St. B's Women's Summer Book Series

Grow In Faith

This summer St. Benedict's invites you to join us as we grow in faith through the words of Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, and Priscilla Warner (The Faith Club), Anne Lamott (Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith), and Barbara Brown Taylor (Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith).

Join us May 2, 2007 at 7:00PM for our kick off event, a wine and cheese social.
(please email Courtney, courtney.vaughn@MySaintB.org, by April 25 if you plan on attending)

We will meet once a month in June, July, and August.

June

The Faith Club is a memoir of spiritual reflections in three voices that will make readers feel as if they are eavesdropping on the authors' private conversations, provocative discussions, and often controversial opinions and conclusions. The authors wrestle with the issues of anti-Semitism, prejudice against Muslims, and preconceptions of Christians at a time when fundamentalists dominate the public face of Christianity. They write beautifully and affectingly of their families, their losses and grief, their fears and hopes for themselves and their loved ones. And as the authors reveal their deepest beliefs, readers watch the blossoming of a profound interfaith friendship and the birth of a new way of relating to others. Pioneering, timely, and deeply thoughtful, The Faith Club's caring message will resonate with people of all faiths. -From Simon & Schuster

 

 

July

In Grace (Eventually), her brilliant new collection, she recounts the missteps, detours, and roadblocks in her walk of faith. It's been an erratic journey, and some days go better than others. "I wish grace and healing were more abracadabra kinds of things," she writes. "Also, that delicate silver bells would ring to announce grace's arrival. But no, it's clog and slog and scotch, on the floor, in the silence, in the dark." In Grace(Eventually), Lamott describes how she copes. The challenges seem alternately inconsequential and insurmountable-the anger engendered by an obstinate carpet salesman or president; the engulfing envy at friend's professional success; the bewilderment at discovering that a child has grown up or that a friend wants to die on his own terms-and they are also universal. Wise and irreverent, poignant and funny, Grace (Eventually) is a primer in faith, as we come to discover what it means to be fully human and alive.-From Penguin Group (USA)

 

 

August

After nine years serving on the staff of a big urban church in Atlanta, Barbara Brown Taylor arrives in rural Clarkesville, Georgia (population 1,500), following her dream to become the pastor of her own small congregation. The adjustment from city life to country dweller is something of a shock -- Taylor is one of the only professional women in the community -- but small-town life offers many of its own unique joys. Taylor has five successful years that see significant growth in the church she serves, but ultimately she finds herself experiencing "compassion fatigue" and wonders what exactly God has called her to do. She realizes that in order to keep her faith she may have to leave. Taylor describes a rich spiritual journey in which God has given her more questions than answers. As she becomes part of the flock instead of the shepherd, she describes her poignant and sincere struggle to regain her footing in the world without her defining collar. Taylor's realization that this may in fact be God's surprising path for her leads her to a refreshing search to find Him in new places. Leaving Church will remind even the most skeptical among us that life is about both disappointment and hope -- and ultimately, renewal. -From HarperCollins

 

*All of these books can be purchased online at Amazon.com

 

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