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Review: God, Where Are You?

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Cover image of "God, Where Are You?" by Dominique Young

God, Where Are You?

God, Where Are You?, Dominique Young. NavPress (ISBN: 9798898020217) 2026.

Summary: In the midst of pain, God may seem distant. Healing begins when we drop our masks, discovering God’s love and presence.

Let’s be honest. There are times when it just feels like God has left the building. Life isn’t working out as we’d like. Or, we are in the pit of deep depression or besieged with anxious thoughts. Dominique Young writes out of her own experience of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. She is a child of divorce and growing up was traumatic, at times. People in church had no clue. Faith felt like a facade she maintained, one she longed to drop. Yet, paradoxically, it was only when she dropped the facade that she discovered the nearness of God. In this book, she walks readers through her own healing process.

First, before we find God, we need to find ourselves. Sometimes, we’ve so cleverly hid behind the masks that we don’t know where we are. She helps us identify where we are mentally and emotionally. Then, she helps us identify the costumes and masks we’ve used that leave us so disoriented. As we do this, we discover our brokenness, the depth of our emotional emergency. Perhaps the most scary thing is naming it. But this is a step toward help and healing Young wants us to learn to be OK with. Finally, she helps us identify the lies we’ve been told and to replace them with truth. For her, the lie was that arguments must lead to separation, leading her to shut down when differences arose. She learned that love casts out fear.

Second, She addresses finding God. Young observes that often, our question, “God, where are you?,” is a rhetorical one. She challenges us to exchange that for an honest and earnest search, believing that God will find us as we seek Him. But sometimes, the darkness of our experiences of abandonment is so intense, we wonder where God was in the trauma. She encourages us to ask this but also to lean into what we know of God’s attributes and to look for evidence of his presence in the darkness. Then there is the issue of failure. Young uses her own experience of failing in creating an organization to explore God’s presence in our failures. Lastly, she explores the presence of God in the storms of our lives.

Third, she explores finding “us.” By this she means finding a walk, a life with God on an ongoing basis. For Young, it begins with the reality that God doesn’t just want to inform us, he wants to change us. Pain in our lives is sometimes one of the ways he does this. Also, we often want God to show up in power to change things when he wants us to learn the power of his presence with us in hard situations. Not only that, God wants us to learn its not all about us, but that being loved, we become instruments of his love with others. Finally, finding us means celebrating not what I’ve done, but what we’ve done.

Each chapter includes a Tracing God Devotional, Reflection Questions for journaling, and a prayer. In addition, Young often pauses during chapters to ask readers to reflect. This is not a book to be read quickly. Rather, one does well to have a journal at hand, and a box of tissues. It might be good to read with a trusted friend, practicing removing masks. And if it is too painful, use that as a cue to take a break, care for yourself, and return to what is painful with a trained counsellor who can accompany you through the pain.

Dominique Young invites those in pain who struggle with God’s presence to take the next step and follow a more intentional process of being honest both with oneself and God. Her own discovery of God’s presence and love in her dark places encourages the reader to persist in a seeking faith that is not a facade but one birthed both in adversity and biblical truth. And she holds forth the vision of not simply encountering God’s presence but making one’s life in that presence.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: There Came Both Mist and Snow

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Cover image of "There Came Both mist and Snow" by Michael Innes

There Came Both Snow and Mist

There Came Both Snow and Mist (Sir John Appleby Number 6), Michael Innes. Open Road Integrated Media (ISBN: 9781504092074) 2024 (first published in 1940).

Summary: A gathering of Sir Basil Roper’s extended family and friends is marred when his nephew is shot in his study.

Arthur Ferryman has always loved Belrive, the home of Sir Basil Roper, especially the old priory ruins. So, you can understand his delight on being invited for a holiday gathering with extended family. But city is encroaching on country as Ferryman notes, watching the Cudbury Brewery neon sign pour tall cold ones over the priory ruins. Ah, progress!

Likewise, this is not an idyllic family gathering. Sir Basil has announced plans to sell his estate to fund a science expedition. Not everyone is happy, particularly those who could lose inheritances. Furthermore, a new pastime introduces a new element of danger–pistol shooting!

Yes, you guessed it. There is a shooting. Arthur, unsettled by the family dynamics, goes for an evening walk before dinner. At one point, he notices a figure on the terrace outside Sir Basil’s study. Not able to identify the person and not thinking too much of it, he continues his walk as snow begins to fall. As he is returning for dinner, he meets another person at the door, who is none other than Sir John Appleby, a family friend and dinner guest.

