Soul Food Book Discussion Group Suggested Readings for 2020-2021

Read the descriptions below of potential book choices for September and beyond. Then, vote on your choices, once you’ve narrowed down the books you’d most like to read. Here’s how it works: You each have 10 votes to distribute among the books you would like to see on our list. For instance, you might give all 10 votes to the one book you’re most hoping to discuss. Or give one vote to 10 books that look interesting, or five votes for one book, and one vote each to five others. Or whatever; distribute the 10 votes as you see fit across the titles. Contact Pastor Lois with any questions.

The Book of Longings (a novel), by Sue Monk Kidd. 2020, 432 pages. Sue Monk Kidd takes an audacious approach to history and brings her acclaimed narrative gifts to imagine the story of a young woman named Ana. Raised in a wealthy family with ties to the ruler of Galilee, she is rebellious and ambitious, with a brilliant mind and a daring spirit. She engages in furtive scholarly pursuits and writes narratives about neglected and silenced women. Ana is expected to marry an older widower, a prospect that horrifies her. An encounter with eighteen-year-old Jesus changes everything. Their marriage evolves with love and conflict, humor and pathos in Nazareth, where Ana makes a home with Jesus, his brothers, and their mother, Mary. Grounded in meticulous research and written with a reverential approach to Jesus's life that focuses on his humanity, The Book of Longings is an inspiring, unforgettable account of one woman's bold struggle to realize the passion and potential inside her, while living in a time, place and culture devised to silence her.

The Enneagram of Belonging: A Compassionate Journey of Self-Acceptance by Chris Heuertz. 2020, 228 pages. While most contemporary Enneagram books stop at the descriptions of the nine types, Enneagram teacher and The Sacred Enneagram bestselling author Chris Heuertz uncovers the missing link in our journey of living into our true self: radical self-compassion that can bring us back to belonging. Rather than get stuck on stereotypes or curated personality, Heuertz proposes we develop an honest relationship with our type, confronting our "inner dragons," practicing self-compassion, and thereby coming to fully belong to ourselves--and, ultimately, to love itself.

Faith Unraveled: How a Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask Questions, by Rachel Held Evans, 2014, 238 pages. Eighty years after the Scopes Monkey Trial made a spectacle of Christian fundamentalism and brought national attention to her hometown, Rachel Held Evans faced a trial of her own when she began to have doubts about her faith. In order for her faith to survive, Rachel realizes, it must adapt to change and evolve. Using as an illustration her own spiritual journey from certainty to doubt to faith, Evans challenges you to disentangle your faith from false fundamentals and to trust in a God who is big enough to handle your tough questions.

A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today, by Bonnie Kristian. 2018, 272 pages. It is all too easy to fail to grasp the diversity of the Christian faith-especially for those who have grown up in one branch of the church and never explored another. We fail to realize how many ways there are to follow Jesus, convinced that our own tradition is the one Christian alternative to nonbelief. A Flexible Faith is written for the convinced and confused believer alike. It is a readable exploration of the lively theological diversity that stretches back through church history and across the spectrum of Christianity today. Bonnie Kristian shows that a vibrant diversity within Christian orthodoxy--which is simply to say a range of different ways to faithfully follow Jesus--is a strength of our faith, not a weakness.

Footprints in the Dust: Nursing, Survival, Compassion, and Hope with Refugees Around the World, by Roberta Gately. 2018, 352 pages. Roberta Gately is a nurse and humanitarian aid worker who has served in war zones ranging from Africa to Afghanistan aiding refugees. Just the word refugee sparks conversation and fuel emotion. There are more than twenty-two million refugees worldwide and another sixty-five million who have been forcibly displaced. But who are these people? Images filter into our consciousness via dramatic photographs—but these photos only offer a glimpse into their stories. Footprints in the Dust aims to share the real stories of refugees around the world in hopes of revealing the truth about their experience. Footprints in the Dust reveals the humanity behind the headlines, beginning where the newscasters end their reports. The people we meet within this riveting book are neither all saints nor all sinners—and impossible to forget.

