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Last Sunday, Pastor Alison kicked off a new sermon series titled "Practicing 'the Way' of Love." More than being known for their beliefs, early Christians were known for their radically inclusive practices — practices that transformed their inner lives and also shaped how they showed up in the world. As a result, early followers of Jesus were often called “people of the Way” or people practicing “the Way.” This Way that they were referring to was the Way of Jesus — the Way of Unconditional Love. During this sermon series we are exploring together what it might look like for us to embrace the Way of Love in our lives today. How might Christian practices, broadly defined, help us to more fully experience and embody unconditional Agape love? During her sermon, Alison shared quotes from two books that may be helpful resources for you: A People's History of Christianity and Searching for Sunday. You can find information about them below and copies are available to borrow from the River's Lending Library! A People's History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story About the book: For too long, the history of Christianity has been told as the triumph of orthodox doctrine imposed through power. Now, historian Diana Butler Bass sheds new light on the surprising ways that many Christians have refused to conform to a rigid church hierarchy and sought to recapture the radical implications of Jesus's life and message. About the author: Diana Butler Bass (Ph.D., Duke) is an award-winning author of eleven books, popular speaker, inspiring preacher, and one of America's most trusted commentators on religion and contemporary spirituality, especially where faith intersects with politics and culture. Her bylines include The New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN.com, Atlantic.com, USA Today, Huffington Post, Christian Century, and Sojourners. She has commented in the media widely including on CBS, CNN, PBS, NPR, CBC, FOX, Sirius XM, TIME, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Mother Jones, and in multiple global news outlets. Her website is dianabutlerbass.com and she can be followed on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. She writes a twice-weekly newsletter --The Cottage -- which can be found on Substack.
Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church About the book: Like millions of her millennial peers, Rachel Held Evans didn't want to go to church anymore. The hypocrisy, the politics, the gargantuan building budgets, the scandals—to her, it was beginning to feel like church culture was too far removed from Jesus. Yet, despite her cynicism and misgivings, something kept drawing Evans back to church. Evans found herself wanting to better understand the church and find her place within it, so she set out on a new adventure. Within the pages of Searching for Sunday, Evans catalogs her journey as she loves, leaves, and finds the church once again. Evans tells the story of her faith through the lens of seven sacraments of the Catholic church—baptism, confession, holy orders, communion, confirmation, the anointing of the sick, and marriage—to teach us the essential truths about what she's learned along the way, including:
About the author: Rachel Held Evans (1981–2019) was the New York Times bestselling author of Inspired, Searching for Sunday, A Year of Biblical Womanhood, and Faith Unraveled. Rachel’s words about faith, doubt, and life were featured not only on her own blog but also in numerous publications, including the Washington Post, The Guardian, and the Huffington Post. She appeared on NPR, BBC, the Today show, and The View. She served on President Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. She lived with her husband and two children in Dayton, Tennessee.
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