The God-Hungry Imagination: The Art of Storytelling for Postmodern Youth Ministry
Between Midnight and Dawn: A Literary Guide to Prayer for Lent, Holy Week, and Eastertide
Copyright Page
2017 by Sarah Arthur and Erin F. Wasinger
Published by Brazos Press
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.brazospress.com
Ebook edition created 2017
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-0671-5
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2011
Scripture quotations labeled NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
Scripture quotations labeled NLT are from the Holy Bible , New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Endorsements
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
Dedication
For my husband, Tom,
our pietist in residence,
who practices more spiritual disciplines
with his pinky finger in ten minutes
than I do all week. Love you.
Sarah
For Dave, who keeps saying yes.
Erin
And for our beloved community
at Sycamore Creek Church,
which has taught us more
in these past twelve months
than we could ever hope
to learn on our own.
Contents
Cover
Other Books by Sarah Arthur
Title Page
Copyright Page
Endorsements
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Foreword by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove
Introduction: The Street View
1. Covenantal Friendship
2. Hospitality beyond Martha Stewart
3. Radical Finances
4. Reclaiming Spiritual Habits
5. Stuff
6. Holy Time
7. Vows
8. Planted in the Church
9. Kid Monasticism
10. Sustaining Creation
12. Just Living
Closing Thoughts
Appendix A: Engaging Three Strands of Radical Christianity
Appendix B: Hospitality Covenant
Appendix C: The Arthurs Christmas Letter
Notes
Back Cover
Acknowledgments
To paraphrase the now-famous acknowledgments in Brendan Pietschs Dispensational Modernism , We blame all of you. Writing this book has been something like running a marathon (Erin knows the running thing): we set out thinking it would be a worthy endeavor, a lifelong goal to check off, only to realize partway through that it might possibly kill us. But we survived thanks to loving spouses who ran with us, parents and friends who watched our children, Bob Hosack and the team at Brazos, and our church family that relentlessly prayed us to the finish line. We also couldnt have gone far without the guidance, prayer, and feedback of readers and advisors Amey Victoria Adkins, David Arthur and Rebecca Byrd, Chanequa Walker-Barnes, Rob Cook, Liz DeGaynor, Barb Flory, Elaine Heath, Aleah Marsden, Nathan Foster, Tim Otto, Margot Starbuck, Alice Fleming Townley, and a host of others. Whoever first established the hermitages at the De Sales Centerthe writerly equivalent of hydration stations God bless you . We did not perish. But there were lots of times we blamed you all for being so darn encouraging.