How to be Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi, 2019, 320 pages. Antiracism is a transformative concept that reorients and reenergizes the conversation about racism—and, even more fundamentally, points us toward liberating new ways of thinking about ourselves and each other. In How to Be an Antiracist, Kendi takes readers through a widening circle of antiracist ideas—from the most basic concepts to visionary possibilities—that will help readers see all forms of racism clearly, understand their poisonous consequences, and work to oppose them in our systems and in ourselves. Kendi weaves an electrifying combination of ethics, history, law, and science with his own personal story of awakening to antiracism. This is an essential work for anyone who wants to go beyond the awareness of racism to the next step: contributing to the formation of a just and equitable society.

I and Thou, by Martin Buber. 1937, 192 pages. I and Thou, perhaps Buber's most famous work, was first published in 1923, and translated to English in 1937. Buber's main proposition is that we may address existence in two ways: [1] that of the "I" towards an "It", towards an object that is separate in itself, which we either use or experience; [2] that of the 'I' towards 'Thou', in which we move into existence in a relationship without bounds. One of the major themes of the book is that human life finds its meaningfulness in relationships. All of our relationships, Buber contends, bring us ultimately into relationship with God, who is the Eternal Thou.

Mere Christianity, by C. S. Lewis. 1952, 227 pages. One of the 20th century's most influential Christian writers, C.S. Lewis sought to explain and defend the beliefs that nearly all Christians at

2 all times hold in common. His simple yet deeply profound classic, originally delivered as a series of radio broadcasts, is a book to be thoroughly digested by believers and generously shared with skeptics.

More Beautiful Than Before - How Suffering Can Be Transformational, by Steven Leder. 2017, 224 pages. Rabbi Leder guides us through pain’s stages of surviving, healing, and growing to help us all find meaning in our suffering. Drawing on his experience as a spiritual leader, the wisdom of ancient traditions, modern science, and stories from his own life and others’, he shows us that when we must endure, we can, and that there is a path for each of us that leads from pain to wisdom."

Mudhouse Sabbath: An Invitation to a Life of Spiritual Discipline, by Lauren F. Winner. 2007, 164 pages. After her conversion from Orthodox Judaism to Christianity, Lauren Winner found that her life was indelibly marked by the rich traditions and spiritual practices of Judaism. She set out to discover how she could incorporate some of these practices into her new faith. Winner presents eleven Jewish spiritual practices that can transform the way Christians view the world and God. Whether discussing attentive eating, marking the days while grieving, the community that supports a marriage, candle-lighting, or the differences between the Jewish Sabbath and a Sunday spent at the Mudhouse, her favorite coffee shop, Winner writes with appealing honesty and rare insight.

One Coin Found: How God’s Love Stretches to the Margins, by Emmy Kegler. 2019, 200 pages. Kegler is the pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Northeast Minneapolis. As a queer woman who grew up in the church, she knows too well how Scripture can be used to wound and exclude. Yet, the stories of Scripture continued to captivate her. So she set out to fall in love with the Bible, wrestling with the stories inside. Kegler shows us that even when we feel like lost and dusty coins, God picks up a broom and sweeps every corner of creation to find us. a peace of my mind: American Stories, Exploring the Meaning of Peace One Story at a Time, by John Noltner. 2016, 144 pages. This inspiring collection is the result of photographer John Noltner's 40,000-mile journey across our country, asking the simple question, "What does peace mean to you?" 58 people from diverse backgrounds share stories of hope, redemption, and forgiveness, paired with compelling color portraits and a foreword by Terri Lee Freeman, president of the National Civil Rights Museum. The book is designed to encourage thoughtful dialog. (Not to be confused with the 2011 book, which was a similar format.)

Renew Your Life: Discovering the Wellspring of God's Energy by Kai Mark Nilsen. 2015, 160 pages. "I was dying from the inside out and could envision nothing life giving, nothing energizing, nothing vital happening in my life. Ever. Again." Many of us can identify with Pastor Kai Nilsen in this place of exhaustion and long to find a source of refreshment. This book shows us the way to the wellspring of the Holy Spirit. If you are ready for renewal, then the life-giving spiritual practices in this book will point the way.

