Many Easter mornings I post on Facebook my favorite version of the hymn “I Know That My Redeemer Lives” as done by Mark Heard. It is a frail and folky version on acoustic guitar by the extraordinary singer-songwriter (who died too early years ago.) It sings of victory, but if not tentatively, at least humbly. It is earnest, sung by a guy who had seen plenty, who seemed tired.  It reminds me that we live in hope, but as the Bible teaches, that means we are still waiting. We talk about the “already but not yet” at Christmas and I think it is appropriate to temper our Easter jubilation with a bit of restraint.

I am still reeling from the discovery — how did I miss this? — that in the Luke account, the disciples who fell asleep while Jesus prayed and sweated blood in the garden the night of his arrest were exhausted with grief.

I find it increasingly hard to shift abruptly from the hard commemoration of the horrific death of my Friend and King, Jesus, to the glories of His resurrection (which I believe in with my whole heart.) Yes, he destroyed Death but I — like most of you, I assume — have lost too many loved ones this past year or so, have had painful ruptures in relationships, daily mourn the wars in too many places. We have seen some walk away from vibrant faith because of the gross witness of too many far-out fundamentalists. I need Mark Heard’s slow, simple version of this triumphant song, its confidence in an almost minor key.

Yes, Christ is Risen Indeed. But we must then, in the goodness of God’s grace and through the power of the Holy Spirit, in communion with our siblings in Christ, respond to this very good news about a very good gospel.

I sometimes call this way of living resurrectionary. How does new life and new creation show up in our lives? How can we point to “the day the revolution begun” (as N.T. Wright’s book on what Paul was up to in describing the death of Christ calls it)? What books might help us get a vision for being resurrectionaries? To call up another Heard song, how can we see “dry bones dance”?

Here are just a few random ones, some quite new, a few oldies.

Order any from us at 20% off. Just scroll down to the end of the column to see the links to our Hearts & Minds secure order form page.

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ: Exploring Its Theological Significance and Ongoing Relevance W. Ross Hasting (Baker Academic) $26.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $21.59

Hastings, with two PhDs, is the Sangwoo Youtong Chee Professor of Theology at Regent College in Vancouver. He’s written widely on the nature of the atonement and how it catapults us into the arms of a missional God, commission, as we are, to serve wisely in the world. Pastor Philip Reinders notes that this book is not just for preachers doing Easter sermons, but “for everyday resurrection living.” The Resurrection of Jesus Christ, he notes, “traces out the creation-affirming, salvation-expanding, hope-declaring theological trajectories and practical implications of Christ’s resurrection for full human living.”

That’s it! This lively book shows, as Oliver Crisp says, the role of the resurrection in “a fully worked out theological account of the Christian life.”

I hope this isn’t too academic for most of our readers — it has six chapters on the saving efficacy of Christ (which, as noted above, explores the vocational and missional trajectory of that) and it has several chapters on what he calls the “ontological significance” of Christ’s victory. This is rich, good stuff, well worth reading slowly and pondering for a lifetime.

In The Resurrection of Jesus Christ, Ross Hastings demonstrates how central the resurrection is to the gospel, to Christ’s identity, and to our identity in Christ. Evangelical readers in particular will have their minds stretched and their spirituality enlarged by the dynamic resurrectional reality to which this book bears witness.       — Michael J. Gorman, author, Cruciformity: Paul’s Narrative Spirituality of the Cross

The Resurrection Life: The Power of Jesus for Today Myron Augsburger (Evangel Publishing House) $14.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $11.99

There are several good books— some rather breezy, others quite academic — about making the claim that Christ rose, bodily, from the grave. Some call that sort of writing apologetics as it makes a case for the resurrection, trying to persuade skeptics that it is sensible and true. We have them, and value them. As the apostle Paul said, if it didn’t happen, we who follow Jesus are to be pitied, presumably for staking our lives on something untrue.

Yet, it seems increasingly clear that in our postmodern and post-Christian culture we need more than good arguments for the truthfulness of the gospel accounts. It perhaps once was that if one could convince a skeptic, one could pretty much assume such a person would become a Christian — what else does a truth-seeker do, once persuaded? Nowadays, for a bunch of reasons, one can make a compelling case for the resurrection and folks might even agree, but still say, in so many words, “so what?”

