The Sewing Room and Other Essays: 2uncommon Reflections on Life, Love, and Work

This collection of reflective essays reveals the many-sided life of a pioneering female Episcopal minister. Currently on staff at the Seaman's Church Institute in New York City, Crafton is a wife, mother and grandmother whose ministry has taken her to comfortable suburban and large urban parishes as well as to the waterfront. The essays, ``a string of people's moments,'' illuminate these phases of her life as Crafton ruminates on the human condition and the passage of time. In a book that ranges widely--from homelessness to a remarried parent--two especially compelling essays on dying stand out. ``To Be or Not to Be'' weighs the death with dignity/death with technology impasse, emphasizing the great desire for life. ``If I Should Die Before I Wake'' urges acceptance of the inevitable, which frees people to live in the moment. Expressing an ecumenical and gently feminist sensibility, Crafton touches on important human concerns with light grace and common sense. (Feb.)