Review of Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy, by Mark Vroegop

Christian, Nonfiction Review 0

Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy

Discovering the Grace of Lament

by Mark Vroegop

Crossway, 2019. 223 pages.
Review written July 25, 2025, from my own copy, picked up at ALA Annual Conference 2025.

Note: I’ve decided to post this review only on the blog, not on the main Sonderbooks site. Because although I love that he’s talking about laments, because of the caveats below, I don’t want to be seen as endorsing this book.

First, I love with all my heart what this book sets out to do – encouraging Christians to pray laments. But before I talk about that, I do have some strong caveats. Fair warning: one of the early examples in this book is about a young man with a “lifelong struggle with same-sex attraction.” A later chapter talks about same-sex marriage being legal showing the wickedness of the culture. Fair warning to LGBTQ Christians – this is probably not the book for you.

Another small quibble: The author says, “There’s something uniquely Christian about lament…” This wording feels unfortunate, completely ignoring that the Psalms of lament were literally written by Jews. I would have accepted “fundamentally Christian” or “profoundly Christian” – but “uniquely Christian” ignores that we share this way of praying with Judaism. I appreciate the point that it’s okay – and indeed deeply faithful – to pray laments, though!

I have written a book, Praying with the Psalmists, that I’m trying to find a publisher for, and the chapter on laments is one of my favorites. I’m also planning a follow-up book, Laments for Lent, that will look more deeply into laments. To be fair, I have a transgender daughter I’m proud of and mention her in Praying with the Psalmists – so those who share a viewpoint with this author will probably have their own caveats about my book.

But given the author’s non-affirming viewpoint, one that plenty of Christians share – I’m glad there’s a book for those Christians about Lament. I grew up in evangelical churches, and all too often got the impression that I was supposed to put on a happy face to come before God. This author talks looks at many Psalms of Lament and the book of Lamentations. My favorite point he makes – besides simply showing people how to pray their own laments – is pointing out that the church needs to make room for lament. If we can’t bring our negative emotions to God honestly, then we’re hiding ourselves from God.

Instead of the six-part form of a lament I present in my book, this author pulls out four elements and doesn’t worry about the order. It’s essentially the same idea – I still say you can’t pray incorrectly – though I still have a preference for my approach, again, I love that there’s another book about praying Biblical Laments.

I appreciate that this author also points out how expressing your pain in a lament leads you to praise.

You might think lament is the opposite of praise. It isn’t. Instead, lament is a path to praise as we are led through our brokenness and disappointment. The space between brokenness and God’s mercy is where this song is sung. Think of lament as the transition between pain and promise.

So I have mixed emotions about this book. On the one hand, I wouldn’t normally review a book that assumes that LGBTQ people are sinning. But the main message – that God can handle our pain, that turning to God through the dark clouds will lead us to deep mercy – that is one that all Christians can benefit from.

You don’t have to put on a happy face to come before God.

When dark clouds roll in, lament is the path to find mercy – even as the clouds linger. Lament is the bridge between dark clouds and deep mercy.

markvroegop.com
crossway.org

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Review of The Marriage You Want, by Sheila Wray Gregoire and Dr. Keith Gregoire

Christian, Nonfiction Review, Personal Growth, Starred Review 0

The Marriage You Want

Moving beyond Stereotypes for a Relationship Built on Scripture, New Data, and Emotional Health

by Sheila Wray Gregoire and Dr. Keith Gregoire

Baker Books, 2025. 239 pages.
Review written July 29, 2025, from my own copy, purchased via Amazon.com
Starred Review

Why did I order a book about marriage when I am divorced and not dating anyone? I have appreciated Sheila Wray Gregoire’s writings on Blue Sky and Twitter, and I wanted to hear more. The fact is, I grew up with the “biblical” marriage advice she debunks, and specifically turned to some of the books she critiques when my husband left me and I desperately wanted him back. After reading her articles, I took the unusual step (for me) of taking down my reviews of two books from that era – Love and Respect, by Emerson Eggerichs, and For Women Only, by Shaunti Feldhaun.