I think Tim Keller’s previously mentioned (a week ago) book Hope in Times of Fear: The Resurrection and the Meaning of Easter (Penguin Books; $17.00 – OUR SALE PRICE = $13.60) is a masterpiece of making a solid claim for why the historicity of the resurrection is reliable, but, then, pushes towards the meaning and helpfulness of it all. He was an imaginative and compelling apologist for the 21st century, and I commend his book to you, yet again. That he wrote it while under a dire cancer treatment regimen shows much about how faith can provide “hope in times of fear.”

But, again, it seems that we simply must move forward towards vibrant and gracious lives that show the goodness and beauty of a resurrectionary life.

And I turn, again, to the wonderful Mennonite pastor and scholar, Myron Augsburger. This is an older book that never got the publicity it so rich deserved. It is a great little book, a good read and a challenge to life well in the power of Easter. We only have a few left, but I had to mention it.

Here is how one reviewer described it: “The truth of a living Christ sets Christianity apart from all other religions. How does Jesus’ resurrection impact our lives in the twenty-first century? Myron Augsburger contends that because Jesus is alive, the power of God is current to transform our lives and empower us for authentic Christian living. He stresses that the Christian life is one of relationship with Jesus and with the community of believers.”

That may sound fairly conventional, ho-hum, maybe, even, but trust me: The Resurrection Life is a fabulous companion as you ponder why it matters that we say “He Is Risen Indeed!”

Doing Evangelism Jesus’ Way: How Christian Demonstrate the Good News Ronald J. Sider (Evangel Press) $13.95  OUR SALE PRICE = $11.16

My dear friend and somewhat of a mentor, Ron Sider, was friends with Myron Augsburger (above) — their Anabaptist (Brethren & Mennonite) tradition gave them both an impeccable sense of the importance of solid doctrine and robust faith and lived obedience. Ron worked that out both in his representing evangelicals at ecumenical gatherings (and voicing more Biblically progressive views among conservative evangelicals) and always, always, lecturing about combining words and deeds, good ideas and lived action, faith and works.

He was gladly obsessed about that, so much so that some evangelicals thought he was a socialist for talking about the poor (almost) as much as the Bible does and many who cared about social reform though he was a bit of a pietist, which, actually, he was. I adored his big Kingdom vision and how he embraced some worldview language he picked up from neo-Calvinists he knew. In any case, he was a humble follower of Jesus, inviting us to live well into Christ’s Kingdom, through word and deed, prayer and politics.

Doing Evangelism Jesus’s Way is one of several good books that collected his sermons and lectures. I like it because it is succinct, solid, clear, and has a great chapter “If Christ Is Not Risen” that was first preached as part of a Lenten series at a Mennonite Church in Moundridge, Kansas. It’s perfect for this season —listen in as Ron reminds us all of the importance of an Easter faith, but also one the is connected to the Cross. His chapter on “The Essence of the Christian Faith — The Rising Link” is nearly a solid manifesto and worth the price of the book.

The Symphony of Mission: Playing Your Part in God’s Work in the World Michael Goheen & Jim Mullins (Baker Academic) $24.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $19.20

I have shared about this often and I can hardly think of a better book to follow up the celebration of Easter than with this delightful (if substantive) invitation to “play your part” in God’s symphony of mission. Not to be misunderstood, this is not a call to drop everything and head off for the foreign mission field (although, that, too, may be a legitimate call to some.) Rather, this is about understanding the resurrectionary power that is redeeming the world — the “all things” of Colossians 1:15 – 20 — and exalting Christ through projects of the common good, each finding their part in the multi-dimensional movement of shalom.

Like an orchestra playing a complex but beautiful symphony, we all have our own part to play. Nobody has to do it all, nobody gets to be the only hero or big star. Together, we’ve got this.

I love these two authors — Mike Goheen is a writer and professor (who contributed a chapter to the expanded edition of Creation Regained by Al Wolters) and Jim is a pastor in Tempe, Arizona, with an emphasis on helping parishioners discern and live out their vocations in the world.

And hence, this book, full of lively resurrection hope, invites us to do all manner of stuff, enjoying a robust faithfulness as we participate in the missio Dei.

