Joel McKerrow - Woven: A Faith for the Dissatisfied

Joel McKerrows beautifully written narrative traces a journey so familiar to my own as I have wrestled with reconciling my faith to the world around me. The language and perspective he brings is a gift for so many of us as we find ourselves in either a measure of certainty, an unravelling, or a weaving back together. Joels story reminds us that questioning, doubt and despair, as well as beauty, trust and joy, are necessary for a transformed life.

Vickie Reddy

Executive Producer, The Justice Conference; Founder, SPARC

This book is not for the faint-hearted. But then nothing worth doing is ever easy. You will be called, alongside Joel, to explore your own half-lies and restlessness. You will also be called to journey from the known to the unknown. You will not find in this a voyeuristic, self-indulgent narrative. Rather you, like Joel, may find yourself arriving at a destination that involves a tradition and a tribe.

Justin Duckworth

Anglican Bishop of Wellington, NZ

Woven is about the deepest aches of the earth, and the grief of the human soul This is a book for those who have grown up religious and who fear that they cannot hear the still small whisper any longer. It is also a book for people who dislike Christian hypocrites, and need to hear that the Christian God is a lion who roars for justice in the face of poverty and global turmoil If youve ever felt unravelled and needed to pull all the threads together or just asked where are you God? (or known someone who has) then this is the right book.

Tanya Riches

Senior Lecturer and Masters Program Coordinator, Hillsong College

Woven is a magnificent work-of-the-heart tapestry: its weave includes profound reflection on the stages of faith, along with personal and social insights, stories of deep reverential humanity, a strong sense of place in the natural world and the still small irresistible voice of God. It is all there. It is gifted poetry in prose and prose in poetry. This is a book to savour. Indeed,it is a testament of mellowing into a contemplative faith and the influence of other Christian thinkers and mystics in carrying the torch to light the way. It is undoubtedly a fresh Christian classic from a voice much needed in our times.

Tim Costello

Executive Director, Micah Australia

Over a hundred years ago, William James described what he termed the twice-born soul the person who had found a richer, more sustaining faith by going through the painful loss of childhood belief. He said the faith of the twice-born is more robust, like a bone that breaks and heals stronger at the broken place. This beautifully written book is for those who have chafed at the loss of faith and hunger to be twice-born. Joel McKerrow leads us gently but insistently through the grief of losing our religion to the less cheerful, less confident, deeper, more realistic outlook of what he calls the woven self. This is a brave, honest, and heart-warming book.

Michael Frost

Morling College, Sydney

Through Woven, master poet Joel McKerrow leads readers on pilgrimage through his own epic journey from encounter with soul-rattling truth, through consequent unravelling to confrontation with a depth of grace, love, beauty and kinship previously unimaginable to him. This is one mans story and simultaneously it is the story of the movement of the Spirit across the Western Church a movement of reckoning, repentance and re-formation.

Lisa Sharon Harper

Writer and Speaker; Founder and President, Freedom Road, LLC

Deep, true, painful, honest, hopeful, vulnerable, strong If you are wondering if there is more, if truth would lead you somewhere, if youd do something wonderful when you arent so afraid, then this book is an invitation to a deeper life and a journey guide to wholeness. Maybe you are undone by injustice, tired of the endless pursuit of freedom, overcomeby the darkness, youll find this book a balm for your wound and hope for your sails. Anywhere you are on lifes journey, this book is a great place to stop and inhale the truth that will lead you home.

Danielle Strickland

Speaker, Author, Advocate

Amidst the sacred memories, poems and stories in Woven, Joel holds a mirror for us to fall into. A mirror allowing us to see our own story amidst his own. A mirror that reflects the path we might tread, or indeed the footsteps we have left behind. We have always known Joels poems offered a whisper of a deeper cacophony of truth and love and hurt and hope Woven is that epoch we have longed to hear.

Bradon French

Youth Ministry Director, Uniting Church in Australia Victoria and Tasmania

This is the story of a fish and the vastness of a sea beyond the bowl she has known, a boy and a boat beyond what he could have imagined, and an invitation to the weaving that integrates, liberates and redeems by grace. This is the story of my friend Joel. This is an invitation to a story beyond fundamentalism, cynicism and bitterness to the beauty of an expansive faith.

Jarrod McKenna

Peace award-winning Activist, Educator, Pastor; Founding Director, CommonGrace.org.au; Co-host, In-Verse podcast

The current global context often presents as a battle of conservative fundamentalism and liberal fundamentalism Joels book, Woven, seeks to ask, Is there a way to grab the pendulum that seems to swing wildly between these two extremes, and rock it more gently through the middle? Is there a way to shape the conversation of human dignity and spirituality that does not resort to these and other destructive labels?

Terry LeBlanc

Founding Chair and Director, North American Institute for Indigenous Theological Studies; Executive Director, Indigenous Pathways

After reading this book I have begun to see myself in a different way entirely Joels own personal spiritual battle is one that everyone faces but the rawness and honesty of his story-telling will be a great helper to others walking the same path I am sure. Hope rings loud in these stories, in journeys that arent your own but become part of you as you turn the pages. I would encourage you to surrender to Joels words and let them weave a new story.

Susan J. Sohn

Speaker, Digital Media Specialist, Author of True You: Finding Beauty in Authenticity

With a poets pen and a storytellers compassion, Joel McKerrow challenges our assumptions and offers a vision of hope for the dissatisfied. I highly recommend this book to anyone who suspects there is more to life than what we have been living.

Stephen Roach

Founder, The Breath and the Clay creative arts movement; Founder and Host, Makers and Mystics podcast

A demanding and compelling account of what it means to rethink our Christian belief and find a restoration of faith, on the other side Joel candidly shares his own experience and guides readers to a place where we can be woven back together thread by thread and be connected to an authentic faith in Christ This is a deep, rich and much needed account and guide for all of us.

Michael Laverty

Movement Director, SPARC; Director of Art, Literacy Program, Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation

Published by Acorn Press

An imprint of Bible Society Australia

ACN 148 058 306