Living the Questions: Making Sense of the Mess and Mystery of Life  by Carolyn Arends

Paperback - 240 pages (July 2000)

Living the Questions: Making Sense of the Mess and Mystery of Life

Carolyn Arends, whose music has been acclaimed for its artistry and lyrical power, offers us a very special glimpse into "the cruel, short, beautiful, long adventure that is this life." In her humorous, tender, and passionate collection of personal stories, Carolyn examines many of the struggles we face in the light of her heartfelt belief that God guides each of us safely through the mess and mystery of life. Living the Questions, while resisting easy solutions, suggests that our questions themselves tell us much about a final Answer almost too wonderful to be imagined.

Reviews

"I dare to hope that you will recognize a bit of your own journey in these stories. And with a preposterous optimism I've come to recognize as faith, I pray that something here will draw you deeper in to the Mystery of a God who far surpasses our understanding and yet -- I believe -- stoops to dwell among us in love."   - Carolyn Arends                    

"As Carolyn gives voice to our unspoken questions, we feel as if we finally have a chance to lay it all out on the table, an opportunity for a hearing of our deepest concerns, and a safe vent to air our troublesome thoughts. But she doesn't leave us pondering, scratching our heads and puzzling over divine mysteries. By assuming the Almighty is big enough for our questions, Carolyn enlarges our view of the God who may not always choose to answer in a manner we consider timely, but who still send us dazzling red rocks red rocks in our dullest wilderness days. Provocative, stirring, emotional, and true, Living the Questions leads us to the place where hard truths and holy secrets intersect." Lorilee Craker, journalist/author 

Messy Spirituality
by Mike Yaconelli
Paperback: 151 pages (February  1998)

Messy Spirituality

Book Description
"I Guess I’m Not a Very Good Christian . . ."

Do you feel like:
I don’t pray enough
I don’t read my Bible enough
I don’t share my faith enough
I don’t love God enough
I’m not committed enough
I’m not spiritual enough

Then this book is for you. Messy Spiritualtiy was written for the silent majority of us who have been convinced that we just don’t do Christianity right. We spend most of our lives worried about what we don’t do instead of what we have done, focused on our imperfections instead of God’s fondness for the imperfect. Why? Because we’ve been bombarded with books, tapes, talks, seminars, and movies convincing us that real Christianity is all about perfection.

Michael Yaconelli dares to suggest that imperfection, unfinishedness, and messiness are, in fact, the earmarks of true Christianity; that real Christianity is messy, erratic, lopsided . . . and gloriously liberating.

What if genuine faith begins with admitting we will never have our act completely together? Maybe messy disciples are exactly the kind of imperfect people Jesus came to earth for and whose company he actually enjoyed--and still enjoys. If you want to find Jesus today, look for him in the midst of burned-out believers, moral misfits, religious incompetents . . . men and women whose lives are, well, messy.

Messy Spirituality is a strong antidote for the spiritual perfectionism in us all. Here are truths that can cut you loose from the tyranny of ought-to’s and open your eyes to the deep spirituality of being loved, shortcomings and all, by the God who meets you and transforms you in the midst of a messy and unpredictable life.

Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Yaconelli has an annoying habit of speaking the truth. As an author, he changed the face of youth ministry over the past three decades with his honest approach to the challenges of today's youth. As former editor of The Wittenberg Door (now simply The Door), he and his staff humorously challenged what they saw as the church's many hypocrisies and inconsistencies. Here, Yaconelli explores the perfectionism that plagues so many in the church, an examination that is both challenging and deeply personal. He does an excellent job of naming some of the unspoken assumptions in today's church context, arguing, for example, that the church "has communicated that competence is one of the fruits of the Spirit." But even more effective are his vivid stories, where he gives blood and flesh to the idea of grace lost and found again in the church. The power of these stories makes the book reminiscent of Philip Yancey's What's So Amazing About Grace?, but Yaconelli's stories are more personal, many coming from his own congregation. His honest reflections on his own frustrations and deep feelings of inadequacy are unusual for a book about Christian spirituality. While he seeks to connect with and help Christians who feel secretly ashamed about their lack of discipleship, he may lose some readers who feel uncomfortable with such levels of honesty. Those who persevere will discover a wonderful treasure.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

A Scandalous Freedom

Christians do not trust freedom. As author Steve Brown explains in this brave new book, they prefer the security of rules and self-imposed boundaries, which they tend to inflict on other Christians. Brown asserts that real freedom means the freedom to be wrong as well as right. Christianity often calls us to live beyond the boundaries, bolstered by the assurance that we cannot fall beyond God's love. Freedom is dangerous, but the alternative is worse—boxing ourselves up where we cannot celebrate our unique gifts and express our joy in Christ. Each of the book's eleven chapters explores a common pharisaic, freedom-stifling tendency, then opens the door to the fresh air of a remedial liberty. A reader's delight, A Scandalous Freedom sometimes shocks with challenges to prevailing wisdom, but it follows up with compelling validations of our need to celebrate real, unstinted freedom in Christ.   Howard Publishing

From Publishers Weekly : The best radio-show hosts speak not to a group of people but to individuals—listeners feel the show is just for them. Brown (Born Free), a Presbyterian seminary professor, former pastor and host of the Key Life radio program, uses that approach to fine effect as he encourages Christians to celebrate their absolute freedom. Conversational, lighthearted and full of funny lines (and a few urban legends presented as fact), Brown's writing nevertheless conveys deep truth: believers too often stagger beneath a burden of behavior forced on them by other Christians, a standard that God does not require. "I fear too often the church has become an organization of guilty people with a guilty preacher standing in the pulpit, telling guilty people that they should feel guiltier," he writes. The oppressed and their oppressors miss the power of authenticity, especially the freedom to fail, the joy of God's complete forgiveness and the boldness it brings. God's liberty also lets Christians embrace those with whom they disagree. Brown illustrates the point in one of his best anecdotes, recalling his relationship with Tony Campolo. Brown's honesty about his own failings drives his points home. This book has the power to help Christian believers who have been struggling to march in a straight line to leap up and dance. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Son of a Preacher Man by Jay Bakker

