Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved

After her diagnosis and cancer surgery, Bowler senses that the ongoing Christian church year reflects symbolically what is happening in her life. In part, this is because the ecclesial year moves from great celebrations—Christmas—to periods of somber sacrifice—Lent, from observances of yearning for divine presence—Advent—to rejoicing in the miraculous presence of God in human form—Easter. She also relates her life to the ongoing Christian church year because she knows there is a possibility that a single year may be the extent of her life.

Bowler expresses a real connection with the symbols of the church year. Advent and Christmas symbolize hope and new life. As she moves through this season, Bowler also begins her life as a new person, seizing the miraculous hope of the cancer trial like news that a person believed deceased is very much alive. Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday, the observance of Jesus’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem prior to death. Bowler perceives a similarity between Jesus’s experience of triumph leading to death and the possibility of the same swing in her own life. After Easter, the church moves into “ordinary time,” the longest season of the ecclesial year; likewise, Bowler realizes her life has moved past crisis and has entered a form of personal ordinary time, the extent of which is unknown.

Bowler observes that prosperity Christians express no appreciation for the traditional understanding of the nuances of the ecclesial year. There is a gap between her developing faith and the shallow spirituality of prosperity believers.