Here’s the table of contents —nine meaty chapters:

1. Story: Listening to the Symphony
2. Simplicity: Learning the Notes
3. Intentionality: The Movements of Mission
4. Stewardship: Displaying the Glory of the Father through the Work of Our Hands
5. Service: Displaying the Love of Christ by Washing the Feet of the World
6. The Spoken Word: Displaying the Power of the Holy Spirit by Opening Our Mouths
7. Listening: Finding Your Place in God’s Symphony
8. Performing: Participating in God’s Symphony
9. Sustaining: Persevering in God’s Symphony

The Very Good Gospel: How Everything Wrong Can Be Made Right Lisa Sharon Harper (Waterbrook) $17.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $13.60

I often come back to this book to recommend to book clubs or small groups wanting to unpack the various implications of a full-orbed gospel message. As we’ve often said, Lisa is a courageous and faithful leader, a black woman who told much about her own history in the exquisite memoir about family genealogy called Fortune: How Race Broke My Family and the World–And How to Repair It All.

In The Very Good Gospel she does two audacious things: the first half follows the story of a good creation made with shalom that gets drug down into brokenness and sin due to our alienation from God and how the really, truly, extraordinary news is that God is bringing reconciliation to restore the many ruptures now in the formerly good creation. (That is, her rhetoric for a quick overview of the grand unfolding plot line of the Bible moves from shalom to alienation to reconciliation.) God is making all things new, not merely offering forgiveness from guilt and God is invested in making this world right, not merely taking us to some otherworldly place sometimes called heaven. That’s the first part.

The second part of this marvelous book is fleshing out what Christ-centered, gospel reconciliation looks like in various spheres — between nations, between the rich and poor, between races and genders and between us and other creatures. We have soul-deep alienation within our very selves and she writes about inner healing, all of this based on the goodness of a God who offers grace to restore us to a relationship with our Maker and Redeemer. This is a very good gospel and it is explained well in the first half of the book and worked out in a variety of arenas in the second half. What more could your group want?

In a serious foreword, the brilliant Walter Brueggemann finally commends her work by saying:

Harper bears witness to the thicker, true, understanding of a saving transformative, reconciling faith that is indeed “very good.”

Hope Ain’t a Hustle: Persevering by Faith in a Wearying World Irwyn L. Ince, Jr. (IVP) $18.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $14.40

I loved this book and could tell you about it at great length — I started it one Sunday last month and couldn’t stop reading — but the short version is that this is done by a spiritually upbeat, theologically well-informed, seriously missional, urban pastor, and it is on the book of Hebrews. Using Hebrews as his jumping off point (perhaps this was a sermon series at his church in Philly), Ince invites us to live in hope and to do so by exalting Christ Jesus. Hebrews makes wonderful connections, obviously, with the Older Testamented story of priests and kings and law and glory, how it all anticipates the coming of the fulfillment of God’s promises, in Jesus. It is not a commentary on Hebrews, as such, but it draws heavily on the book, inviting us to hold on to hope.

I started this column with a note about my appreciation of Mark Heard’s faithful, frail, rendering of an Easter hymn. If that resonated with you — the need for some reserve in our triumphant cheering about Christ’s victory since we live in a very hurting world and in a very damaged culture, certainly needing to embrace the “already but not yet” of Kingdom longing —  then you will appreciate this book a lot. It is a clear and accessible call to place our confidence in the finished work of our great high priest, and to thereby show confidence and hope.

Yet, we have grief and sorrow, anger and disappointment. We can face those things, though, not as people who “have no hope” but as those who live well in the face of injustice and scandal and sorrow. It is, as Tish Harrison Warren writes of it, “a wise book to help us to have eyes to see the beauty of Jesus anew.”

This seems like a perfect study for this post-Easter season. There are 10 chapters; less than 200 pages.

Irwyn Ince is a pastor’s pastor, offers us in this book an opportunity to experience honest, kind, and directive shepherding toward the reasonable and secure hope we have in Christ. — Christina Edmondson, co-author, Truth’s Table: Black Women’s Musings on Life, Love, and Liberation and author of Faithful Antiracism: Moving Past Talk to Systemic Change

An Invitation to Joy: The Divine Journey to Human Flourishing Daniel J. Denk (Eerdmans) $24.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $19.99

You may recall a longer review I did of this when it first came out, or my second shout out when we named it one of the Best Books of 2023. It has not faded from my memory and I thought I should pick it up again, now, admitting to being a bit uncomfortable with abundance of Facebook injunctions to Easter joy. Obviously, knowing Death is defeated is a lot to be happy about, and a deep joy can pervade those who suffer. But still, really, how do we do that? What if don’t exude exuberant celebration?