Paperback - 

256 pages (January 9, 2001)

Son of a Preacher Man

My Search For Grace in the Shadows

When Jim Bakker was convicted in 1989 of defrauding followers of his PTL (Praise The Lord) ministry of $158 million, Jay Bakker lost everything. With his father in prison, his family shattered by divorce, and his name forever linked to a national scandal, Jay's already bizarre life came completely unglued. Here is the story—a parable of striking import—of a young boy whose life was almost destroyed by televangelist excess and greed.

In his new street ministry, Revolution, Jay has found a unique way of preaching the gospel that is tailored to those most like him, the tattooed and pierced youth of downtown Atlanta. By advocating God's love for everyone, regardless of past sins, Jay found his path back to the faith—and picked up a large and growing following along the way. This is a hard-hitting account of finding grace in the shadows of the Right, where men like Jerry Falwell and Oral Roberts turned their backs on the Bakkers even while advocating forgiveness and redemption.

 Reviews

Haunted by a traumatic childhood during which his parents rose to become the darlings of Christian television, then crashed, defrocked and hounded by the media, his father jailed, Jay Bakker, son of Jim and Tammy Faye, spent his adolescence searching both for answers to why this had happened to his family and for a reason to keep believing in God. In this autobiographical account of those turbulent years, Jay lays bare the fears and addictions that led to his loss of self. He turned to alcohol as a means of escape from the reality of his family's experience and his father's situation. Jay believed that his father had never done anything criminal, and he could not believe the treatment that Bakker was receiving from the Christian right, most of whom had been his staunchest supporters. Alcohol provided Jay with a temporary reprieve. When partying with his friends, he was able to push away all the anger and fear for a time, and he lost years drowning his uncertainty. What distressed Jay most was his belief that God had abandoned him and that he was unworthy of God's love. Through caring friends and mentors both in and out of the church, Jay's struggles with his faith finally subsided, and he came to understand the healing power of grace.  VOYA  Reviewer: Leslie Carter 

Traveling Mercies

by Anne Lamott  Paperback - 288 pages (February  2000)

Traveling Mercies

 Anne Lamott claims the two best prayers she knows are: "Help me, help me, help me" and "Thank you, thank you, thank you." She has a friend whose morning prayer each day is "Whatever," and whose evening prayer is "Oh, well." Anne thinks of Jesus as "Casper the friendly savior" and describes God as "one crafty mother."

Despite--or because of--her irreverence, faith is a natural subject for Anne Lamott. Since Operating Instructions and Bird by Bird, her fans have been waiting for her to write the book that explained how she came to the big-hearted, grateful, generous faith that she so often alluded to in her two earlier nonfiction books. The people in Anne Lamott's real life are like beloved characters in a favorite series for her readers--her friend Pammy, her son, Sam, and the many funny and wise folks who attend her church are all familiar. And Traveling Mercies is a welcome return to those lives, as well as an introduction to new companions Lamott treats with the same candor, insight, and tenderness.

Lamott's faith isn't about easy answers, which is part of what endears her to believers as well as nonbelievers. Against all odds, she came to believe in God and then, even more miraculously, in herself. As she puts it, "My coming to faith did not start with a leap but rather a series of staggers." At once tough, personal, affectionate, wise, and very funny, Traveling Mercies tells in exuberant detail how Anne Lamott learned to shine the light of faith on the darkest part of ordinary life, exposing surprising pockets of meaning and hope.

Reviews

"Even at her most serious, she never takes herself or her spirituality too seriously. Lamott is a narrator who has relished and soaked up the details of her existence, equally of mirth and devastation, spirit and grief, and spilled them onto her pages." --The New York Times Book Review

"Life-affirming...Lamott fills her text with remarkable detail and a refreshing sense of humanity that has you guffawing on one page and bawling on the next." --People

"You'll love Traveling Mercies for Lamott's unblinking confrontation with God's love, and you'll buy copies for all your friends struggling with faith." --USA Today

"Exuberant and captivating.... shifts from laugh-out-loud wisecracks to heart-wrenching poignancy. At one point she seems a reincarnation of Erma Bombeck; at others, she could be Annie Dillard or Kathleen Norris." --Chicago Tribune

"Applies passion, wisdom, and intensity to a scorchingly personal look at the road from spiritual apathy to ardent belief.... Traveling Mercies, like Ms. Lamott herself, is a consistent delight." --Dallas Morning News

"Lamott has developed an entirely new genre of religious writing. Gritty, stark, and humorous, she catches the reader by surprise when she points her pen heavenward.... Anne Lamott [is] the patron saint of struggling sinners, a woman who loves God enough to be divinely human."--Religion News Service

Wisdom Hunter

Reviews

 This re-release of the best-selling novel Wisdom Hunter-with more than 100,000 copies already sold-is a novel about the hypocrisy of Christian legalism and a man's search for the only surviving member of his family. It's based on author Randall Arthur's own difficult experiences. The story's hero, Pastor Jason Faircloth, embarks on a journey that lasts eighteen years and takes him through four countries during his quest to find the granddaughter who is being hidden from him. In a process that mirrors our own spiritual journey, he discovers a rich relationship with God and the peace that finally comes with true faith. Amazon.com