When they go in, they learn there has been a shooting in Sir Basil’s study. At first, because he was in there earlier, they feared it was Sir Basil. Instead, it is a nephew, seriously wounded in the right lung. He’s hanging on by a thread as an ambulance rushes him away.

Appleby is asked to join the local police to assist. Appleby more or less invites Ferryman to be his right hand man. Convenient, since Ferryman is our narrator! Typical of manor house mysteries, while Appleby investigates, the family all come up with theories, accusing most everyone in the house. There is even a confession. One of the family is even a would-be mystery writer with her own theories.

There is also some question of who was the intended victim. Everyone notes the family resemblance between Sir Basil and the nephew, as well as the nephew’s brother. This helps account for the variety of theories. In the midst of all that, and a house full of guns, Appleby has to find the shooter while we wait on tenterhooks to see if the victim will survive.

Not everyone appreciates Innes. I would describe his books as mysteries for the cultured, for those who like sophisticated dialogue and dry British humor. And he wrote in the 1930’s and 1940’s, a different time. But I enjoyed the plot development, the cast of characters, and how Innes employs Ferryman as narrator.

Review: First Nations Version Psalms and Proverbs

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Cover image of "First Nations Version Psalms and Proverbs" by Terry M. Wildman, lead translator, First Nations Version Translation Council

First Nations Version Psalms and Proverbs

First Nations Version Psalms and Proverbs, Terry M. Wildman, lead translator with First Nations Version Translation Council. InterVarsity Press (ISBN: 9781514007273) 2025.

Summary: A true translation using idioms of the indigenous peoples of North America.

The year 2021 marked the release of a different kind of Bible translation of the New Testament. In English, the translators used the idioms of First Nations Peoples of North America to offer a meaningful translation for these indigenous people. Now, those who translated the First Nations Version of the New Testament, have published a translation of the Psalms and Proverbs. They use many of the conventions introduced in the New Testament translation, including rendering the meaning of biblical names followed by the original name in parentheses. And cultural idioms significant to indigenous peoples of North America, are used in place of more familiar references. This rendering of Psalm 1:1-2 will give you a sense of this as well as introduce the FNV rendering of YHWH, usually translated in English translations as LORD.

Harmony and well-being rest on those who do not walk the path of the bad-hearted, the ones who do notstand with those who stir up disharmony, those who will not sit in a circle where others are spoken of with scorn and disrespect.

Instead, they take joy in Grandfather’s clear instructions. As the sun and the moon circle the sky, they think deeply about his ways.

The translators chose Grandfather to translate YHWH. This is the First Nations term for the Great Spirit used by many tribal nations. In the glossary, they offer an extended explanation of this choice, noting the unsuitability of LORD in the cultural experience of Native Americans for whom no cultural analogue for “Lord” exists. Also, they note the place of honor grandfathers enjoy in indigenous cultures.

Nevertheless, I have to admit I struggled with the term, while realizing that I am a cultural outsider. I do miss the assertion of God’s self-existence in YHWH, that all else derives its existence from YHWH. But I don’t have a better translation suggestion.

That aside, just as I found the New Testament rendering both fresh and accurate, so it was here. And for the Psalms, this is a freshness of reverent worship. I love the substitution of ‘tender sweetgrass” for “green pastures” in Psalm 23.

Then turning to Proverbs, I noted that Lady Wisdom is “Grandmother Wisdom..” She also has a sister, Understanding, and nieces Good Sense and Clear Thinking. This also resonates well with the matriarchal cultures of First Nations peoples.

Proverbs 3:5-6 is perhaps among the most familiar. Here is the FNV rendering:

From the strength of your heart, put all your trust in Grandfather, and do not hold yourself up with weak human thinking. As you walk the road of life, make every step a prayer. Grandfather will then make your eyes straight and your paths safe.

In conclusion, the fresh rendering of individual Proverbs made me linger over them, listening to their wisdom afresh. While Euro-Americans will gain fresh insights into Psalms and Proverbs, the “sacred songs” and “wise sayings” will hopefully deeply nourish the hearts of indigenous people as they seek to walk the harmony way

Scripture quotations are taken from First Nations Version, copyright ©2021 by Rain Ministries Inc. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL. All rights reserved.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: God Chose Me!

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Cover image of "God Chose Me!" by Lexa Hale, illustrated by Dana Regan

God Chose Me!