So what does this book contain instead? The authors challenge us that the way to determine if marriage advice is good is to look at the fruit – so they did extensive research on what thriving couples have in common.

We wanted to write a book about marriage that was healthy, evidence-based, and Jesus-centered. We wanted to show that data and Jesus can go together! As you read this book, you’ll see results from our various surveys and from other peer-reviewed studies that point to what creates not just a good marriage – but a great marriage.

So yes, this is a Christian book on marriage. But they’re not taking individual verses out of context to twist them to their perspective. They do address stereotypes about marriage that have been clothed in Christian garb and used to tell people this is the only way to do marriage.

Every single chapter shows results from the research to back up their points. I have to add at this point that right away the former Statistics teacher in me saw something I didn’t like – In some of their graphs, they cut out part of the y-axis. This is visually misleading, making a small percentage difference in data seem a lot bigger than it is. They also draw a line between data points where it’s not a linear situation – the x-axis was answers of “Strongly Disagree,” “Disagree,” “Slightly Disagree,” “Slightly Agree,” “Agree,” and “Strongly Agree.” They are not numerically continuous measurements, so a bar graph would be much more appropriate, and connecting the dots – as if there could be a regression line for discrete data – doesn’t really make sense. However, the underlying point of that particular graph was valid. (In this case, the categories were matched to “Relationship Flourishing Score” – and the statement this graph was measuring agreement with was “Men need respect in a way that women can never understand.” Agreeing with that – in men or women – was correlated with lower Relationship Flourishing scores.)

And they do break things out in lots and lots of smaller graphs related to individual questions without such problematic expressions. So that was a quibble from statistics-teacher me.

The framework of the book uses the acronym from their Bare Marriage website: Balance, Affection, Responsibility, and Emotional Connection. Essentially, the message I took away from the book is that marriages thrive when it’s not seen as a hierarchy, but as teamwork. And that included tearing down several beliefs I’d assumed throughout my marriage.

Here’s a section I liked from the Conclusion:

Yes, life is hard. Yes, marriage takes a set of skills that takes time to master. But when you approach your spouse and your marriage with curiosity, and when your spouse does the same, then marriage doesn’t have to be some heavy weight you carry your whole life. Instead, marriage can be the relationship that helps you bear life’s burdens as you run up the hill together. What the data in this book has consistently shown is that when you follow the teamwork approach we’ve shared, marriage becomes something that makes your burdens feel a little lighter, makes your footsteps land a little easier, and makes your smile shine a little brighter.

So often the message we’ve heard in church circles about marriage is that it’s hard, but God wants you to just stick with it regardless. But we want more for you. We don’t want you to just stay in a marriage you hate, we want you to create a marriage you love. And given that Jesus said he came that we might have life to the full, we think he agrees!

This book helps you gain tools to have that thriving marriage you want.

This book has got me thinking maybe dating again could be a good thing….

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Review of Win-Win Miracles Still Happen, by Cheri Baugh Woods

Christian, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review, True Stories 0

Win-Win Miracles Still Happen

by Cheri Baugh Woods

Front Line Book Publishing, 2025. 264 pages.
Review written August 6, 2025, from my own copy, ordered via Amazon.com
Starred Review

Full disclosure first: I consider the author Cheri Woods a friend, via her brother Kevin, who I talked with most weeks at church for years. I was in the group that Kevin asked to pray for Cheri when her life was in danger with leukemia, I picked out verses for Kevin to send to her when she was going through treatment, and later when my niece had leukemia at 3 years old and again at 7 years old, Cheri in turn prayed for her.

So I know how miraculous Cheri’s story is, and I ordered a copy the same day I heard it had been published. And yes, I’m biased, and knew I would enjoy the book.

