Jesus Freak: Feeding, Healing, and Raising the Dead
By Sara Miles

OK. I admit it. I'm a Sara Miles groupie. Even more than that - I. Am. A. Jesus. Freak. There. Happy?

From her years of experience as a journalist, a cook, a Food Pantry organizer, and now a minister (in the truest sense of the word) of hope and healing, Sara Miles captures the heart of the Christian faith in her newest book. Continuing with the brilliance of Take this Bread, Sara makes her readers aware of God's presence in all that surrounds us. Indeed, for Sara, and for many others, this presence is best described through the concept of the Incarnation - that God was made real in the body of a very real person: Jesus of Nazareth. Such embodiedness didn't die on a cross on a hill above Jerusalem, though. It lives on through the very bodies we have here on earth. "Every single thing the resurrected Jesus does on earth," says Miles, "he does through our bodies."

Through the stories Miles shares with her readers, we come to a different perspective on ancient Christian understandings of healing, serving the poor, and bringing liberation to the oppressed. Miles gets past the niceties of liberal Christianity ("I've embarrassed them by talking about Jesus too much. As if he were real."), and gets gritty: Death does not have the final answer. For those of us who follow the Christian practice of Lent, there can be no better reminder that Sunday's coming.



Heard about it from: Cokesbury

You can purchase it at: http://www.cokesbury.com/forms/ProductDetail.aspx?pid=830057

Book Two: This Odd and Wondrous Calling

This Odd and Wondrous Calling: The Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers
By Lillian Daniel and Martin Copenhaver

Throughout the course of a day, I often hear clergy and religious professionals say, "That's something they didn't teach you in Seminary." Indeed, one of the things they never teach us is how to successfully navigate the demands of your very public role with the needs of your personal life. Through a series of essays, Lillian Daniel and Martin Copenhaver share glimpses of their own varied, yet somewhat universal, experiences in ministry. Chapters on praying, shaking hands, hospital visitations, associate ministry, and advocacy ground the discussion surrounding public ministry; discussions about PKs (preacher's kids), being married to the pastor (or being married to a pagan), and what happens when your child is in the hospital during Holy Week open readers to the very human lives of spiritual leaders. I've read many "spiritual autobiographies" (readers please note: you'll get to read reviews on many others over the course of this year), but never have I read one that made me think "I wish this was required reading in Seminary."

Perhaps Copenhaver's commentary on why he remains in ministry when so many of his colleagues have left the Church resonates the most with me: "(T)he affirmation that God can be found outside the church has never seemed like much of a claim. The true wonder is that God can be found inside the church, among quirky, flawed, and broken people who have little in common and yet are bound to one another...If we can practice the art of reconciliation long enough with one another in church, then we have a chance to let reconciliation mark our relationships with others outside the church as well. The church, like family, is the place where we learn to live with people we are stuck with. And when we stick together, it is a living reminder of the God who is stuck with us all." As one who wanders on the margin of the institutional Church, I can think of no better reminder of why I continue to believe in God and the mission of the Church.

Heard about it from: Cokesbury

You can purchase it at: http://www.cokesbury.com/forms/ProductDetail.aspx?pid=807040

Book One: Tinsel

Tinsel: A Search for America's Christmas Present
By Hank Stuever

One October Hank Stuever left Washington, DC and headed to the northern suburbs of Fort Worth and Dallas, Texas. What ensues is his experience of middle America's approach to the every important holiday: Christmas. In following the seasonal traditions of three families, Stuever learns about the intersection of faith, family, and the economy. His insights on decor, evangelical faith, and geo-economics of strip malls combine for an engagingly honest look at life in Frisco, Texas. He may have been an outsider looking in, but by the end he discovered a least common denominator that links us all together at Christmas: our own humanity.

Heard about it from: Mary Kay Totty

You can purchase it at: http://www.politics-prose.com/book/9780547134659