Best Books
My church recently observed Pentecost Sunday, a day which celebrates the death of aristocratic spirituality. The Spirit was unleashed upon all flesh, baptizing all ages, classes, ethnicities and genders. In the new order, unlearned fishermen and poor servant girls may speak the words of God. Old men dream of God’s kingdom, young men behold visions, and daughters prophesy. Each generation experiences God afresh, travels new paths, and speaks truth in new ways. Their father’s faith cannot save them and their mother’s faith cannot consecrate them, for the Spirit of God is not imparted through familial osmosis. Our sons and daughters must work out their own salvation with fear and trembling.
Andrea Lucado knows whereof I speak. Her father is one of America’s beloved pastors, a writer who has touched thousands from behind his pulpit and millions with the tip of his pen. Andrea was raised in a church community, deeply embedded in an evangelical Texan bubble. And then she went to England. Hard questions. Crooked paths. Spiritual culture shock. English Lessons is a lovely book about making faith personal, even if it means transition and change. It is about finding a new language with which to speak of an ancient faith.
The heart of English Lessons can be summarized in Andrea’s own words. “Uncertainty, constant change, and insecurity are the perpetual way of the Christian life. Learning never ends. The questions never stop. Our faith… was never meant to be static. We should never assume we have arrived.”
Listen to a daughter prophesy.
–Darrel Holcombe, Owner
Sanctuary Christian Books and Gifts
Colonial Promenade, Alabaster