God Chose Me!, Lexa Hale, illustrated by Dana Regan. Paraclete Press (ISBN: 9781640609778) 2026

Summary: For children 0-3, affirming that they are God’s loving, good creation just the way they are and that their worth is in God.

Who of us hasn’t wondered at some point why we are the way we are? And who of us hasn’t wondered what God thinks of us, the way we are? Perhaps this accounts for the impact of Fred Rogers simple words, repeated on each show:

“You’ve made this day a special day, by just your being you. There’s no person in the whole world like you, and I like you just the way you are.” -Fred Rogers

That is the message of this new board book for children, ages 0-3, written by Lexa Hale and illustrated by Dana Regan. Hale affirms that God chose every aspect of who we are. For example, our gender, the color of our eyes, the shape of our nose, and whether our hair is curly or straight. Then God knows all our moods and even the times when we don’t like how we’re made. He also knows how we compare ourselves to others. And knowing all this, God loves us. “So, I’ll love who I am with all of my might!”

The colorfully illustrated book includes both boys and girls, and children of representing various ethnicities. There is also a boy wearing glasses (that’s me!) and a girl in a wheelchair. So, I’ll admit it. I struggled with self image because of those glasses! Here is a sample from the book:

Sample page from God Chose Me, Lexa Hale, illustrated by Dana Regan from publisher’s website

Hale uses a simple and memorable rhyme structure. This is one of those books to read with a child cuddled in one’s arm. I can imagine a child even saying these things with a parent as they read and making these truths their own. And who of us doesn’t need reminders that God chose, made, and loves us just the way we are?

Finally, this is the perfect gift for a baby shower, a baptism, or baby’s first Christmas or Easter. Then, if you have grandchildren, you may want a copy for when they come to visit. So, this is a book you might buy in quantity!

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: The Murderbot Diaries Vol. 1

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Cover image of "The Murderbot Diaries Vol. 1" by Martha Wells

The Murderbot Diaries Vol. 1

The Murderbot Diaries Vol. 1 (Diaries Number 1 and 2), Martha Wells. Tordotcom (ISBN: 9781250389824) 2025 (contains works published in 2017 and 2018)

Summary: The first two novellas in the Murderbot series, All Systems Red and Artificial Condition.

Thanks to my son, I’ve discovered the world of Murderbot. For those not acquainted with this series, it is set in some distant future where space travel between star systems is routine. They’ve figured out how to travel through wormholes reliably. In addition to humans and augmented humans, various “bots” are used including sentient bots. Among these are CombatUnits, ComfortUnits, and SecUnits, providing military, sex, and security. Murderbot is a SecUnit with a difference. After a “malfunction” where he allegedly murdered 57 people it is refurbished by Corporation Rim. However, Murderbot figured out how to hack its Governor Module, by which it is controlled by its owners. It is autonomous, but has concealed this.

This edition combines the first two “Diaries,” “All Systems Red” and “Artificial Condition,” released in conjunction with the Apple TV+ streaming adaptation. I will summarize each of the Diaries separately with some concluding comments.

All Systems Red

Murderbot is under contract for a survey by a group of Preservation scientists, an independent planetary settlement effort, operating outside Corporate Rim, the corporate interest controlling much space travel and settlement. The team is surveying a planet for settlement. Murderbot provides security for a satellite team, working in conjunction with the larger DeltFall station. Sounds like a routine gig until a creature under a crater attacks a scientist, who Murderbot rescues, revealing some of its impressive armaments, as well as its ability to sustain severe damage and survive.

This is only the start. A series of glitches, malfunctions, and data gaps raise questions about possible sabotage. But who is doing it? Then they discover they cannot raise DeltFall on their coms. Most of the team goes to investigate. However, DeltFall has been wiped out, and two of the surviving SecUnits turn on them, along with two others of unknown origin, nearly succeed in inserting a Combat module on Murderbot before the team destroys them. Murderbot is seriously damaged, but while being regenerated, the scientists discover its hacked governor and past history. Yet they decide to trust it, given how well it has protected them.

They conclude they are not alone and that an enemy has sabotaged their systems. They prepare for an attack. Before fleeing the station, they learn that GrayCris, a rival corporation that wants the planet, is offering to negotiate their survival. But they assess this a trap. I’ll leave you to discover how they escape if you’ve not read the series (you already know Murderbot lives on!).