I’ll be honest – this book is not traditionally published, and although Cheri thanks an editor in the Acknowledgements, the presentation is not as polished as what I’m used to as a librarian. There are occasional mistakes such as quotation marks out of place and some repetitive spots. However, I’m glad that I knew I would want to read Cheri’s full story and overlooked those things – because as soon as I picked it up, I was riveted. Getting a Christian memoir traditionally published is incredibly difficult, so I’m selfishly glad that Cheri didn’t wait for that to happen so I could read her book now.

And I didn’t really know the earlier part of her story – that her first husband turned out to be a bigamist, and her second husband passed away when she was 32 years old. From seeing her journey with cancer, I was not surprised to see her faith shine through in her entire story, as God brought her through all of those hard things.

Here’s how Cheri explains the title in her Introduction:

I am here to declare that my cornerstone remains intact. Through all my circumstances and experiences, I learned to rely on the strength, power, and mercy that God so generously gives each of us through our faith.

I began living a Win-Win life, which meant that no matter what came my way, even if that meant my death, I WIN!

If God chose to keep me here on the earth, I win, because it shows me He still has need of me. My purpose for living is not over, and he has more for me to do for the glory of His kingdom.

If God chose to take me home, I WIN again because to be absent from the body is to be present with the LORD. That is the ultimate win.

My hope is that my life’s events may be an encouragement and an inspiration for you to keep going as you encounter your own struggles and difficulties. I pray that as you read, you will grab hold and tap into God’s energy, his forever-loving lifeline, and begin to live your own Win-Win life.

Reading this book is like hearing from an encouraging friend with strong faith. Her story is amazing – I wouldn’t believe it if someone tried to put it into a novel – and it’s lovely to see how God’s hand has been on her life all along.

Cheri had to retire early from her career as a teacher and school administrator when she got a bone marrow transplant and a new immune system. So let me encourage you to purchase her book – the money will go to someone who can use it and deserves it. It’s not every day that you “meet” someone who’s been through incredible difficulties who has such a sunshiny spirit of God’s love. This book will not only keep you reading, it will bless and inspire you.

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Review of The Tears of Things, by Richard Rohr

Christian, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

The Tears of Things

Prophetic Wisdom for an Age of Outrage

by Richard Rohr

Convergent Books, 2025. 173 pages.
Review written July 5, 2025, from my own copy, purchased via amazon.com
Starred Review

Richard Rohr has done it again! His latest book helps me see the prophets with new eyes – and see how the themes speak to us today.

Since prophets are looking at injustice and suffering, of course they’re applicable today, and give Richard Rohr gives us insights for approaching those things. I like the way he points out a pattern of growth in the prophets:

My favorite thing about the prophetic books of the Bible is that they show a whole series of people in evolution of their understanding of God. Like most of us, the prophets started not only with judgmentalism and anger but also with a superiority complex of placing themselves above others. Then, in various ways, that outlook falls apart over the course of their writings. They move from that anger and judgmentalism to a reordered awareness in which they become more like God: more patient like God, more forgiving like God, more loving like God.

I love that he points out that God’s abundant love and compassion is found over and over again in the Old Testament, and yes, even in the prophets.

The title of the book comes from a quotation from Virgil, which he expands on in the first chapter:

Prophets and mystics recognize what most of us do not – that all things have tears and all things deserve tears. They know that grief and sadness are doorways to understanding life in a non-egocentric way. Tears come from both awe and empathy, and they generate even deeper awe and deeper empathy in us. The sympathy that wells up when we weep can be life-changing, too, drawing us out of ourselves and into communion with those around us. This is continuously exemplified in the writings that we have received from the Hebrew prophets.

So the prophets begin by looking at what’s wrong with the world. They don’t flinch from the truth of the world. But Rohr emphasizes that they don’t stop there.