Author Daniel Denk, a PCA pastor, knows all of this. From feeling the weight of the sorrows of the world to knowing his own foibles and pains, he nonetheless hears the Biblical call to joy.

As Christopher J. H.  Wright (Bible scholar, author, and global activist with Langham Partnership) says, it is “refreshing, rebuking, reviving, rewarding, and richly biblical and practical.”

“This book is refreshing, rebuking, reviving, rewarding, and richly biblical and practical.”

A book that promises all that makes me glad! And after Easter is a perfect time for it.  Denk, as Joel Carpenter notes, “knows life in its depths” and “he knows God.”  This is a great book to read after Easter, especially if you’ve lost some of your joy and no simple meme or quick reminder will help. This powerful book can.

Centering Jesus: How the Lamb of God Transforms Our Communities, Ethics, and Spiritual Lives Derek Vreeland (NavPress) $17.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $14.39

I was happy to promote this when it first came out a few months ago and am glad to do so again. It is a great, thoughtful, read, substantive and well-informed (oooooh, I love the footnotes) but chatty and conversational with stories and good illustrations. In terms of style, it is one of those sorts of books we like to promote because it is thoughtful without being dryly academic and it has both a clear Christ-centeredness (duh, the title, obviously) and yet has a significant boots-on-the-ground sort of practical trajectory. It covers a lot and is good for those who have been following Christ a long time and it is also good for those new to this sort of religious reading. It’s a great book.

The point, of course, is that Jesus is what — or should I say who — it is all about, and His indignity as the Lamb of God is not only pivotal, but transformative. As the subtitle implies, Christ can change all aspects of our lives, personal and social.

Vreeland is a discipleship pastor at the Word of Life Church in St. Joseph, Missouri, where the head pastor is Brian Zahnd, author, most recently, of the extraordinary Wood Between the Worlds. He wrote a previous book on a Mennonite publishing house called By the Way which was suggestive that we are to join Christ in a “way” of life. (We have long carried his fun little introduction to N.T. Wright’s vision called N.T. Wright and the Revolutionary Cross which is actually “A Reader’s Guide to The Day the Revolution Began.” Hooray for such a thoughtful pastor.

Centering Jesus offers a way beyond the terrible polarization in our world and, as it says boldly on the back cover, “When we lose our focus on Jesus, the church’s credibility suffers.” In this time after Easter it is easy to move into an ordinary time of less drama and less focus. In other words, as he reveals, we end up with a spirituality that is driven by our sense of self.

He looks here at spiritual formation, our moral lives, and our common life together in our congregations. Wow. It leads to maturity, civility, kindness, and more. This is resurrectionary faith, for sure. Highly recommended.

The Gift of Thorns: Jesus, The Flesh, and The War for Our Wants A.J. Swoboda (Zondervan Reflective) $26.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $21.59

Oh my, what a strong book this is. Don’t let the light pink cover fool you into thinking this is some rosy, light-weight book of cheer. I don’t mean to say it is a “downer” or overly complex, but it isn’t simplistic and it offers no cheap answers.

It is about how we are living in a moment in history when our desires, longings, and wants are being weaponized against us by cultural, spiritual, and relational forces. For many, we feel “torn asunder by the raging desires within.” (After spending some weeks reading books like I reviewed a week ago about the addiction crisis, such as The Least of Us and Raising Lazarus, I know this is so.)

Swoboda is a brilliant writer, a creative thinker, and has a good ability to popularize immensely complex matters. He is not the first to write about disordered desires — start with You Are What You Love by James K.A. Smith if this is somewhat new to you — but he is wisely asking what we do with “unwanted desires” the the forces which seem to capture us with dumb wishes and finally don’t bring real human flourishing, anyway. He asks, “How do we cultivate desires which bring life and freedom and lead to Christ.” The Gift of Thorns addresses this sort of stuff.

I share this description from the back cover as it puts it so well; please read this:

The path forward is anything but easy. It is assumed by too many in the Christian community that desire is in and of itself bad or dangerous and must be crucified for simply existing. Desire is demonic for some. But, for many others–particularly in the secular West–desire must be followed through and through. This side deifies desire. But these two options sidestep the joy in the great challenge of finding God in our desire. There exists an ancient and sacred way that is forged around the life, wisdom, and power of Jesus and his Spirit. In short, what makes a follower of Christ is not whether or not we have desires. Rather, it is what we do with the desires we have.

