A Lenten Journey in search of God and the Christian Life through a Work of Fiction

Flying to Tombstone, a novel by Gordon McBride

Many of the theological ideas in Flying to Tombstone are found in two important books: Marcus Borg, The God We Never Knew (Harper, San Francisco, 1997) and Walter Wink, The Powers That Be (Doubleday, 1998). A discussion leader might well be acquainted with these two books, perhaps even using appropriate pieces of them. One should not feel obliged to do so, however. It might be fruitful to hand out questions in advance in each section to help point the direction you think is right for your group.

Session One. Finding God and Love in the Midst of the Life We're Given

The Last Sunday After Epiphany and Before; Ash Wednesday

(If the leader wants to follow the novel's time line, this first session might come near Ash Wednesday, perhaps even a few days before, though there is no particular reason why this study must happen during Lent.)

Reading Assignment: Prologue and Chapters 1-3

Flying to Tombstone is set on the Arizona border with Mexico. Much of the novel's action centers around the shared dilemmas of the American and Mexican governments, local Arizona ranchers and would-be immigrant laborers as the latter attempt to get into the United States. A great many web sites are available for obtaining insight into the border problems.

Father Jerry Hanning, his daughter Sadie, Maddie and Art Gronek, Virginia Vega and the Kate Becker are all introduced in the first chapters, as are other central characters. An underlying theme in many of their lives involves sickness, death, grief and the incomprehensibility of the whole idea of God in the face of human suffering. The study group in its opening discussion may agree that a solution to the border problem can be found among human institutions and is within the grasp of lawmakers, though they may not agree on what an appropriate solution might be. However, the first three chapters of the novel introduce a topic that certainly is beyond the control of any human agency: the inevitability of death and the human response to that certainty, including the pain, loss and suffering that is left in its wake. Art Gronek's death becomes a metaphor and catalyst for other experiences of loss—and perhaps that of the reader, as well.

Explore what the study group knows about border issues. What solutions do they see to the problem of economic inequality on the two sides of the border and the pressure it creates? Also introduce the associated question of racism. Invite the group into a preliminary conversation about the person of God. How does their understanding of God affect their sense of justice and compassion? What has been the group members' personal experience of unexpected death or the death of a young person? How has their faith been altered as a result of such an experience? Does the identification of death with "sin" seem appropriate?

Session Two. Life is Messy—No Matter How Carefully We Try to Manage it

The Week after Ash Wednesday; the First Sunday in Lent; the First Few Days of Lent I

Reading Assignment: Chapters 4-6

Fr. Jerry and his parishioners and friends confront what might be described as the Powers that Be. Child raising, which had always been easy for Jerry, suddenly becomes more complicated; two Lenten book groups begin; border issues become more intense; divisions begin to emerge in the St. Peter's congregation; the characters confront a distressing example of racism and Maddie turns up in the Tombstone group. Maddie begins to put her own life back together by taking up her formerly abandoned flying hobby and thinking of herself as having a professional life again.

Talk with the group about Walter Wink's term, "The Powers." Invite the group to discuss times when The Powers have intruded upon their lives. How did it feel to be so lacking in resources to cope with forces outside your control? How does the force of systems and institutions intrude upon even the best of intentions? What feels messy in your life right now?

Session Three. Finding God in Many Places and Shapes

The Continuation of Lent I; Lent II

Reading Assignment: Chapters 7-9

With the backdrop of a small, traditional Episcopal parish and two typical Lenten study programs, a variety pack of differing spiritualities come together in this portion of the book: Hank Tucker's natural spirituality versus the violation of the natural beauty of the region by rapacious exploitation of resources and people; Fr. Jerry's spiritual reawakening in the arms of Kate Becker; Maddie and Ike McWarder's mysticism and his making of Anglican Rosaries. Maddie begins a relationship with Cord, a young man she met at the Tombstone book group, and is introduced to the Bisbee artist community.

Invite the study group into a conversation about personal spirituality in this session. Are any of the experiences related in the novel similar to ones they have had themselves? Is there a cutting edge right now in their spiritual lives—a sense of movement?

Session Four. Confronting the Reality of Violence

Lent II Continues; the Third Sunday in Lent and the Week Following; Lent IV

Reading Assignment: Chapters 10-13

In this section of the novel, Ginger Vega encounters the results of violence, racism and death once again when her lover, Harold, is killed attempting to get some castaway illegal immigrants safely to Tucson. Maddie uses her airplane to help look for the missing Harold and finds new friends in the Bisbee artist group, most importantly Ginger Vega. Jerry continues to develop his book groups, and tries to deal with his newly complex personal life. Jerry has a spiritual epiphany. Ike McWarder presents his Anglican Rosaries to the Tombstone study group. Jerry is asked to conduct a memorial service for Harold Jenkins at the dead man's studio, and his relationship with Kate Becker falls apart in shocking ways. Ginger and Maddie become directly involved with rescuing immigrants using Maddie's airplane and the abandoned Tombstone airport. Ginger is reunited with her children.

