From Anger To Zion

Zion is too old to be in pull-ups and hates it when teased by his brothers, but because of his pride, refuse to be told to use the bathroom. He simply will not, as he sees it, take orders from anybody because nobody tells him what to do! His dilemma is he wants to be able to spend the night with his grandmother like his older brothers, but not until he's potty-trained. So he struggles with swallowing his pride and humbling himself to being potty trained in order to become a big boy. He finally gives in to the solution to his struggle recognizing his self-esteem is dependent on him being potty trained. That's when he becomes a big boy!

Anger, judgment, forgiveness, wisdom. All of these and more are biblical words we've used so often that they have very little meaning for us anymore. For others--seekers and those who are coming to church for the first time--these words sound like jargon. They are words that divide new church members from those who have been there a lifetime. In From Anger to Zion, Porter Taylor reflects on an alphabet of biblical words in ways that will help newcomers understand and speak the language, and that will encourage those familiar with these words to rethink them. A wonderful storyteller and writer, Taylor's essays, each based on a biblical text, take ancient words and ideas and bring them into contemporary life. Egypt of old is today's broken place in our lives—the place where, like Moses, God is most likely to call us to go. Forgiveness is explored as a way of unfreezing time; without forgiveness we cannot grow. What does Isaiah's and the Israelites’ homesickness have to do with today's homeless and lost people? These beautifully written essays are wonderful devotional material, but they also can serve as material for preparing to preach or for small-group discussion within parish reading groups.