It’s beautiful outside this morning. Seems like a nice day to celebrate some good books that are either newly-released or soon-to-come:
1. Mystics and Misfits: Meeting God Through St. Francis and Other Unlikely Saints by Christiana Peterson
With untested ideals and a thirst for adventure, Christiana Peterson and her family moved to an intentional Christian farming community in the rural Midwest. In Mystics and Misfits, Peterson discovers that community life is never really simple and that she needs resources beyond her own to weather the anxiety and exhaustion of trying to save a dying farm and a floundering congregation.
2. A Place to Land: A Story of Longing and Belonging by Kate Motaung
A Place to Land is a globe-spanning memoir that wrestles with the question, ”Where is my home?” Kate Motaung watched ”home” slip away again and again–through her parents’ divorce, a foreclosure, two international moves, ten rental homes in ten years, and her mother’s terminal battle with cancer. Through her experiences, you’ll realize–as she did–that no matter where we go or what we do, this world is not our home.
3. Plantation Jesus: Race, Faith, and a New Way Forward by Skot Welch, Rick Wilson, and Andi Cumbo-Floyd
Not long ago, most white American Christians believed that Jesus blessed slavery. God wasn’t bothered by Jim Crow. Baby Jesus had white skin. Meet Plantation Jesus: a god who is comfortable with bigotry, and an idol that distorts the message of the real Savior.
4. Maybe God is Like That Too by Jennifer Grant, illustrated by Benjamin Schipper
Every child wonders where God lives or what God is like. In Maybe God Is Like That Too, a young boy asks his grandma where God is in their city. She invites him to pay attention to where he sees the fruit of the Spirit. Where love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are, there too is God.
5. Rebound
Before Josh and Jordan Bell were streaking up and down the court, their father was learning his own moves. In this prequel to Newbery Medal winner The Crossover, Chuck Bell takes center stage, as readers get a glimpse of his childhood and how he became the jazz music worshiping, basketball star his sons look up to.
6. Raise Your Voice: Why We Stay Silent and How to Speak Up by Kathy Khang
In some communities, certain voices are amplified and elevated while others are erased and suppressed. It can be hard to speak up, especially in the ugliness of social media. Power dynamics keep us silent and marginalized, especially when race, ethnicity, and gender are factors. What can we do about it?