Ordinary Miracles: Life in a Small Church

A 125-year-old suburban Episcopal church serves as the focal point in Taylor's ( Sins of the Fathers ) search for ``the extraordinariness of ordinary people.'' Following the daily activities of the Rev. Lincoln Stelk, at St. Mary's church in Lake Mohegan, N.Y., the author admiringly depicts a community of the faithful. Their ability to carry on the tasks of daily life while ``tamping down their fear'' and ``rejecting arrogance and greed'' is the stuff of ``true heroic acts,'' writes Taylor. Stelk and his congregation cope with financial problems, a balking vestry and the diverse needs of an aging but growing parish community facing modern societal ills. Glimpses of Stelk's private life with his wife and three daughters and vignettes about parishioners impart an intimate, cozy quality to the prose, but Taylor's heavy-handed epiphanies will appeal only to the converted. (Mar.)