Thorns — from the symbol of a broken creation in Genesis 3 to the odd sort of torture that ended up cornering Christ Himself — appear throughout the Bible. (Who knew?) This thematic repetition is part of the story, unpacked here.

The Gift of Thorns is new and I’ve yet to read it through. I can say without a doubt, though, that it could be a great tool for you or your group or church to move to a serious sort of discipleship, in the power of the Spirit, living out resurrection, even in this odd cultural moment of inordinate desire, consumerism, and secularization.

Professor Swaboda hosts the Slow Theology podcast with Dr. Nijay Gupta.

Practicing the Way: Be With Jesus / Become Like Him / Do as He Did John Mark Comer (Waterbrook) $26.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $20.80

The books of John Mark Comer are always among the best sellers we offer at the big collegiate event at Jubilee and this past February we sold out of this one. It was new, then — we had sent out our pre-orders a few weeks before — and there was a growing buzz. We were so happy that something so substantive was capturing the attention of these young adults.

Comer, as you may know, wrote Garden City (about work and rest and being fully human) and a best-seller called The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, among others. He is honest about his life and is a good communicator.  This book — which channels a bit of Dallas Willard, I guess I’d say about being transformed into Christ-likeness from the inside out — is upbeat but serious. There will be soon a video curriculum, even as there is now an online podcast about the invitation to Godly practices as explained in the book. This is a big deal and you shouldn’t miss it.

In Practicing the Way, John Mark Comer brilliantly shows us what it means to follow Jesus, and here is the best part: as you read, you will want nothing more than to be on Jesus’ heels. We are a disciple-less generation, and yet, walking this closely with Jesus is our way back to the purpose of life. This is one of the most important books I have read in a decade, and if we would all follow in this way, our lives would change and the world would change. — Jennie Allen, author of Get Out of Your Head and Find Your People

This is part of what we mean when we talk about being Easter people, people of hope, people who live in the power of the resurrection — that the power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in us and is touching the world, through us. It starts with small steps. How badly do you want this?

Learning to Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect John Inazu (Zondervan) $27.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $22.39

Okay, first this: John Inazu is a remarkable individual, a fine Christian man who is a professor of Law & Religion at Washington University. He’s smart and witty and very impressive, without being overly dramatic. A decade ago he wrote a scholarly work on the historic claim of freedom of religious assembly (Liberty’s Refuge on Yale University Press.) Later, he did a fairly academic, really great volume on pluralism (on the prestigious University of Chicago Press) that got him to Redeemer Presbyterian in Manhattan where he became good friends and partners-in-crime with the late Timothy Keller. They compiled a book together (and their two respective chapters were excellent) of people making a difference in the complex, secularizing world, letting their Christian lights shine in a way that is effective. (That was called Uncommon Ground: Living Faithfully in a World of Difference and included writers and artists and activists such as Lecrae, Kristen Deede Johnson, Sara Groves, Tish Harrison Warren, Rudy Carrasco, and more.) This brand new one is as popular and easy to read as the last one, but informed by his scholarly speciality about pluralism, equity, freedom for all.

And here’s the thing — it’s a real blast to read, arranged from the point of view of his role as a law professor, sharing stuff he teaches, reactions he gets from students, strategies he employs to get them thinking well, tools of the trade to nurture empathy. A good lawyer, he says, simply can’t just win arguments by touting facts and points. To be a good communicator one must listen, care, understand others. Holy smokes, who knew a memoir-esque account of a law prof could be so deeply gracious and kind and wise. And funny.

Learning to Disagree is quite practical and stands alongside many others these days on polarization and gracious communication, even if he surprises us by coming at it as he does. Of the others on this topic, this one is extraordinary. It is really well written — Shadi Hamid, a columnist for the Washington Post calls it “wonderful, quirky, beautifully written, and often quite funny” — and is not about winning, or even always trying to be persuasive and convincing (although that it part of it) but more foundational about “living with our deepest differences.” I suppose in a way, this is his on-the-ground, practical book for ordinary readers of his early Confident Pluralism.

