Good and Gracious God, We are thankful for this Christmas season. We ask your blessing on our loved ones near and far and those who live with you. As we remember the baby born, we pray for the children of this world. May they all know they are loved and may they have enough to eat and somewhere safe to lay their heads. As we welcome the Prince of Peace, help us to be people who live in peace with each other. For those who are sad and lonely this season, open our eyes to see how we can be a friend. In a world filled with noise, we take a few moments now to simply be in the silence. (time of silence). God, for your constant presence in our lives, we give you thanks. In the name of Jesus born this night, we pray. Amen.
I have been reading this book for so long because I didn’t want to hurry through it and finish it. I was sad when I came to the last page because I loved the book so much that I wanted it to go on and on. (If you love this book like I do, please listen to her podcast, Everything Happens with Kate Bowler. And when searching for the exact name of her podcast, I learned there is a podcast called Everything Happens for a Riesling which I have not listened to although the name makes me laugh).
If you believe that everything happens for a reason and find comfort in that belief, then I am not here to change your mind. The author of this book would encourage you to not say those words outloud to others as they may not find them comforting. This book is what happened when one person learned that she had non-curable cancer and her whole world view needed to be reexamined.
In these pages, you be challenged in what you believe and how you support others who are suffering. You will laugh at the absurdity of life. You may cry as you remember that we were never told that life is fair even though we’d life for it to be.
“What if rich did not have to mean wealthy, and whole did not have to mean healed? What if being people of “the gospel” meant that we are simply people with good news? God is here. We are loved. It is enough” (21).This book is for people who read a sentence like this and want to hear more of the story.
“Everyone is trying to Easter the crap out of my Lent,” I say to my friends though gritted teeth and tears” (134). It is a book for people who love Easter and know real life contains so much Lent that doesn’t need to be rushed through.
I encourage you to read this book, and then we can talk more about it.
