Scott - For All Who Hunger: Searching for Communion in a Shattered World

While church leaders were asking How can we get our message out into the world?, Emily M. D. Scott went out into the world and asked How can I bring this back into church? Her haunting memoir, For All Who Hunger, tells the story of how she created a place for those who never felt at home in church and how her unlikely congregants, in turn, helped her rediscover the heart of her own faith. This powerful and illuminating book is a must-read for those interested in how communities of faith can learn, grow, and reclaim their vital purpose.

Jacob Slichter, author of So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star

For All Who Hunger is so full of heart and wisdom, curiosity and kindness, it seems not of this world. Perhaps it isnt, and thats a very good thing. Scott envisions a radically welcoming and nurturing space of community that speaks directly to my soul. This book is sharply observed and bursting with generous portraits of real people seeking connection. It is a story and a sermon and a gift; anyone who cares about modern faith, justice, and our relationships to one another will treasure this book.

R. Eric Thomas, author of Here for It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in America

Conversionwhich is to say, the revelation of the whole real world with God in itis at the heart of this honest, intelligent, and generous book. Scott is called and accompanied by the strangers she meets on so many roads. She stumbles alongside them, carrying her peoples failures and fears. She wants. She burns. She hums a song and tells a story thats a promise. And as night falls, this awkward, faithful pastor invites us all in, so that one more time our eyes may be opened in the breaking of bread.

Sara Miles, author of Take This Bread

What Scott has accomplished in this book is nothing short of astounding. In an era of increasing division and existential loneliness, she manages to do the one thing Christians and seekers have been trying to do for two thousand years: She captures community. For All Who Hunger is raw, authentic, freshly prepared, and ready to be broken into pieces like the communion she so beautifully shares. She doesnt turn away from her own brokenness, which somehow invites us to look at our own and find the hauntingly beautiful and fearfully made that is already occurring in our midst. In a world that is constantly looking for God and meaning, Scott reminds us that it is in the sharing of that journey with one another where God shows up.

Lenny Duncan, author of Dear Church: A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the U.S.

As someone who planted/launched/guided-into-existence a new church when I was twenty-six (it was my second), I read For All Who Hunger with delight. With extraordinary courage and tenderness, Scott speaks truth about the life of a spiritual leader in these strange times, a mixture of loneliness, deep wells, non-perfection, connection, humiliation, exuberance, awkwardness, and healing. You may have no interest in religion or church or the like, but even then, the beauty and humanity of this book will make you want to read, and to read slowly, as if youre savoring a meal spiced with love.

Brian D. McLaren, author of The Great Spiritual Migration

Lutheran pastor Scott asks in her exceptional debut: if you strip from church all the creeds and the chasubles, what would be left? The answer, for her, became St. Lydias Dinner Church in New York City, which she founded in 2008 as a place for queer, marginalized, artistic, nerdy, and often lonely lovers of God to gather for bread, wine, and the words of Jesus.Scotts writing is leavened by a healthy dose of self-awareness, and her stories capture the humanity of her mission and community with a light sacramental touch, focusing mostly on the joy and solidarity found in the shared space.

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

In this intimate and openly heartfelt debut memoir, Scott explores the power of faith and community as strength-building resources for navigating difficult times.Shes equally relatable and forthright in exposing her own vulnerabilities and loneliness as a single woman living in the city along with her responsibilities and insecurities ministering to the needs of her congregants. Scott delivers a moving personal memoir and an accessibly reverent meditation on finding faith through unconventional acts of worship. Highly inspiring for anyone seeking solace in our modern world.

Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

This book is a memoir: a story made of memories. In service of the narrative, I have tinkered with time lines. To protect privacy, some names have been changed. I have endeavored to tell the truth.

Prologue

C OMMUNION

Well, if its a symbol, to hell with it.

F LANNERY O C ONNOR, on the Eucharist

In my hands I hold a warm loaf of bread. I lift it to eye level, so it can be seen. I sing words: about how Jesus took bread and blessed it and broke it, and as I sing, I rise up on my toes without realizing and close my eyes. No, keep them open, I remind myself, and look around the room at the twenty-five souls gathered there.

We stand in a loose circle around three tables set for dinner: mismatched napkins, forks and spoons, bowls filled with a green salad. Behind me, a pot of soup steams on the stove top. The peoples hands are lifted, held open in prayer, like mine. Some have their eyes closed, faces tilted up in expectation. Others look back at me. The pastor has a privileged place in the gathering: we get to see our people at prayer. Their eyes are soft, waiting to receive.