Practice Resurrection

There is no question that bringing men and women to new birth in Christ is essential. But, argues Eugene Peterson, isn t it obvious that growth in Christ is equally essential? Yet the American church does not treat Christian growth and character formation with equivalent urgency. We are generally uneasy with the quiet, obscure conditions in which growth takes place. Building maturity in Christ is too often relegated to footnote status in the text of our lives. / In Practice Resurrection Peterson brings the voice of Scripture especially Paul s letter to the Ephesians and the voice of the contemporary Christian congregation together in understanding what is involved in the practice of becoming mature growing up to the stature of Christ.

The author of the highly praised memoir Things Seen and Unseen now bears witness to the way death yields new life as she searches for direction in the wake of her brother's death. “Honest and human and surprisingly humorous in its clarity of vision.” —The Washington Post Book Review In her memoir Things Seen and Unseen, Nora Gallagher reflected on a year of spiritual renewal and the fact of mortality with uncommon wisdom and grace. We rejoin her in Practicing Resurrection. A desire to reclaim her own “wild life” and a sense of the sacred in the world compels her to assess everything: her marriage, her writing career, and her commitment to parish life. A profound testimony to the urgency of living with meaning, to the natural world’s solace and sacredness and a beautiful and often harrowing account of the search for vocation. Gallagher

Though bringing people to new birth in Christ through evangelism is essential, says Peterson, isn't it obvious that growth in Christ is equally essential? Yet the American church does not treat Christian growth and character formation with equivalent urgency. We are generally uneasy with the quiet, obscure conditions in which growth takes place, and building maturity in Christ too often gets relegated to footnote status in the text of our lives. In Practice Resurrection Peterson brings the voice of Scripture -- especially Paul's letter to the Ephesians -- and the voice of the contemporary Christian congregation together to unpack what it means to fully grow up "to the stature of Christ." Peterson's robust discussion will move readers to restore transformed Christian character to the center of their lives. This helpful study guide is designed to enable small groups in schools or churches -- or even individuals -- to delve deeper into the timely wisdom of Practice Resurrection: A Conversation on Growing Up in Christ. Peter Santucci here breaks up Peterson's book into thirteen "sessions," each of which contains a summary, select quotes to consider, questions for interaction, and a prayer drawn from the text of Ephesians that is covered in the corresponding book chapter.

Wendell Baerry has become ''mad'' at contemporary society. Gleaned from various collections of this amazing American voice, the poems take the shape of manifestos, insults, and Whitmanic ravings that are often funny in spite of themselves. The whole is a wonderful testimony to the power of humor to bring even the most terrible consequences into an otherwise unobtainable focus.

"Erik Reece is obviously a writer to be reckoned with."—Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature In Erik Reece's stunning collection of essays, ideas are the main characters. Written over a period of ten years, and revealing Reece's continued obsession with religion, family, and the natural world, in many ways these essays represent a sequel to his stirring memoir, An American Gospel. In that book, Reece intimitately describes his conflicted relationship with Christianity in the context of the death of his father, and Reece's own journey since then to find meaning and balance in the material and spiritual worlds. Practice Resurrection continues that exploration through essays that take the reader to Norway, New England, London, the Adirondacks, Appalachia, and back to Reece's native Kentucky River. "With his singular wit and pith, environmental writer Reece explores issues such as God, Christianity, the environment (of course), and his father's suicide in essays rife with sentient turns of phrase and exceptionally insightful passages . . . Few are better than [Reece] is at discussing a personal crisis of faith." —Booklist (starred review)

"Gracefully written and moving ... Things Seen and Unseen starts with Nora Gallagher entering the labyrinth of her life ... and ultimately it leads to the center of her being."--The Boston Globe It started with an occasional Sunday, a "tourist's" visit to a local church. Eventually Nora Gallagher entered into a yearlong journey to discover her faith and a relationship with God, using the Christian calendar as her compass. Whether writing about her brother's battle against cancer, talking to homeless men about the World Series, or questioning the afterlife ("One world at a time"), Gallagher draws us into a world of journeys and mysteries, yet grounded in a gritty reality. She braids together the symbols of the Christian calendar, the events of a year in one church, and her own spiritual journey, each strand combed out with harrowing intimacy. Thought provoking and profoundly perceptive, Things Seen and Unseen is a remarkable demonstration that "the road to the sacred is paved with the ordinary." "Like Kathleen Norris in Amazing Grace, Gallagher is renewing the language of ultimate concerns."--San Francisco Chronicle "The deep serenity that suffuses Gallagher's work, the lyrical cadences in which she writes, do not blunt the sharp edges of what she discovered in her quest for meaning."--Los Angeles Times

This classic resource from Eugene H. Peterson offers an indepth survey of the resurrection texts of the Gospels, helping churches to move from Easter into a transformative life as individuals and as a community.

How do we practice hope after trauma? What shape does hope take after abuse? In grappling with these questions, Ashley E. Theuring implicates the entire church and advocates changing our theologies of hope and our understanding of resurrection. Reimagining the Empty Tomb narrative from the Gospel of Mark in light of the experiences of domestic violence survivors, Fragile Resurrection reveals the possibility for everyday practices and relationships to mediate hope and resurrection. Theuring constructs an embodied imaginative hope found in the wake of trauma, which can speak to our current context of trauma and uncertainty.