Obviously we must not demonize people who think differently. Nor can we back down from taking stands, even in contrast to those who disagree with our moral convictions or policy positions. But, clearly, Inazu offers a better way, not demonizing and not compromising; he offers what decades ago Richard Mouw called “convicted civility.” It is easy to have convictions, Mouw often quipped, and easy to be polite. But to do both at the same time, to have strong convictions and be committed to civility? That’s the ticket.

And Inazu is thus far the best person showing us how it is done.

As Hamid continued in her rave review, “Unlike most books, this one might actually change how you argue, fight, love, and even hope.”

I’m not sure how much John talks about the resurrection, but if we want to show forth Christ’s Easter victory in Christ’s own way, we simply have to be captured by this bridge-building, creative way of “learning to disagree” and how to bear witness to God’s love in all things. As Habid noted, it might even help us learn to hope. Hooray. This is surely one of the great books of 2024.

Hopecasting: Finding, Keeping, and Sharing the Things Unseen Mark Oestreicher (IVP) $16.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $12.80  while supplies last

I loved this book when it first came out years ago and it never got much traction. It is out of print but we have a few and it seems like the right time to highlight it here, again.

Mark-O, as he used to be called, was a big name in evangelical youth ministry, emerging congregations that were grappling with cultural changes years ago, and was to live faithfully for Christ in the postmodern cultural context. He’s authored a number of books about mentoring youth and having fun instilling in kids a love for their churches.

In this stunning, helpful book — part visionary inspiration, part how-to guidebook and tool box — he wonders out loud why it is that some people seem so full of hope while others can hardly get out of bed, laden with apathy or anxiety? Hope is, clearly, elusive.

Not only is it hard to experience, it is hard to explain. What is hope? What sort of fresh perspective could a guy with a mid-life crisis have to offer? Drawing on everything from the music of David Crowder to the justice work against trafficking of IJM to the nuanced, fraught books of Walter Brueggemann, Oestreicher brings so much to our consciousness as we read. In what Jim Burns calls an “incredibly brilliant and very personal writing style” Mark-O tells some gut-wrenching stories and he does some good Bible stuff and he offers honest, hard-wrought words of true Kingdom hope.

Gary Haugen of IJM doesn’t endorse many books, even though he is an avid reader and globally recognized leader. Here is what he says — read it and see if this is something you need! Gary writes:

Mark Oestreicher offers deep encouragement for those of us who have ever struggled to cultivate transformative hope in hard places. Drawing on personal experience, he offers a practical path for pushing through fear and cynicism toward refreshing hope. I am grateful for the invitation Mark offers us here — an invitation into active, faithful confidence in the goodness of God. — Gary A. Haugen, president and CEO, International Justice Mission, author of Just Courage: God’s Great Expedition for the Restless Christian

Creation Care Discipleship: Why Earthkeeping Is An Essential Christian Practice Steven Bouma-Prediger (Baker Academic) $25.99  OUR SALE PRICE = $20.79

You may recall how often I’ve highlighted this — and others like it. Since the victory of Christ over sin and Death indicates that the whole creation is being set free, then surely (surely!) ecological concern plays a hefty role in an Christian worldview worthy of the name. This book graciously makes that case, that creation care practices are simply a part of daily discipleship, it is who we are and what we do, as followers of the risen Lord of creation. It is as good a book on all of this as I’ve ever seen and can’t say enough.

Many whose other books are also brilliant and essential have chimed in. Norman Wirzba, Debra Rienstra, A.J. Swoboda, Ben Lowe, Jonathan Moor and others have said this is “a decisive case” that creation care is necessary, not optional, to faithful Christian living. It is a terrific book, inviting, thorough, poetic, wonder-full. What might happen if churches all over followed up the creation-healing message of the Bodily resurrection with a trajectory towards Earth Day, bearing witness that the Bible could be our primary ecological text and our discipleship will help us care for creation as a matter of faith and hope and love? This book could change everything.

Resurrection Matters: Church Renewal for Creation’s Sake Nurya Love Parish (Church Publishing) $14.95  OUR SALE PRICE = $11.96

Nurya Love Parish is an Episcopalian priest and serves at Plainsong Farm, a farm-based ministry that we appreciate up in Grand Rapids, MI. Given the fantastic title, I’m delighted to highlight the small and altogether lovely little book Resurrection Matters: Church Renewal for Creation’s Sake.

 I love this little volume which includes a bit about food and eating, gardens and fields, living joyfully amidst what Regan Sutterfield, notes as “our declining church and endangered earth.” Short and sweet, it’s a great little start and very highly recommended. Yes!

