Walter Wangerin Jr. Zondervan, 176 pages Walter Wangerin is well-known for his collections of stories, including the award-winning “The Book of the Dun Cow” and “Ragman.” For many years he served as an inner-city pastor and from that experience many of his stories arose. Readers familiar with those stories will recognize his particular voice and vision in this new collection. The stories are drawn from ordinary experiences with his family and others. Yet in these events, the light of God’s grace is revealed. This is Wangerin’s gift: simple stories that point to the extraordinary presence of God. The result is a heightened anticipation of God in world. Where will grace next be revealed? These stories cause you to enter that search and ask that question. They are divided into nine sections of two stories each; taken together they comprise a theological compendium of grace revealed in ordinary life. The cynic might describe the stories as too simple and predictable, bordering on … [Read more...]

Gregory C. Ellison II Westminster John Knox Press, 160 pages Reviewed by Angela Williams “Baby, I don’t know how to change the world, but I can change the three feet around me.” These words from Gregory Ellison’s Aunt Dotty inspire the root of a new movement for justice: “Fearless Dialogues.” Weaving poetry, prose and theory, Ellison introduces a powerful new approach to having difficult conversations with people from all walks of life. Such a “fearless dialogue” does not mean a conversation without fear. Instead fear + less is defined as a compound word that names the fears that come with having difficult dialogues in hopes of lessening the impact of those fears. Approaching unlikely partners from this place of humility creates space for radical relational change. More intriguing than a basic facilitator’s guide, this book invites the reader to join the dialogue and creates a full-body experience with each turn of the page. This blend of art and science seeks to overcome the … [Read more...]

Anne Lamott Riverhead Books, 190 pages To put it mildly, mercy is in short supply these days. Children flee their homes with no place to go and wash up on shores. Some are shocked, others are too busy to notice and there are those who scoff at pleas for compassion. Mercy is a venerable word and a practice embedded in the Bible. But it seems to have been forgotten in these days of white-hot politics and violent attacks. Fortunately, Anne Lamott is rediscovering mercy. This collection of essays may be her finest. Without wavering from her search to find mercy, she tells stories, filled with her characteristic honest wit, that illuminate the clues of its presence. They amount to an invitation — a hopeful summons to pay close attention to acts of mercy. Lamott has taken seriously the prophet Micah whose words became for her a new call. What might it mean to love mercy? She goes in search of that question and the result is this book. She writes: “The world keeps going on. You can … [Read more...]