New York Times bestselling author Rachel Held Evans embarks on a quest to find out what it really means to be part of the Church. Like millions of her millennial peers, Rachel Held Evans didn’t want to go to church anymore. The hypocrisy, the politics, the gargantuan building budgets, the scandals–church culture seemed so far removed from Jesus. Yet, despite her cynicism and misgivings, … and misgivings, something kept drawing her back to Church. And so she set out on a journey to understand Church and to find her place in it.
Centered around seven sacraments, Evans’ quest takes readers through a liturgical year with stories about baptism, communion, confirmation, confession, marriage, vocation, and death that are funny, heartbreaking, and sharply honest.
A memoir about making do and taking risks, about the messiness of community and the power of grace, Searching for Sunday is about overcoming cynicism to find hope and, somewhere in between, Church.
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This is the most refreshing book on Christianity I have read in a very long time. Ms. Evan’s writing and thinking are exquisite. It’s light, insightful, personal, laugh out loud funny, honest, and thought-provoking. It’s headed to my favorite books ever list.
A wonderful faith-based memoir!
Using the structure of the seven sacraments Evans shares her faith journey and what she learned along the way.
Very well written and thought provoking.
A great read. Wise words and the opportunity to question and think in the realm of Christianity. Rachel’s voice will be greatly missed.
So good I bought a lending copy.
A lifer affirming book that makes you feel okay about your doubts and questions regarding your relationship with God. It was funny and inspiring. It also provided a lot of opportunities for reflective thought. I have already shared with many friends and family.
A personal saga in a fairly familiar (and blessed!) pattern of growing up in a more restrictive, fearful, literalistic expression of Christianity (though not without faithfulness and holiness, of course), leaving it and searching for oneself, and eventually finding an expression with a more incarnational, sacramental — and inclusive–worldview and practice.
Excellent book for those who may be questioning their involvement in a Christian church or their faith. The author gives a profoundly honest assessment of her own faith as well as the condition of many churches today.
This was mu story and reading another’s experience validated what had felt like an isolated journey. This is for anyone who has wrestled with Churchianity
I bought this as a Bookbub bargain after enjoying quite a few of this author’s tweets and longer articles and found it funny and poignant and very readable. Useful, too, since I’m currently writing a character who grew up in an Evangelical church and that is not my own experience. (I grew up in a family that communed worshipfully with the Sunday papers and Charles Kuralt.) I think anyone with a fairly liberal understanding of religion and Christianity and what Jesus calls us to do in the world would enjoy this honest and heartfelt and often quite funny book. (Episcopalians might enjoy it the most because in this book that’s where Held Evans lands and appears to be sticking. That’s where I landed and appear to be sticking, too.)
Incredibly honest and yet lots of humor. I want to read more by Rhys author.
I think this author is very disillusioned with organized religion. She needs to give all of this time before writing another. She has a passionate heart and no organization will ever live up to her standards.
Rachel Held Evans hears both the heartbeat of God and the soul cry of Millennials, identifies the places where they intertwine, and skillfully conveys all of this to her readers.
A memoir about what it means to be part of the body of a church. The message is marred by a slow start. Honestly, I find the book slow with very little insight into the body of Christ and more about this young person’s lack of faith and 269 pages of her church bashing.
Deeply thought provoking with raw honesty and real life experiences searched thru and processed.
I was very impressed on the great research this author did for this book. I admired how she came about in her decisions about the different faiths. She gave a very fair evaluation of them all. Although as a cradle Catholic I have no interest in changing churches I feel I learned a lot about the other faiths and can better accept how one decides which church they decide to join.
I liked how the writer interspersed her experiences with lessons learned and Scriptural direction. I felt a real affinity with her as she revealed many of my own issues.