By following the prophets’ full journey from anger to sadness and beyond, we can mature in belief, as they had to do themselves. All the prophets started with anger, or even rage, at all the right things: injustice, oppression, deceit, misuse of money, power, even religion itself. But with only a couple exceptions (Nahum and Obadiah, who remained angry), they did not stop there. They were not just reformers; they were also mystics who were captivated by the wholeness and beauty at the heart of reality at the same time as they were confronting injustice. I hope to make those distinctions clear in this book. We miss the point when we confuse prophets with mere liberal humanists.

That gives you an idea of where the author is going with this book. He claims that for a mature prophet, it’s all about God’s unconditional love – and the journey to get us there presents ideas I’d never considered before.

My church went through this book, using it as a springboard for three meetings of “holy conversations.” We didn’t really study the book, but it got us talking to one another in fascinating ways.

I recently finished going through Richard Rohr’s book The Universal Christ with my small group, and we all agree that his books are not light reading, but they’re full of good things. This book is the same. He is a mystic, and his books are filled with mysticism, and my rational mind can’t always keep up. But I do know that I like the way he gets me looking at the world. And I love his affirmations of God’s love – even though the world is full of tears.

cac.org
convergentbooks.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Worth Fighting For, by John Pavlovitz

Christian, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

Worth Fighting For

Finding Courage and Compassion When Cruelty Is Trending

by John Pavlovitz

Westminster John Knox Press, 2024. 154 pages.
Review written June 10, 2025, from my own copy, purchased via Amazon.com
Starred Review

I think of John Pavlovitz as someone who comes across as angry. However, even though this book features a picture of boxing gloves, it’s ultimately a book about making compassion our primary characteristic as Christians. And he indeed makes a strong case that this is worth fighting for.

The sections in this book are short, so it made an easy morning read to read one section. I found myself talking about what I’d read with other Christians, especially this passage:

What we believe about faith and God and the afterlife is not as fixed as we often like to think. It is rather an ever-shifting point in space and time. Very likely, you believe quite differently than you did ten years ago in both subtle and substantial ways, and ten years from now the same will almost certainly be true. In this way I like to think of theology as a place – as the specific location where you are right at this moment.

This is important as you interact with others, because it helps you recognize your limitations and potential. You cannot make someone be where you are. It’s not your job or your right to forcibly pull someone to your faith perspective, to make them see as you see or agree to the givens you’ve established in your mind. Your responsibility is to openly describe the view from where you stand and hope that something in that is helpful or encouraging or challenging to people. I never feel I need to convince someone to believe what I believe, only to let them know where I am and ask them to meet me there in relationship.

I love that perspective, because I hadn’t stopped to think about it, but, yes, my beliefs are quite different than they were ten years ago, in many ways. I think sometimes we feel like we’ve seen the light and been set straight in one particular area – so we want to set everyone else straight, too. But why would someone else have to follow the same path as me? John Pavlovitz comes at faith with a deep respect for each person’s journey with God – even of those who berate him.

Yes, John Pavlovitz often comes across as angry, but that seems to be coming from a place of compassion, for those who try to exclude others from the table.

He doesn’t pretend that it’s easy to be inclusive and welcoming. But compassion is worth fighting for.

Love is still the greatest weapon we have in the face of fear. It is still the antidote to all that afflicts us. No, opposing hatred isn’t hateful. Opposing hatred is how we embody love.

And he’s absolutely right that hatred and exclusion are becoming more and more common in our society. In the chapter “The Future We Want,” he includes a section on “The America Worth Fighting For” and encourages us to help make a future America that stands against white supremacy and defends the vulnerable. He encourages us all to use our own abilities to do what we can to make a better future.

Affirm life, speak truth, defend the vulnerable, call out injustices – and gladly brave the criticisms and the wounds you sustain in doing it, knowing that they are a small price to pay for the nation that could be if you speak – or the one that will be if you do not.

So that gives you an idea of what you’ll find in this book – encouragement to stand up and be more compassionate. Here’s another passage I marked:

Compassion is what defines the community we feel called into.