Artificial Condition

Grateful for its protection, Dr. Mensah, the lead Preservation scientist buys Murderbot’s contract and grants it freedom, consistent with Preservation values. But Murderbot promptly leaves and takes a series of transports to get back to the planet where he allegedly killed all those people.

Murderbot meets its match on the last, robot piloted transport. ART figures out who Murderbot is, putting Murderbot on defense until ART proves it is an ally. ART even helps Murderbot modify itself, disguising it as an augmented human. ART helps find a way to return to the Ganaka mines, where the murders occurred. Three scientists formerly employed with Tlacey Excavations, want to get their research back from Tlacey.

From the get-go, it’s clear Tlacey will have none of it. Their transport is sabotagd, and only ART’s intervention saves them. They manage to meet Tlacey only to escape another assassination attempt through Murderbot’s efforts. On a break, he returns to the Ganaka mines and learns the truth. Murderbot and the other SecUnits did kill, but as the result of a sabotage by a rival company. Murderbot didn’t just turn into a killer.

But will Murderbot succeed in getting his clients’ research and get them out alive? and what will Murderbot do with what it learned at Ganaka?

Concluding Comments

What most fascinates me in these novels is the exploration of sentient robots. Equally, the subordination of “bots” to a corporation, making them slaves repeats this old human sin of humans subjugating others. The fact that Murderbot hacks its governor to attain autonomy emphasizes its sentience, and essential drive to exercise its will in freedom. Likewise, the fact that these are Murderbot’s diaries, its interior “thoughts,” underscores this very human quality of being able to talk to oneself, a self-consciousness. While not exactly having feelings, it has a sense of loyalty to agreements, that becomes something more when others treat it with trust and dignity. There is also this drive for knowing the truth about oneself.

However, what does one do in one’s free or down time? For Murderbot, it is streaming massive amounts of videos. I’d be visiting the libraries of the world, reading as much of great works as possible with my augmented capacities. Some might argue these are equivalent. But I would propose that reading activates imagination, in which we create the video, as it were, ourselves. I wonder if Murderbot is capable of that?

Review: Mort

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Cover image of "Mort" by Terry Pratchett

Mort

Mort (Discworld, Number 4, Death, Number 1), Terry Pratchett. Harper Paperbacks (ISBN: 9780063393233) 2025 (first published in 1987)

Summary: Mort is apprenticed to Death, who collects dying souls. Mort messes up the timeline when he saves a princess, killing her assassin.

In Discworld, you do not want to meet Death. As you may recall from earlier installments, Rincewind spent much of his time eluding Death. Because Death comes to collect souls of people when they die and to set them onto their destiny in the afterworld. He has bit parts in previous Discworlds. This is his first as a significant character, and this is the first of several of the Death series within Discworld.

But the title character is really the main character here, even if he must constantly remind people of his name. Mort is the teenage son of a farmer who doesn’t want to farm. So, his father takes him to town on the day various tradesmen choose apprentices. But no one wants him. That is, no one wants him except for Death, who comes just shy of closing. The irony, if you know any French, is that mort is the French word for death.

He goes to the home of Death. Two others live there. Ysabell is Death’s daughter by adoption. The other is Death’s ancient manservant, Albert. Ysabell takes a decided disliking to Mort, despite Death’s efforts to promote their companionship

Part of his apprenticeship is to accompany Death to collect souls. He quickly learns he is not to meddle with the fatal destinies of people when he attempts to prevent the assassination of the king of Sto Lat. He learns that theirs is not to decide the time of death or prevent it, but to assist the deceased. But he does not learn this well-enough, and Death, tired of the work and wanting a change, quickly turns over collecting duties to Mort.

One of those he is assigned to collect is the daughter of the assassinated king. A rival Duke is going to kill her. Instead of allowing Princess Keli’s death, he kills the Duke. But he doesn’t reckon with altered timelines. People act as if the Princess is dead, even when she tries to interact with them. She hires the wizard Igneous Cutwell, who can see her, to promote her existence and arrange her coronation. She wants to live and wants to be Queen.

But there is another problem. The real timeline is swallowing up the alternate one. Cutwell can’t stop it but is trying to get her crowned, even if briefly. Meanwhile Mort, as he seeks a solution discovers there may be more to Albert than meets the eye. And he and Ysabell team up. Meanwhile, Death is AWOL, enjoying life as a short order cook.

If you’ve not read this, I will leave it to you to discover how this all works out, as well as if anyone learns to remember Mort’s name. What is most interesting to me is that by and large, the figure of the Grim Reaper is a character without character. Pratchett gives him one, and even gives him a midlife crisis! And since Mort is such an interesting character, I hope he turns up again!

