Recommended Reading
FALL 2021
Church Cracked Open
Stephanie Spellers
Sometimes it takes disruption and loss to break us open and call us home to God. It’s not surprising that a global pandemic and once-in-a-generation reckoning with white supremacy—on top of decades of systemic decline—have spurred Christians everywhere to ask who we are, why God placed us here and what difference that makes to the world. In this critical yet loving book, the author explores the American story and the Episcopal story in order to find out how communities steeped in racism, establishment, and privilege can at last fall in love with Jesus, walk humbly with the most vulnerable and embody beloved community in our own broken but beautiful way. The Church Cracked Open invites us to surrender privilege and redefine church, not just for the sake of others, but for our own salvation and liberation.
Church Publishing, Inc.
The Dream of God
Verna Dozier
Respected teacher and author Verna Dozier explores the ways that humanity and the institutional church have strayed far from Jesus’s original message. To help us get back on track, she examines the Bible: a theological and historical record of hundreds of years in which two communities of faith (Jewish and early Christian) explored their own life experiences. Our task now is not to ask which interpretations are correct, but to ask “what did it mean to them” and “what does it mean for us?” Dozier encourages us to see Christianity not as creed or institution, but as “the vision of a new possibility for human life rooted in an ancient understanding of God and lived out by a Nazarene carpenter.” Through adept storytelling and study, Dozier reawakens our sense of calling and our desire for truth. This new and revised edition includes a new foreword by Sophfronia Scott and a study guide.
Seabury Classics
Being Mortal
Atul Gawande
Through eye-opening research and gripping stories of his own patients and family, Gawande reveals the suffering this dynamic has produced. Nursing homes, devoted above all to safety, battle with residents over the food they are allowed to eat and the choices they are allowed to make. Doctors, uncomfortable discussing patients’ anxieties about death, fall back on false hopes and treatments that are actually shortening lives instead of improving them. And families go along with all of it. Riveting, honest, and humane, Being Mortal shows that the ultimate goal is not a good death but a good life – all the way to the very end.
Picador
Let Your Life Speak
Parker Palmer
With this searching question, Parker Palmer begins an insightful and moving meditation on finding one's true calling. Let Your Life Speak is an openhearted gift to anyone who seeks to live authentically. The book's title is a time-honored Quaker admonition, usually taken to mean “Let the highest truths and values guide everything you do.” But Palmer reinterprets those words, drawing on his own search for selfhood. “Before you tell your life what you intend to do with it,” he writes, “listen for what it intends to do with you. Before you tell your life what truths and values you have decided to live up to, let your life tell you what truths you embody, what values you represent.” Vocation does not come from willfulness, no matter how noble one’s intentions. It comes from listening to and accepting “true self” with its limits as well as its potentials. Sharing stories of frailty and strength, of darkness and light, Palmer shows that vocation is not a goal to be achieved but a gift to be received.
Jossey-Bass Publishing
Wisdom Jesus
Cynthia Bourgeault
If you put aside what you think you know about Jesus and approach the Gospels as though for the first time, something remarkable happens: Jesus emerges as a teacher of the transformation of consciousness. Cynthia Bourgeault is a masterful guide to Jesus's vision and to the traditional contemplative practices you can use to experience the heart of his teachings for yourself.
Shambhala Press
Me & White Supremacy
Layla Saad
Me and White Supremacy: A 28-Day Challenge to Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor leads readers through a journey of understanding their white privilege and participation in white supremacy, so that they can stop (often unconsciously) inflicting damage on black, indigenous and people of color, and in turn, help other white people do better, too. The book goes beyond the original workbook by adding more historical and cultural contexts, sharing moving stories and anecdotes, and includes expanded definitions, examples, and further resources.
Sourcebooks
The Hopeful Family
Amelia Richardson Dress
Kids and parents alike are feeling the weight of these troubling times. Anxiety disorders are on the rise in teens and children. “Climate anxiety” is a phrase entering our cultural lexicon. Ancient practices of Christianity, both internal and external, can be a guidepost for parents navigating this uncharted territory. They give us a way to be grounded as well as provide a way of living with purpose in a time of urgency. The Hopeful Family is the guidebook for parents who are building a life of meaning and hope even in a time of unease. Readers will be reminded of the hope that is part of the Christian story and find both inspiration and evidence to step more fully into a framework of abundance and optimism.
Morehouse Publishing
What is God like?
Matthew Paul Turner & Rachel Held Evans
Children who are introduced to God, through attending church or having loved ones who speak about God, often have a lot of questions, including this ever-popular one: What is God like? The late Rachel Held Evans loved the Bible and loved showing God’s love through the words and pictures found in that ancient text. Through these pictures from the Bible, children see that God is like a shepherd, God is like a star, God is like a gardener, God is like the wind, and more. God is a comforter and support. And whenever a child is unsure, What Is God Like? encourages young hearts to “think about what makes you feel safe, what makes you feel loved, and what makes you feel brave. That's what God is like.”
Convergent Books
Call on Me
Jenifer Gamber
This first exclusively Episcopal prayer book for young people offers over 100 original prayers rooted in Episcopal theology and language for events in the daily lives of teens. Divided into three parts--Common Prayer, Kinds of Prayer, and Personal Prayer--topics include daily devotion, prayers of the people, faith, praying through the day, week and year, self, milestones, friends and family, school and work, and community. Youth will find prayers to celebrate personal achievements and address personal and world concerns, including thanksgiving for a driver's license and graduating, when a friend needs help, blessing of a relationship, and applying for a job and more. Youth leaders will find this to be an essential resource for camp, retreats and other youth gatherings. It is a perfect gift for Christmas, confirmation, graduation and birthdays.
Morehouse Publishing
Belovedness
Franklin & Zartman
Every college student’s story is different, but they all have the same questions in common. Who am I? How do I make good choices? What does it mean to be successful? How do I navigate changing relationships with my family, my peers, my significant other? And how do I do all of this faithfully? This book approaches these topics through a fundamental inquiry: “What if I really, truly believed that I was beloved beyond all measure, and how would that influence what I do?” Along with the editors, eight campus ministers from across several denominations contributed to this volume to help students navigate questions of life and faith in the world of high-pressure college campuses. Telling it like it is with wit and wisdom drawn from scripture, tradition, and life experience, this book offers profound and practical reminders of what it is to be beloved.
Church Publishing
