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I recently came across this devotional and have been captivated. The daily readings, which stretch from November 24 to January 7, include some of the most profound reflections on the season that I have ever seen – in both concept and scope, classic and contemporary – all gathered together into a single volume.
First Presbyterian Church News
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Charles E. Moore, in Following the Call, brings us a rich opportunity, individually and collectively, to enter into the “good trouble” of Jesus and his soul-shaking Sermon on the Mount.
Friends Journal
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A fresh offering, different from the many anthologies that already house the older works. Pastoral tales mix with urban tales, old with the new, European with American. This is a book to read aloud and savor, pulling it out each year to re-read old favorites and perhaps read a new story or two.
Redeemed Reader
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This handsome hardback has brief readings from some of the world’s leading literary and spiritual writers, offering just enough meaty and aesthetically-rich writing to please and challenge anyone who wants to dip in to a more mature sourcebook.
Hearts and Minds Bookstore
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Lent is a season of restraint, but this compiled book is a Lenten (and paschal) smorgasbord, offering more than 70 excerpted readings for Lent and Easter. Inside you’ll find writings of spiritual leaders, theologians, literary favorites, mystics, and justice heroes, including Clarence Jordan, Kathleen Norris, Ernesto Cardenal, Simone Weil, Wendell Berry, Madeleine L’Engle, Philip Berrigan, and Oscar Wilde, to name a few.
Sojourners
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There are no words more important than the Sermon on the Mount. And I can think of no better cloud of witnesses to reflect on those words than the people in this book. It is a gift to the world.
Shane Claiborne, author, activist, and co-founder of The Simple Way and Red Letter Christians
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A treasure chest of wisdom drawn from some of the greatest thinkers and saints the church has known.
Greg Boyd, Senior Pastor, Woodland Hills Church
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From Teresa of Avila to Mother Teresa, from Martin Luther to Martin Luther King, from Francis of Assisi to Francis Chan, from Dorothy Day to Dorothy Sayers, these excerpts can deeply enrich personal study and devotion. But they are also meant to be read and discussed in community and then acted on. Prepare yourself for a healthy feast, but then prepare yourself for obedience and service in the church of our Lord Jesus Christ!
Craig L. Blomberg, Denver Seminary
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Beautiful and challenging? Yes, indeed. Ecumenical and faithful? Certainly so. This book... is the most delightfully curated, fully inter-denominational book we’ve seen in a long time.
Hearts & Minds Bookstore
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As I read this collection, I tried to imagine the authors of the various reflections in conversation. What would Leo Tolstoy say to Karl Barth, or Francis of Assisi to Wendell Berry? The more I read, though, the more I started to imagine all of them in one place—listening to Jesus give the Sermon on the Mount. And, before long, I found myself blending into the crowd with them, hearing these strange, arresting, upending words of life. This book will prompt you to surprise, to delight, to melancholy, to argument, and, at every turn, will lead you back to Jesus.
Russell Moore, Christianity Today
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Moore has brought together compelling selections from more than a hundred writers to call for the formation of a fellowship of disciples who will simply live as Jesus taught us to live. I strongly recommend this book for study, reflection, and prayerful living.
Richard J. Foster, author of Celebration of Discipline
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A magnificent collection of reflections on Jesus's most familiar, and most radical, teaching.
James Martin, SJ, author of Jesus: A Pilgrimage
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The tales collected in Easter Stories: Classic Tales for the Holy Season don’t always mention Jesus, nor even the usual tropes like sunlight and springtime. But each reveal a particular melody of the Easter story. The lovingly crafted volume, edited by Miriam LeBlanc and published by Plough, features original woodcuts by Lisa Toth for each tale…. Reading these Easter tales invites our own stories to be shaped, too, by the Story, for our own hearts to thaw and for our imaginations to be steeped in the waters of resurrection.
Tessa Carman, Mere Orthodoxy
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It’s hard to go wrong with writers such as these. . . . Born of obvious passion and graced with superb writing, this collection is a welcome – even necessary – addition.
