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| Spirituality | Return to Book Categories |
These are some of the titles we have available in our store. To order these or other titles, please contact us at gtreusch@saintmarks.org or (206) 323-1040.
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All God's Creatures: the Blessing of Animal Companions
Just as God covenanted with Noah and all the animals when the flood waters receded, Debra Farrington argues in All God’s Creatures that we live in a covenantal relationship with those animals we bring into our homes, creatures that God created and called good. She examines what that means in terms of everyday care, as well as at the extraordinary moments of birth, illness, and death. Prayers and simple rituals for celebrating the animals, as well as suggestions for congregational blessings of the animals are included.
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Autumn: A Spiritual Biography of the Season
Autumn is a season of fruition and reaping, of thanksgiving and celebration of abundance and goodness of the earth. But it is also a season that starkly and realistically encourages us to see our own limitations and see the passage of time more clearly. Warm and stirring pieces by E. B. White, Anne Lamott, P. D. James, Julian of Norwich, May Sarton, Kimiko Hahn, and many others rejoice in autumn as a time of preparation and reflection, when the results of hard labor are ripe for harvest.
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Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality
"I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn't resolve. . . . I used to not like God because God didn't resolve. But that was before any of this happened." In Donald Miller's early years, he was vaguely familiar with a distant God. But when he came to know Jesus Christ, he pursued the Christian life with great zeal. Within a few years he had a successful ministry that ultimately left him feeling empty, burned out, and, once again, far away from God. In this intimate, soul-searching account, Miller describes his remarkable journey back to a culturally relevant, infinitely loving God.
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Finding Jesus, Discovering Self: Passages to Healing and Wholeness
Written by a Jewish author and an Episcopal priest, Finding Jesus, Discovering Self invites readers to see Jesus with new eyes and then explore questions about how 2,000 year-old stories and events happen in the world and in our lives today. Each chapter focuses upon a passage from the Gospels along with a narrative by one of the authors recalling a personal experience reflecting the ancient text. Questions to which there are no "right" answers offer opportunities for personal reflection or group study.
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Fleeing Fundamentalism: A Minister's Wife Examines Faith
In her incredible life story, Saint Mark’s parishioner Carlene Cross looks back at the journey that led her to marry a charismatic young man who appeared destined for greatness as a minister within the fundamentalist church. Their marriage, which began with great hope and promise, started to crumble as her husband succumbed to the very sin and corruption he railed against from the pulpit. When efforts to hold their family together failed, she left her church and her marriage, despite the condemnation of the congregation and the anger of many she had considered friends. Once outside, she found herself questioning the foundations of her fundamentalist faith as she realized that the secular world was not totally evil. Fleeing Fundamentalism is an honest, gripping and hopeful account of Carlene’s search for true faith. |
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Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace
We are at our human best when we give and forgive. But we live in a world in which it makes little sense to do either one. In our increasingly graceless culture, where can we find the motivation to give? And how do we learn to forgive when forgiving seems counterintuitive or even futile? Free of Charge explores these questions in light of God’s generosity and Christ’s sacrifice for us. Blending the best of theology and spirituality, Miroslav Volf encourages us to echo generous giving and forgiving in our own lives. The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lenten study book for 2006. |
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The Good Doctor is Naked: Finding the Human Beneath My Mask
Despite the outward signs of success, long-time Saint Mark’s parishioner, Robert Hardy Barnes, spent many years yearning for inner peace. Since the age of ten, Bob had lived with the terrible secret of his father’s suicide, unable to tell a soul about it for fear that people would reject him. It took an unexpected turn of events for him to discover himself and realize the true meaning of his life. We highly recommend this autobiographical story of stepping out from behind the façade. In Bob’s words, “We all experience losses and suffer, we all wear masks and costumes to hide our secrets & shame but there is always hope, and reconciliation brings peace.” Hear Dr. Barnes discuss his life and his book in an interview with Megan Sukys on 94.9 KUOW: Seattle's NPR News and Information Station, by clicking here. |
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The Gospel According to Dr. Seuss: Snitches, Sneetches, and Other Creachas
The stories of Dr. Seuss, one of the world's most beloved children's authors, are both imaginative and entertaining. But a closer look reveals that many are also inspirational. In The Gospel According to Dr. Seuss, James Kemp finds parallels between the actions of cats in hats, Grinches, Snitches, Sneetches, and other "creachas" and lessons found in Scripture. Each reflection begins with a biblical passage and features lines from the original Dr. Seuss book. Woven with the creativity and wisdom of Dr. Seuss, the meaning of many Bible passages come to life – in a new way. |
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Interrupted by God: Glimpses from the Edge
“I don’t think I’m alone in my mixed feelings about interruptions. Most people believe that interruptions are a nuisance. Interruptions break into the normal state of affairs and stop the continuity of events….but Christ happens in the interruptions. In fact, I believe that Christ is always standing in the shadows of life, and every now and again, more often than not, the Risen Christ comes out and is made known to us through some person, action, or event, an interruption into the ordinary realm of possibility.” - from the Introduction With camera in hand, Tracey Lind, dean of Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland, Ohio, looks for and finds God on the edge of exclusion and embrace. Through this powerful combination of black and white photographs and spare storytelling, she introduces us to interruptions of the holy in unexpected people and places. Interrupted by God invites readers - with humor and insight - to embrace the darkness, remember the power of baptism and keep on singing. |
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Spring: A Spiritual Biography of the Season
As winter fades and we notice the first signs of vigor and life returning to the world, we find our spirits bolstered and are reminded of the eternal cycle of death and rebirth. With each successive spring, it seems, we cherish the promise of renewed life more and more. These thoughtfully chosen writings, poems and meditations — from Robert Frost, Lisa Couturier, William Blake and Lady Sarashina to the eighth-century Chinese poet Tu Fu — both celebrate spring’s re-emergence of life and evoke the season’s delicate balance of growth and decay, youth and maturity, innocence and experience. |
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Summer: A Spiritual Biography of the Season
Explore the vibrancy of summer and reflect on how nature teaches us to value time and fully experience the richness and bountiful spirituality of the season. Contributors include writers such as Anne Lamott, Luci Shaw, Ray Bradbury, Mary Oliver, Denise Levertov, Walt Whitman, Barbara Kingsolver, and Carl Sandburg. |
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Winter: A Spiritual Biography of the Season
Explore how the dormancy and difficulty of winter can be a time of spiritual preparation and transformation. Examining our retreat and hibernation from the world, and our ultimate breaking free from icy paralysis, these thirty inspiring selections — from translated Sanskrit and Hebrew poems to Henry David Thoreau and Basho, Jane Kenyon, John Updike, Kathleen Norris, and Annie Dillard — help us express and understand our own personal reaction to wintertime while showing us the way from the cold of this season to the warmth of the human soul. |
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Your Daily Life is Your Temple
Many of us sense that God is with us in our daily lives but we also wonder why we've lost the connections between the faith we practice on Sunday morning and a passionate life in the everyday world. Using Carlo Carretto's definition of spirituality as "a way of thinking, living and sanctifying our lives," Rowthorn shows how we can uncover an authentic faith by taking the ordinary acts of our lives – the people we meet, the places we go, and the choices we make about work, children, friendships, politics, the arts, and hospitality – and seeing them as good and true and sacred. |