she shares these stories and God’s love, which are so appropriate for anybody in life. It’s a conversation that can cross generations.”
The Rev. Jane Sigloh
Interim Rector
E-Mail: jsigloh@emmanuelgreenwood.org
The Rev’d. Jane Sigloh has answered a call to serve as Emmanuel’s Interim Rector. Jane received an undergraduate degree from Sweet Briar College, a Masters in English and Creative Writing from Hollins University, and a Masters in Divinity from Yale Divinity School. She served as a parish priest until 1998 when she retired as rector of Emmanuel Church, Staunton, Virginia. She was subsequently called to be a chaplain to the House of Bishops and a teacher in the Preaching Excellence Program. Her first book Like Trees Walking – in the Second Half of Life, was published in 2007 and her latest, Gracious Uncertainty - Faith in the Second Half of Life, was released in October 2017. Jane and her husband Denny have six children and ten grandchildren.
Gracious Uncertainty: Faith in the Second Half of Life
Publishers Weekly.
264.41 (Oct. 9, 2017): p63. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Gracious Uncertainty: Faith in the Second Half of Life Jane Sigloh. Rowman & Littlefield, $16.95
(176p) ISBN 978-1-4422-7625-3
In simple, yet lyrical prose, Sigloh (Little Trees Walking), a retired Episcopal priest, ponders a variety of existential and theological questions related to aging. Short chapters typically begin with descriptions of experiences, such as "When my mother was in her eighties, she started putting things in little plastic bags," which then unfold into a reflections on, for example, the longing for certainty: "Sometimes I wish I were a fundamentalist." Drawing inspiration from a range of sources, such as quantum physics, Joseph Campbell, poetry, movies, scripture, and her own personal experiences, Sigloh creates indelible images, as with her story of falling out of a boat into rapids after catching a fish and stubbornly clinging to the rod. Elsewhere she conveys how a church sanctuary stripped of its religious imagery on Maundy Thursday evoked the raw emotional wounds caused by her son's death. Questions for reflection and discussion, such as "How has your name influenced your life?" offer thought-provoking prompts on each chapter's topic. Sigloh is an honest, intelligent, and companionable guide for readers wishing to bring grace into the process of aging. (Nov.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Gracious Uncertainty: Faith in the Second Half of Life." Publishers Weekly, 9 Oct. 2017, p. 63.
Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A511293383 /GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=bf432f7c. Accessed 27 Feb. 2018.
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Like Trees Walking In the Second Half of Life
By Jane Sigloh
Meditations on saying yes to the wonders and marvels of old age.
Book Review by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Jean Sigloh, a retired Episcopalian priest, teacher, writer, vintner, cook, gardener and story keeper, lives in Virginia. In this paperback, she faces the reality of growing older and decides: "Instead of seeing myself as a victim of old age, being swept down the path by unseen forces, I'd like to see myself and all my older friends for who they really are: a people diminished in strength, but still standing tall with the sun warm against our face. Given a choice as to how to enter old age, I choose entering it with a 'yes.' "
Our experiences in the second half of life give us plenty of opportunities to dig deeper and to see more clearly. The author presents us with insightful essays on walking in the morning (some call it their "constitutional"), living the extended Sabbath of our retirement years, discovering fresh avenues of self-transcendence, getting rid of things and possessions we no longer use, savoring memories of the good old days, practicing the art of listening which may be "the last and best activity of life," and more interesting subjects.
In a beautiful essay on hummingbirds, Sigloh wishes she could be more like this slight creature:
"Of course, they only weigh 0.2 ounces so they're naturally nimble. We're not. We carry around a lot of excess baggage and over the years we've lost mobility. Limbs are less limber. Responses are slow, deliberate, painful."
This sturdy and creative book illustrates that going through old age with a "yes" can be a gratifying, even enlightening thing to do!