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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The heart of Easter can be found in the pages of this collection of read-aloud tales. Step inside the works of well-known authors such as C.S. Lewis, Leo Tolstoy, Oscar Wilde, and others, as they explore the true meaning of the Easter season. Short and spiritual, these stories are perfect to be read again and again.
US Catholic
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This thoughtfully curated collection is remarkable for its range and breadth. The stories come from all over the world and represent many genres, such as parables, animal fables, historical fiction, fairy tales and Christian fantasy. Most of the stories are from the first half of the 20th century, but the earliest is from an 1857 edition of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, and the most recent selections were written in 2015. Definitely read these stories at Easter, but keep the book close and pull it out whenever you and your family need a reminder of the great Easter themes of transformation, reconciliation and the triumph of life over death.
Clare Walker, National Catholic Register
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This book is both informative and practical – written with a short chapter for each week of the year. Designed to spark conversation within a group devotion setting, readers can dive deep into community together.… This book delves into the nitty-gritty details of Christian community living and encourages readers to confront the dissatisfaction stirred up by its challenging pages. Though not a light text by any means, this book is ideal for those seeking to approach Christian community more intentionally and comprehensively.
Evangelical Church Library Association
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…Drawn from the full sweep of church history and an impressive range of ecumenical voices.
Mennonite Quarterly Review
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A 2016 Englewood Honor Book – one of the thirty best books of the year for the life and flourishing of the church.
Englewood Review for Books
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This is a stellar contribution to our understanding of the whys and wherefores of Christian community. The 52 selections seem perfect for a year of weekly group study and the detailed discussion guide in the appendix is particularly useful for this purpose. Called to Community: The Life Jesus Wants for His People is a thoughtfully compiled and well edited guide to the subject.
Nancy Roberts, Catholic Sentinel
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To listen to those who have lived community across the centuries is to drink at a deep well of wisdom. The call to community is challenging, and yet the recognition of the real challenges of community both tempers naive enthusiasm and offers wise counsel to those who pursue intentional communities out of faithfulness to Christ.
InterVarsity Emerging Scholars Network
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Called to Community is an extraordinary and welcome addition to personal reading lists, as well as church, seminary, community, and academic library Christian Studies collections
Midwest Book Review
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As with the Bible, this book is not to be read alone, or lived alone, but embodied in community. Will we take up and read – and live?
Paul Louis Metzger, Patheos
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This book functions as a guide to community: to understanding the true nature of community, to cultivating a spirit and heart that is prepared to live in community, to learning how to desire the right kind of community, in the first place.
Kyle Roberts, Patheos
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This is one meaty, yet very accessible, book for those who love the Church enough to give it some serious thought, knowing that serious thought can lead to serious action. Whether in small groups or individually, as we read Called to Community, we will be hearing voices from the road, people with trail dust on their faith. They know what they’re talking about. And this invitation to come alongside them is a great place to start finding some new roads in an old faith of our own.
David Swartz, Patheos
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I can only hope that it will be widely read, because I am certain that contained in this book is the future of being Christian.
Stanley Hauerwas
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This stunning collection of some of the best spiritual writers of all time came out in 2001 from the exceptionally thoughtful, high-quality publishing house founded by a simple-living community. What a delight to have seasonal readings from theological voices like Jürgen Moltmann, mystics like Bernard of Clairvaux, poets — from Sylvia Plath to T.S. Eliot to Jane Kenyon — contemplatives such as Henri Nouwen, and storytelling writers like the late Brennan Manning.
Byron Borger, Hearts and Minds Books
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Has there ever been a more hard-hitting, beautifully written, theologically inclusive anthology of writings for Lent and Easter? It’s doubtful. Many readers may well find that this collection – a sequel to the highly successful 'Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas' – is the one book they return to year after year, forgoing their usual custom of buying a new Lenten devotional each spring.
Caveat lector: no one should have this much pleasure during Lent!
Publisher's Weekly starred review
