Path of Shadows, Flickering Light

“Funerals were frequent and prominent in Cordell Strug's pastorates. Death awaits us all, but Strug movingly engages the particularity of human passing. He knew his people and he had an authoritative word of pertinent hope for them as death came calling. Deep learning, personal struggle, and plain speaking meet exquisitely in this book, which should be in the study of every seminary student.”


—Paul R. Sponheim, professor emeritus, Luther Seminary, St. Paul





“A brilliant, articulate scholar chose the pastor’s vocation: to share the lives—and deaths—of regular folk in two remote northern towns. Strug searches at each death—whether in ripe old age, by gruesome accident, slow disease, or own hand—for the word from the Word fitting the Christian communion’s presence and final rituals. A memoirist and storyteller, both candid and humorous, he illumines the universal through particular lives.”


— Mary C. Preus, sometime adjunct professor, Luther Seminary, St. Paul





“‘All stories, if continued far enough, end in death,’ wrote Hemingway. Cordell Strug grapples with that truth in this book, traveling from his days as an altar boy, to his career as a Lutheran pastor, to life as a septuagenarian. Strug writes movingly of the pain and privilege of sitting with the dying and then preaching at their funerals. His journey is compelling, wise, and ultimately redemptive. Perfect for a time such as this.”


—Peter Geisendorfer-Lindgren, pastor emeritus, Lord of Life Lutheran Church, Maple Grove, Minnesota