The Sacred Enneagram: Finding Your Unique Path to Spiritual Growth by Chris Heuertz . 2017, 272 pages. Most of us spend a lifetime trying to figure out who we are and how we relate to others and God. The Enneagram is here to help. Heuertz describes the Enneagram as a sacred map to the soul. Lies about who we think we are keep us trapped in loops of self-defeat. But the Enneagram reveals both the nine ways we get lost, as well as the nine ways we find our way home to our True Self and to God.

Sparrow: A Book of Life and Death and Life, by Jan Richardson. 2020, 286 pages. "Who am I, when the person who saw and knew me best in all the world is gone from this world?" Jan Richardson's question lies at the heart of Sparrow, a book that began as notes written to her husband, the singer/songwriter Garrison Doles, while keeping vigil for him in the hospital after a disastrous surgery just a few years into their marriage. Six months after Garrison's death, Jan returned to those notes and began to write again. The pages grew into an unexpected conversation as she worked to make a new life. Here, Jan invites us into that conversation. She resists simple answers for deepest sorrow, entering instead into the raw complexities of grief, which she calls "the least linear thing I know." In Jan's distinctive spare and elegant style, Sparrow traces a path through the first few years after her loss, articulating not only the ache of grief but also the strange graces and stubborn hope that live within its landscape.

Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis, by Lauren F. Winner. 2013, 256 pages. When painful life situations slam her into a wall of doubt, it lays bare her experience of what she calls the "middle stage" of the spiritual life. In elegant and spare prose, she explores why—in the midst of the overwhelming anxiety, loneliness, and boredom of her deepest questioning about where (or if) God is—the Christian story still explains her better than any other story she's ever known and how she arrived at a deeper and better place. Still is an absorbing meditation combining literary grace with spiritual wisdom. It is sure to provide comfort and hope to all spiritual travelers.

This Is God’s Table: Finding Church Beyond the Walls, by Anna Woofenden. 2020, 272 pages. This is the story of an audacious journey. It’s the story of what happens when people garden, worship, and eat together—and invite anyone and everyone to join them. In This Is God’s Table, writer and pastor Anna Woofenden describes the way that the wealthy and the poor, the aged and the young, the housed and unhoused become a community in this once-empty lot. Together they plant and sustain a thriving urban farm, worship God, and share a weekly meal. Together they craft a shared life and a place of authenticity where all are welcome. Readers of Nadia Bolz-Weber, Sara Miles, and Diana Butler Bass will find here a kindred vision for a church without walls.

Wearing God: Clothing, Laughter, Fire, and Other Overlooked Ways of Meeting God, by Lauren F. Winner. 2015, 304 pages. An exploration of little known biblical metaphors for God which can open new doorways for lives and spiritualities. She uses some of the lesser known tropes reflecting on how they work biblically and culturally and reveals how they can deepen our spiritual lives. (Soul Food read this book in 2015.)

When the Heart Is Stirred: The Transforming Power of Silence, by Ruth Halvorson. 2020, 165 pages. This is the story of how the author and her community built a place where silence was sacred: the ARC Retreat Center near Cambridge, Minnesota. Over the next four decades, this lodge in the woods would transform thousands of lives and become the hub of personal and community change. The author is a co-founder of the ARC, so she is uniquely qualified to tell the story of the inspiration and challenges of its creation. She admits, “Living in community stretched my capacities to understand, love, forgive, and grow. Caring for relationships pushed the limits of my inner resources and humbled my ego.” Ruth shows readers that it is never too late to follow your heart and do something risky, even a bit wild. With grace and honesty, she says the challenge is to listen to the still, small voice within and pay attention to the stirrings of the heart.

White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, by Robin DiAngelo and Michael Eric Dyson. 2018, 192 pages. Dyson and Robin DiAngelo deftly illuminate the phenomenon of white fragility and “allows us to understand racism as a practice not restricted to ‘bad people’ (Claudia Rankine). Referring to the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially, white fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and by behaviors including argumentation and silence. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue. In this in- depth exploration, the authors examine how white fragility develops, how it protects racial inequality, and what we can do to engage more constructively.