Review: Under Her Wings

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Cover image of "Under Her Wings" by Jennifer Houston McNeel

Under Her Wings

Under Her Wings, Jennifer Houston McNeel. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802885081) 2025.

Summary: A comprehensive study of the mothers mentioned in the New Testament as well as references to motherhood.

What is one topic in biblical studies for which there is significant material but little scholarship? Jennifer Houston McNeel contends that mothers and motherhood is one of those. Some has to do with the space mothers are given in male-written and dominated texts. And then there is the historic dominance of men in preaching and scholarship. This book is an important step in redressing this imbalance. McNeel undertakes a comprehensive study of the mothers who appear in the pages of the New Testament as well as the references, often metaphorical, to motherhood.

She begins by setting the context of mothers in the Old Testament and in Jewish and Greco-Roman culture. The genealogies of scripture emphasize families and every named person, mostly men, had a mother! But the society was patriarchal, though free women had opportunities to manage their households. At the same time, childbirth was perilous, and the purview of midwives and female family and friends. While male metaphors dominate God talk, female images also are used.

Then McNeel turns to the birth narratives, beginning with the four unusual mothers who appear in Matthew’s genealogy. None are conventional. Nor is Mary in Matthew and McNeel likens Joseph to Uriah, the righteous Hittite. He marries her despite the scandal. In Matthew, she is silent. But this is hardly the case in Luke. She engages Gabriel and gives assent, if not consent (McNeel explores the ambiguities in her submission to God’s will). McNeel not only explores the encounter between Mary and Elizabeth but has a fascinating section on Mary as Jesus’ teacher. But how does one mother a grown-up Messiah? McNeel’s next chapter considers John’s portrayal of their relationship at the wedding at Cana and at the cross.

Having considered Mary’s motherhood, the next chapters turn to other mothers in the gospels. First McNeel looks at the accounts of four mothers in crisis: Simon’s mother-in-law, the mother of Jairus daughter, the Syro-Phoenician woman, and the widow at Nain. The one thing in common beyond the urgency of their crises was that none of them are named. These were good mothers, but not all mothers are good. McNeel treats the cases of three mothers which range from ambiguous to evil: the mother of the man born blind who protects her own interests, the mother of James and John, who promotes the interests of her sons (and perhaps herself), and Herodias who exposes her daughter to horror to gain revenge upon John the Baptist. Scripture gives us both exemplars and cautionary tales of motherhood.

Before moving on from the gospels, McNeels considers the metaphors of motherhood associated with Jesus. He speaks of himself as a mother hen. There are allusions to Proverbs Mother Wisdom in his call for people to come to him in Matthew 11:28-30 and he is the logos. Likewise, Jesus uses the imagery of birth to describe the new life he brings. When Jesus speaks of rivers of living water springing from him, the word Jesus uses, koilia, can mean either stomach or womb. Water and blood flow from his side as he gives birth to the church.

Acts is dealt with briefly, because the only references are to Mary, the mother of Jesus, Mary, the mother of John Mark, and the unnamed mother of Timothy. McNeel sees Acts as an interlude in the story of mothers, to become more prominent in the early church. In the undisputed letters of Paul, McNeel finds actual mothers sidelined. Women are co-workers in the gospel mission, playing prominent roles in many situations. But we don’t learn if they were mothers.. However, she observes Paul using a number of metaphors of motherhood. He uses birth pang imagery for the end times and speaks of creation groaning as if in labor. Then he speaks of his own birth and apostleship as untimely. He describes himself tenderly as a nursing mother with the Thessalonians. But he chides the Corinthians for needing milk rather than solid food.

McNeel treats the controversial material material in the pastorals as part of the non-authentic Pauline letters, written at a later time, reflecting the transitional issues facing the church. Meanwhile she notes the commending of Lois, Eunice, and others. She addresses different options for understanding women being saved through childhood, acknowledging problems with all but opting for a straightforward reading of the text, albeit not in individual terms.

McNeel treats Hebrews and the general epistles together, focusing on the faith of Sarah, Rahab, and unnamed mothers. Revelation presents us with the contrast of the virgin and the whore, which may smack of patriarchal norms. Yet Revelation anticipates a new creation where all oppression ends.

