Sarah Arthur - The Year of Small Things

The Year of Small Things is the best kind of spiritual formation book: serious and funny, smart and vulnerableand, most useful of all, practical. If you want to live the way of Jesus but struggle to know how to do this in the midst of family busyness, financial struggle, even depression, Sarah Arthur and Erin Wasinger can be trusted to help you and your community reimagine and engage in practices of spiritual wholeness and social justice. Honestly, this is one of my favorite books this year.

Jen Pollock Michel , speaker and author of Teach Us to Want

This is the most provocative and profound book Ive read in a long time. I plan to buy a box and give it to my friends so they can laugh, cry, repent, and soul-search as much as I did. Deeply movingand necessaryfor the faith community.

Joel Salatin , renegade farmer and author of The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs: Respecting and Caring for All God s Creation

Sarah Arthur and Erin Wasingers beautiful book offers a minirevolution that could shake up the world, or at least your neighborhoodand it doesnt require growing kale or living in a hut. It begins with dinner. Open doors. Being real with one another. In a me-and-my-family-first culture, Arthur and Wasinger compellingly show us not only how we can be the body of Christ but how to actually share life together as the body of Christ.

Leslie Leyland Fields , author of Crossing the Waters: Following Jesus through the Storms, the Fish, the Doubt, and the Seas

The Year of Small Things is a field guide on how to implement Mother Teresas admonition to do small things with great love. In the midst of flu shots for the kids and complaints from the neighbors about the dandelions in the yard, the book showswith abundant humor and gracehow to live a joyful, costly, and authentic faith.

Tim Otto , copastor of the new monastic community Church of the Sojourners in San Francisco, author of Oriented to Faith , and coauthor of Inhabiting the Church: Biblical Wisdom for a New Monasticism

I am often asked if intentional community is a short-lived fad for young, idealistic singles. I always respond that following a common set of spiritual practices for the sake of our neighbors is the basic lifestyle of a disciple. We then have a conversation about how realistic it is to follow Jesus. Now I can refer them to The Year of Small Things as evidence of how some families with young children are in fact practicing intentional community in their suburban context. This beautifully written book is a gem!

Elaine Heath , dean of Duke Divinity School; author of God Unbound: Wisdom from Galatians for the Anxious Church

What a wonderful story of two ordinary families dealing with the normal struggles of life, coming together to grow deeper in life with God. Written with grace, authenticity, and wit, Arthur and Wasingers book made me excited to follow their paththe mark of a truly great work.

Nathan Foster , director of community life, Renovar; author of The Making of an Ordinary Saint

Sarah and Erin get it. They cut grapes for tiny fingers, they wipe runny little noses, they bandage skinned knees, and they love the world that God loves. If you want to practice your faith right where you are, these women are the reliable guides you need.

Margot Starbuck , author of Small Things with Great Love: Adventures in Loving Your Neighbor