Dear Church is not for you if you're in a church that is working well and you're involved and going great guns. It's probably not for you if you use expressions like "going great guns." I teach lots of younger, more interesting, quirky, edgy low-church folks who are uncomfortable, even disillusioned, with their churches -- with The Church. And that's who it's for. That's who will love it and benefit from it.
Sarah is one of those authors where you forget you're reading. It's more like she's sitting there across from you, sipping her skinny cappucino, eyeing your almond croissant and you're listening to her but knowing she's wondering whether she should've gotten one of those too. When you tell someone about one story or another (and you will because they're irresistable) you're really going to tempted to start it with "You know what Sarah told me yesterday?" I'm telling you, she's in the room with you; it's weird.
And not only are you in the same room, you're in the same boat. I mean it's like she's got her finger on your emotional pulse. She has. You'll love how she delights in your strengths; you'll squirm as she accurately describes your foibles. She's been there. And she's in the process of moving on. She hasn't arrived yet, but she's moving on. And she shows you where she's going and look, there's room for you too. And it might mean leaving your church and starting something new and it might not. There's the pay-off. Here's how to tell if the book is for you: You are asking yourself one of these questions and Sarah doesn't give you the answer but helps you ask the rest of the questions as well: Is it time to leave? How do I leave without running away? How could I possibly stay without faking it?
Here (I can't resist) is one of the things Sarah told me last week: "...When we draw pictures of 'the church' for our children, we want those images to look less like a steepled building and more like the latitude and longitude lines embracing every inch of the globe." (p. 108).