In this shared desire to care for one another and for this planet, we who are a disparate assembly find an affinity that transcends the other boxes. It is the bigger table we are building, the expansive community we are forming.

And this is the side we choose regardless of the other boxes: the side of empathy and equality and benevolence and diversity. These don’t come with a prerequisite doctrinal statement or political affiliation, nor with any condition regarding race or orientation or pigmentation. No group has a market cornered on such selflessness and decency.

The powerful thread knitting together this new chosen family in these days is humanity that gives a damn about other humanity. This is the place where like-hearted people can all find belonging and live fully and heal wounds and fix broken things.

And this compassionate coalition of those who give a damn is what will save the world.

johnpavlovitz.com

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Review of This Here Flesh, by Cole Arthur Riley

Christian, Musings, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

This Here Flesh

Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories that Make Us

by Cole Arthur Riley

Convergent Books, 2022. 203 pages.
Review written May 13, 2025, from my own copy, ordered via amazon.com.
Starred Review

I feel at a bit of a loss to describe this book. I read it a chapter at a time as part of my devotional times, and noted lots of passages to post on my Sonderquotes blog, and finished each chapter inspired and uplifted. But I’m not sure I can adequately describe what you’ll find here.

I like to call this kind of book “Musings,” and these are Christian musings mixed with family stories and questions and thoughts about life.

Let me copy sections from her Preface, in hope this will give you the flavor of this contemplative book. I’m just going to show you a few pieces – but I hope it will pull you in to read the entire book.

My spirituality has always been given to contemplation, even before anyone articulated for me exactly what “the contemplative” was. I was not raised in an overtly religious home; my spiritual formation now comes to me in memories – not creeds or doctrine, but the air we breathed, stories, myth, and a kind of attentiveness. From a young age, my siblings and I were allowed to travel deep into our interior worlds to become aware of ourselves, our loves, our beliefs. And still, my father demanded an unflinching awareness of our exterior worlds. Where is home from here? What was the waitress’s name? Where do we look when we’re walking? If a single phrase could be considered the mantra of our family, it would be Pay attention….

I used to think that Christian contemplation was reserved for white men who leave copies of C. S. Lewis’s letters strewn about and know a great deal about coffee and beard oils. If this is you, there is room for you here. But I am interested in reclaiming a contemplation that is not exclusive to whiteness, intellectualism, ableism, or mere hobby. And as a Black woman, I am disinterested in any call to spirituality that divorces my mind from my body, voice, or people. To suggest a form of faith that tells me to sit down alone and be quiet? It does not rest easy on the bones. It is a shadow of true contemplative life, and it would do violence to my Black-woman soul….

And as we pay attention, we make a home out of paradox, not just in what we believe but also in the very act of living itself. Stillness that we would move. Silence that we would speak. I believe this to be a spirituality our world – overtaken with dislocation, noise, and unrest – so desperately needs….

This is a book of contemplative storytelling. The pages you hold are where the stories that have formed me across generations meet our common practice of beholding the divine. Feel now, they are wet with tears. Look how they glisten like my skin in sun, and they bear the grooves of many scars. As you cradle these pages, it is my sincere hope that they might serve as conduits for mystery, liberation, and the very face of God.

Yes, that’s what you’ll find here – contemplative storytelling. Cole Arthur Riley tells stories of her family and weaves them through with contemplation – and it all shines with light.

colearthurriley.com
convergentbooks.com

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Review of How We Learn to Be Brave, by Mariann Edgar Budde

Christian, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

How We Learn to Be Brave

Decisive Moments in Life and Faith

by Mariann Edgar Budde

Avery (Penguin Random House), 2023. 201 pages.
Review written April 7, 2025, from my own copy, ordered via Amazon.com.
Starred Review

Mariann Edgar Budde is the Episcopal Bishop of Washington who asked Trump to his face in an inaugural service to have mercy on people. When I was commenting on that, one of my friends asked if I’d read her book – written after she spoke out about Trump’s photo op in front of her church during the Black Lives Matter protests. So I ordered a copy right away.