Invite the group to discuss moral imperatives, both with respect to personal sexuality and in obedience to the law. Is it ever okay for someone to define their own basis for obedience?  Must law—both laws of the church and of the state—always be obeyed? Why/why not? What should be the Christian response to violence? What, if anything, must the Christian do in the face of injustice?

Session Five. Combating the Powers

Mid Lent; the Fifth Sunday in Lent; Palm Sunday

Reading Assignment: Chapters 14-18

Jerry is stunned and heartened to learn of Hank Tucker's changing attitude toward the UDAs. The intensity over Maddie's flights with illegal immigrants mounts following Ginger's confrontation with the Border Patrol. Maddie has doubts about her relationship with Cord as she also begins to ask some fundamental questions about her own religious convictions. More and more she is drawn to her Jewish roots, and Jerry encourages her to explore in that direction. Meanwhile, vigilantes fire on her overloaded airplane as she picks up a load of immigrants, assisted by Cord. Jerry is brought into rescuing abandoned immigrants and dealing with the vigilantes. Jerry and Ginger tentatively explore the possibility of a relationship between them and find no "magic" there. The central characters confront the vigilantes at the Tombstone airport and begin to identify who they are. Jerry learns more about illegal immigrants and their plight. Jerry, Ginger and Maddie and their children have some serious conversation about death and loss as Ginger privately recognizes her personal redemption. The Curtains' marriage collapses amidst surprising revelations to Fr. Jerry by Jillian. Jerry's plane is sabotaged. He confesses to the bishop. Holy Week begins movement toward the climax of the story.

These chapters contain more action than ideas. Thus this week's discussion could go in a number of directions. Most of the theological points have already been made, and the ethical conflicts have been introduced. It might be a good time to sort through unfinished business and try to bring together the spirituality/action dimensions: the connection between experience of God and an outpouring of compassion. You may want to invite the group to create scenarios about how they think the book should end both ethically and theologically as well as in the plot.

Session Six. Combating Ourselves and Forgiving Our Enemies

Maundy Thursday; Good Friday; Holy Saturday; Easter and Easter Monday

Reading Assignment: Chapters 19-22

Maddie discovers that her short relationship with Cord has resulted in her becoming pregnant, which she welcomes despite its complications. She breaks off her relationship with Cord. She also experiences deeply the combined Passover/Holy Week metaphors and symbols. Sean shows everyone Ginger's drawing of Maddie and Jerry, one that portrays them as an adoring couple, thus becoming a catalyst for their acknowledgment of the bond between them. Ginger decides to push her own religious buttons by attending the Good Friday service at St. Peter's and gets something she hadn't bargained for: being confronted by the very man who raped her and uttered ugly racial slurs at her when she was fifteen. Jillian Curtain is making clear decisions to end her marriage and evidence piles up against Charlie Snow as one of the vigilantes who had shot at Maddie's plane. Charlie's accomplice is identified as Alex Cloud, Hank Tucker's ranch foreman, and Hank's SUV is confirmed as a likely vehicle to have been used in the death of Harold Jenkins and the carload of immigrants. Jerry behaves badly when he learns about Maddie's pregnancy. The darkness of Holy Saturday is compounded by a continuation of the very strong winds that began on Good Friday, paralleling the feelings of the central characters. Maddie has an idea about how to catch and implicate Charlie Snow and Alex Cloud in the illegal vigilantism. Easter Day brings Jerry a change of heart and the first steps of the plot against Alex and Charlie. The fiery climax of the story comes at the Tombstone airport early on Easter Monday.

This wrap-up session will need to tie together all of the theological loose-ends and the unresolved feelings that group members may have discovered in the course of the study group's sessions. In particular it might be fruitful to ask what this year's Lenten journey has meant in their own spiritual lives. The central question, finally, comes down to revenge vs. forgiveness. Group members might be invited to explore times in their lives when they have found it within themselves to forgive someone when revenge might have felt much sweeter-Band to reflect on the spiritual benefits of being forgiving. If group members haven't yet told their own "church story" this would be a good time to invite that, perhaps in small groups, depending on the total size of the study group.