About the Book
This book is for all who desire to find a practical meaning in their faith and is especially for those who have left the faith, literally or emotionally and intellectually, and are attempting to find a way to return. Some have been caught in toxic religious institutions. Others have simply found that earlier beliefs do not hold the same meaning. Some have reactively rejected their pasts for whatever reason. Many, at some point, desire to come back to faith but realize that they can no longer find a home in their former belief system. They may never be able to return to the mode of Christianity of prior years, but they may find that a broader and healthier approach can be an authentic pathway to come back to faith. This book is not about arguing theology or presenting minute developments of systematic beliefs. It paints, instead, broad, practical, and pastoral stokes of Christianity that can enhance life and give purpose.
The work provides an avenue to begin the journey back toward the great pastoral themes of Christianity, without all the baggage that is often attached to the Christian faith by those who desire to present their own brand of the faith. Often, it is not Christianity, per se, that sincere people reject but a literalistic and overdeveloped performance and behavior-oriented perversion of the faith. The book presents simple and practical themes for living life with a Christian orientation. I no longer believe that it is essential to argue about finer points of theology in order for a faith to be helpful and sustainable.
This book is an attempt to follow the great pastoral themes of Christianity that have developed into the Christian year and to find practical and helpful motivations in them. I use the Christian year with some freedom and adjustment and added the Fourth of July— Independence Day in the USA—and Thanksgiving for those of us in the United States. I also added a meditation on the transfiguration and a meditation on the closing of the year. I also begin the year with January 1 and New Year’s Day, or Epiphany, rather than with the season of Advent, since our calendar year begins that way.
I would recommend Pastoral Care From the Pulpit as an encouraging and uplifting devotional book. Spiritual Crisis is more for Clergy, Church Workers, and Pastoral Counselors/Therapists, and other Christian Counselors, however, it can also be valuable to those who have suffered trauma. It has extensive reference notes. Living Faithfully with Disappointment in the Church is helpful in maneuvering through the struggles that arise from the church being an institution made up of humans that continue to have faults while on their faith journeys, as we all do. Family Behavioral Issues In Health and Illness was originally written for professionals in health care, but is a good introduction to the dynamics of family life and how these impact health issues as well as how illness impacts a family. Especially, those with acute and/or chronic illnesses may want to read it. Please let me know what you think of them.
All books are also available online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