The Art of Living in Season: A Year of Reflections for Everyday Saints Sylvie Vanhoozer (IVP /formatio) $25.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $20.00

I sort of wish this book would have been released last fall as it starts — as a daily devotional arranged our the liturgical calander — in Advent. But it is brand new and so, so great, you can pick it up after Easter. As with other such year-long collections of readings, you can start at any point you’d like.

Another thing to know about it’s formate — it is richly illustrated with truly lovely botanical illustrations (of flowers and vegetables and gardens and the like.) Each chapter introduces what in her native Provence in southern France are called santons (“little saints” that one might see in a diversely peopled nativity scene.) Her own life has introduced her to many little saints and here she invites us to follow them not such as Christmas but throughout the year. This communion of little saints is beyond lovely, although it is quint and lovely, but a truly extraordinary way to invite us to daily, ordinary, discipleship.

Besides the fabulous full-color drawings the writing is beautifully crafted, what British poet Malcolm Guite and priest calls “tender, beautiful, and entirely original.”

Good thinkers and writers have zealously endorsed this new book — from Julie Canlis to Bobby Gross, Lancia Smith to Bill Edgar and more.  Read this fabulous blurb — what an amazing endorsement! Wow.

What then are we to do with this book so unlike any other? Shelve it all alone and give it pride of place? It is a work of art. Or might we slip it in a pocket to carry through the afternoon? Or better, allow ourselves to be carried by it through a calendar of seasons, instructed in the folkways of each one, in unexpected beauty and surprise? Might we allow this book to ask us questions, make us wonder, tell us new and ancient stories of other places, other times? And surely, if we listen, if we pay attention, we will see and learn. We will be charmed; we will be changed. For yes, this lovely book is just that fine. — Linda McCullough Moore, author of The Book of Not So Common Prayer

And this, from Vicar Sam Wells:

Sylvie Vanhoozer’s winsome and infectious compendium is about learning in practical and endearing ways to use our imaginations and behold Jesus becoming incarnate in the seasons of our days. But more profoundly, it is about letting our lives be transposed so we become characters in the story of God in Christ. Here you will find something for body, mind, and spirit to cluster round Christ’s earthy throne of grace. This book will make your soul grow. — Samuel Wells, vicar of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London, author Humbler Faith, Bigger God: Finding a Story to Live By

Pentecost: A Day of Power for All People Emilio Alvarez (IVP) $20.00  OUR SALE PRICE = $16.00

This little hardback came out about this time last year when the Fullness of Time series (compiled and developed by Esau McCaulley) was just getting started. Dr. Esau McCaulley had just released Lent and, naturally, on the heels of Lent and Eastertide and Ascension we soon move to the church celebration of Pentecost.  Dr. Emilio Alvaraz (with a PhD from Fordham University) is well suited to unpack the liturgical meaning of this church season — he is the presiding bishop of the Union of Charismatic Orthodox Churches. He is also the provost for lifelong learning at Asbury Theological Seminary. All right, then, he’s our guy, eh?

Liturgical, renewal-minded, Orthodox, charismatic. You just don’t see all that together in one person that often and we are thrilled to remind you of this rich tradition where the church calendar’s commemoration of the day of Pentecost is taken seriously. It’s nice that he is familiar with Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox and Pentecostal faith traditions and helps us see the commonalities of our expressions of this season of the church calendar.

After a nice preface to the Fullness of Time series by Esau McCaulley, Dr. Alvarez offers a nice introduction to the power of Pentecost. And then he offers these four, short chapters:

1. Pentecost: A Feast of Fifty Days, First Fruits, and Harvest
2. Learning to Speak in Other Tongues: Pentecost and Its Multilingual, Communal Spirituality
3. How Shall We Move? Rituals of Pentecost
4. Pentecost Prayers, Hymns, and Scriptures

This volume offers a brilliant reflection on the meaning of the great feast of Pentecost. Alvarez masterfully weaves biblical and historical references to help readers see the powerful light that this feast brings to the world, namely the light of God’s manifest presence. Moreover, Alvarez’s anointed and beautiful writing creates a hunger for more of the divine light.  — Cheryl Bridges Johns, Director of the Pentecostal House of Study at United Theological Seminary author of Enchanting the Text: Discovering the Bible as Sacred, Dangerous, and Mysterious

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