In the Introduction, she talks about a moment during the BLM protests when she was inspired by the words of Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II, cochair of the Poor People’s Campaign.

As he spoke, the weight I had been carrying all week fell off my shoulders, and in that moment, I knew my place in the larger struggle for justice. I heard myself say to God and to the universe, “I want to be among the coalition of the faithful. I want to be among those working for the change we need now.” That’s the decision with which I need to align my life every day. It wasn’t a new thought for me, but I felt it in a new way. It won’t always burn in my heart the way it did that week, but I don’t want to forget it. Like everyone else, I need grace, courage, and perseverance to be true to my decisive moment after the passion fades.

The theme of the book is decisive moments, and how we can make brave choices during decisive moments.

The chapters take us through “Deciding to Go,” “Deciding to Stay,” Deciding to Start,” “Accepting What You Do Not Choose,” “Stepping Up to the Plate,” “The Inevitable Letdown,” and “The Hidden Virtue of Perseverance.” So you see, we get all aspects of bravery beyond any big public decisions, and I like the way it builds to day-to-day work of keeping on. She illustrates the book with her own journey that eventually took her to Washington, D. C.

Some of our decisive moments require action; others, acceptance. Some are dramatic and there for all the world to see; others are internal, known only to the self and to God. Ultimately, what I want to communicate in these pages is that heroic possibilities lie within each of us; that the inexplicable, unmerited experience of God’s power working through us is real; and that we matter in the realization of all that is good and noble and true. We can learn to be brave.

And of course this book is all the more applicable during a second Trump term. May we as Christians rise to the moment.

Here’s how she ends the book:

My prayer is that, by grace, we all will be emboldened to lean into the wisdom, strength, power, and grace that come to us, whenever we find ourselves at a decisive moment. May you and I dare to believe that we are where we are meant to be when that moment comes, doing the work that is ours to do, fully present to our lives. For it is in this work that we learn to be brave.

mariannbudde.com
penguinrandomhouse.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Strength for My Path, by Maureen E. Wise

Christian, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

Strength for My Path

52 Devotions from the Hiking Trail

by Maureen E. Wise

BroadStreet, 2024. 176 pages.
Review written March 24, 2025, from my own copy, purchased via Amazon.com.
Starred Review

Full disclosure: Maureen Wise introduced herself to me online after finding my Sondermusings Substack and Sonderjourneys blog, saying we seem to have a lot of views in common. I love finding kindred spirits online! Then she offered to introduce me to her agent – and her agent enthusiastically read the full manuscript of my Psalms book and told me she enjoyed reading it but couldn’t represent me because it was too similar to a book by one of her existing clients, and it wouldn’t be fair to her. But anyway, I’m always interested in books by kindred spirits – so I’d already ordered myself a copy of this book, and yes, was predisposed to like it. But liking it is not at all a stretch.

It’s a book of devotions – so it’s an encouraging way to start your morning – and they all relate to hiking in some way. For example, “The Washed-Out Path” is about how Jesus is with us when our life feels in need of repair. “An Unexpected Storm on the Trail” encourages you to think about God’s perspective when your plans go awry. “What God Sees in Canal Paths” talks about how old abandoned canal paths have been turned into hiking trails – and God recognizes that we are valuable and worthy of care and protection. “Not Only the Destination But Also the Journey” has a rather obvious life application beyond enjoying your hike not just for the panoramic vista at the end.

Every devotion takes up two small pages, followed by a page with a prayer and a “Nature Connection” – Background facts about the topic of the day – and super interesting wide-ranging tidbits are included here.

I have to also give a shout-out to the book’s design. It’s got a soft and flexible suede-like cover, a ribbon bookmark attached, and a small trim size that makes you want to tuck it in a backpack and bring it on a hiking journey. I am a hiking dabbler – I love hiking, but prefer day trips so short that I can carry everything I need in my pockets. I do look for short hikes when I go on vacation, and this book got me wanting to hit the trail.

And of course the highlight is the devotions. I enjoyed this daily reminder to connect with nature – and to connect what I see in nature with God. To give you a taste, here’s a bit from the first devotion, “Jesus Valued Time in Nature”:

Follow Jesus’ lead and pray in wild places too. We don’t have to meet God only in set-aside places such as churches, Bible study meetings, Sunday school, and prayer rooms. While these places and times are sacred and important, we can connect with God anywhere. He is everywhere, after all. By intentionally choosing outdoor spaces to pray and be with God, we can also connect with creation and reflect on faith topics in a different way. Away from distractions and our human-made structures, immersed in the beauty of creation, we can find a deeper intimacy with the Creator.

And this book made me want to go out and do just that.

maureenwisebooks.com

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Review of Field Notes for the Wilderness, by Sarah Bessey

Christian, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 2

Field Notes for the Wilderness

Practices for an Evolving Faith

by Sarah Bessey

Convergent Books, 2024. 235 pages.
Review written February 11, 2025, from my own copy, purchased via Amazon.com
Starred Review

Field Notes for the Wilderness is for people whose faith is evolving. Perhaps you’ve grown up, like me, with certainty – faithful church attendance in evangelical churches, memorizing Scripture, singing in the choir, attending small group Bible studies. But something disrupts what you always knew as true.

[For me, it was a long process. I thought I could still attend my same church when I came to believe that the Bible teaches God will save everyone. Then I started believing that maybe LGBTQ people aren’t sinning… and my daughter came out as transgender (I’m still so very glad it was in that order). It wasn’t until my church decided to officially change their constitution to declare that LGBTQ people were sinning (so they could keep from renting out their new building for gay marriages, I think) – and the extreme lack of openness to discussion about it – that I finally realized I should look for a different church. And I was blessed that the first church I tried ended up being affirming, had a fabulous choir to join, and ended up being far more open to my theological ideas. But not everyone’s story progresses so happily.]

Here’s a section from the Introduction about why Sarah Bessey prefers the term “evolving faith” to “deconstruction”:

To me, an evolving faith is never simply about “deconstruction.” It has proven to be about the questions, the curiosity, and the ongoing reckoning of a robust, honest faith. An evolving faith brings the new ideas and ancient paths together. It’s about rebuilding and reimagining a faith that works not only for ourselves but for the whole messy, wide, beautiful world. For me, this has proven to be deeply centered in the Good News of Jesus. An evolving faith is sacramental, ecumenical, embodied, generous, spirit-filled, truthful, and rooted in the unconditional, never-ending love of God. It isn’t a linear experience of one and done and dusted. An evolving faith is a resilient and stubborn form of faithfulness that is well acquainted with the presence of God in our loneliest places and deepest questions. And an evolving faith has room for all the paths you may navigate after our time together in these pages.

Anyone who gets to the end of their life with the exact same beliefs and opinions they had at the beginning is doing it wrong. Because if we don’t change and evolve over our lifetime, then I have to wonder if we’re paying attention to the invitation of the Holy Spirit that is your life. Lisa Sharon Harper says that pilgrimage is about transformation. An evolving faith is a form of pilgrimage, and so yes, you are being transformed.

So you don’t have to be going through a crisis to enjoy this book, but if you are, I think it may help. The chapters are, essentially, about living a life of faith and walking on when things don’t necessarily go as planned. I haven’t particularly felt like I’m going through the Wilderness lately – and I still resonated with this book, marking more than a dozen passages for future Sonderquotes posts.

She talks about the “wilderness” as a place away from certainty and rules and only one way to do things. But being in that place helped her walk with Jesus, who promises rest for the weary.

The God I met in the wilderness reawakened me, recovered me, restored me to the Gospel of Love. This is the Gospel as I learned it at the feet of Jesus, hanging on to the hem of his humble garment. The width, length, height, and depth of God’s love is not fearful or restrictive or small or dull. It is a wide-open, sharp love that sets us free. It is a love that never steals, kills, or destroys us – it came that we might have life, and life that is more abundant. It is this love that brings us rest, that lifts burdens, that restores souls, that opens hearts, and changes lives.

And here’s why she calls the book a “Field Guide”:

This isn’t much of a rule book – rules rarely belong in the wilderness – but more of a field guide, a companion of sorts. Even theologically, I won’t have a lot of answers here for you; there are many good guides on the particulars of what you’re grappling with – from how church should or shouldn’t look to how to raise your kids, from rearranging your thoughts on sex to finding a new path for faith. I encourage you to honor your search for specifics; what I’m offering you is mostly companionship, the hope to help you adapt and survive in your journey even if it differs from my own.

If any of this sounds good to you, I recommend giving this book a try. I read it over a couple of weeks, and each time I dipped into it, I came away encouraged and uplifted in my own journey. Because fundamentally she communicates a belief that God is good, and God loves you and is walking with you.

sarahbessey.com

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Nonfiction/field_notes_for_the_wilderness.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Everything Belongs, by Richard Rohr

Christian, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

Everything Belongs

The Gift of Contemplative Prayer

by Richard Rohr

Crossroad, 2003. 186 pages.
Review written January 8, 2025, from my own copy, purchased via amazon.com
Starred Review

I always have trouble summing up Richard Rohr books. I’ve decided that’s because they’re written more for our heart than our head. Someone in my small group had suggested studying contemplative prayer with our next book. So when I saw this book existed, I bought myself a copy to preview it. Well, it isn’t a how-to guide to contemplative prayer, so I didn’t feel like it was exactly what we were looking for. This gives more of the why of contemplative prayer than the how.

And I’m more of a head person than a heart person! Though I would like to grow in that. So I’m not even sure how to pitch this book. It’s worth reading, and I marked out many quotations to post over on my Sonderquotes blog. Let me give a couple of them here, to give you the idea.

The following of Jesus is not a “salvation scheme” or a means of creating social order (which appears to be what most folks want religion for), as much as it is a vocation to share the fate of God for the life of the world. Jesus did not come to create a spiritual elite or an exclusionary system for people who “like” religion, but he invited people to “follow” him in bearing the mystery of human death and resurrection (an almost nonreligious task, but one that can be done only “through, with, and in” God.)

We should not be surprised or scandalized by the sinful and the tragic. Do what you can to be peace and to do justice, but never expect or demand perfection on this earth. It usually leads to a false moral outrage, a negative identity, intolerance, paranoia, and self-serving crusades against “the contaminating element,” instead of “becoming a new creation” ourselves (Gal. 6:15).

And here’s a part that shows where the title comes from:

Everything belongs; God uses everything. There are no dead-ends. There is no wasted energy. Everything is recycled. Sin history and salvation history are two sides of one coin. I believe with all my heart that the Gospel is all about the mystery of forgiveness. When you “get” forgiveness, you get it. We use the phrase “falling in love.” I think forgiveness is almost the same thing. It’s a mystery we fall into: the mystery is God. God forgives all things for being imperfect, broken, and poor. Not only Jesus but all the great people who pray that I have met in my life say the same thing. That’s the conclusion they come to. The people who know God well – the mystics, the hermits, those who risk everything to find God – always meet a lover, not a dictator. God is never found to be an abusive father or a tyrannical mother, but always a lover who is more than we dared hope for. How different than the “account manager” that most people seem to worship.

So I always recommend Richard Rohr. But pick up this book if you’re ready for some meditative writing that is not about thinking, but that will nevertheless challenge your thinking and will uplift your heart.

cac.org

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Nonfiction/everything_belongs.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?