The concluding chapter summarizes themes running through this study: new life, suffering, identity, caregiving, and influence. Not only are mothers important in the biblical story, but motherhood images are at the heart of the gospel. This challenges us to combat androcentrism in biblical interpretation.

While I might take issue with some of the author’s ideas about Pauline authorship, overall I deeply appreciated the approach to the study of mothers which foregrounded these women in a helpful way for me. The fact that many women are nameless, in comparison to men, is disturbing. It reminds me that while scripture is both inspired and authoritative, it is also a human document. As a male reader, this book challenges me to notice the portrayals of women. It challenges me to question but also to appreciate. Particularly as a Protestant, we give Mary short shrift. It was illuminating to consider her as the childhood teacher of Jesus. And it was a gift to think of the motherhood images of Jesus, to be “under her wings,” as it were.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: You Can Trust a God with Scars

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Cover image of "You Can Trust a God with Scars" by Jared Ayers

You Can Trust a God with Scars

You Can Trust a God with Scars, Jared Ayers. NavPress (ISBN: 978164158-9963) 2025.

Summary: For those wondering if God can be trusted, a study of the story of God’s intimate understanding of suffering.

I was in an Old Testament workshop with Dr. Stephen Hayner, former president of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. He introduced the workshop stating that the main question the Old Testament, indeed all of scripture addressed was “Is God good and can we trust him?” There are good reasons many wonder if this is so both in what they see in the world around them and what they’ve experienced in their own lives. Jared Ayers has wrestled with this question personally. But what really brought the thoughts together that form this book were discussions with Daniel, a coffee-shop regular who found out he was a minister, and asked him about his sermon each week.

At the heart of those conversations was a walk through the Christian story. He begins with our deep longing for home and the sense that we are exiles. This is a reflection of how we turned our backs on a loving Creator, who then comes and asks, “Where are you? From here, he explores the currents of our contemporary life. We both rail against God for the rotten shape of the world, yet have to figure out where our sense of justice comes from. Quoting David Bazan, he says, we’ve “killed the captain, but…can still hear his voice.”

So, who is this voice? Ayers takes us back to God’s self-disclosure as I Am, YHWH. He makes the world in love, sticks with Abraham and his descendants, though they make a mess, and reveals himself in Jesus. At the heart of it all is love. Yet we are “miserable offenders,” and much of the mess of the world is one we’ve made. It’s beneath the floorboards of all our lives. Ultimately, God’s solution is to become one of us, “Incarno,” that is, “in flesh/meat.” God stoops to serve, enters into our suffering, and unjustly dies. This is the God with scars who may be trusted.

In succeeding chapters Ayers works out the significance of this identification with human suffering. And he offers reasons why we may believe the victory of the resurrection over suffering and death. Then there is the community formed by his Spirit, with all the messiness that needs perpetual reforming. He concludes with our hope of the return of Christ and how that affords hope for today.

Along the way, Ayers weaves his own story, references to contemporary film, art, music, and literature into a fresh re-telling of the Christian story. He leaves us with questions for reflection after each chapter. Not only does he not blink at the horrid realities of our world. He also shows us a God who didn’t blink but became one of us. God intimately acquainted himself with our condition. And he acted powerfully to show us another life is possible. This is a good book for doubters and skeptics, something all of us are in our most honest moments.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: Answering God

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Cover image for "Answering God" by Eugene H. Peterson

Answering God

Answering God, Eugene H. Peterson. Harper One (ISBN: 9780060665128) 1991.

Summary: Contends that the Psalms, explored here, are necessary instruction in prayer, understood as answering the God who addresses us.

It is not uncommon, when the questioned “How do I pray?” to say something like, “Just talk to God, expressing honestly what is on your heart.” Eugene H. Peterson, while not saying this is wrong, believes there is a lot more to prayer and praying. First of all, he proposes that praying is a tool. He believes that it is at the center of our being human. More than that, he proposes that prayer is a tool by which God works his will in us and by which we collaborate with that work. For Peterson, the Psalms are our necessary toolbox to train us in how to pray. So it has been throughout church history.

Peterson makes one more startling claim. We think prayer is about talking to God. Rather, he believes the Psalms are about answering God. Instead of our seeking God, God comes to us and speaks amidst our sin, our despair, or even our gratitude. The Psalms coach us in answering God, leading us into true conversation with God.

Before taking us through several Psalms that answer God in various ways, Peterson addresses some basic realities about the Psalms. They are not only texts, they are prayers written as poetry. As such, they take us into the depths of both God and ourselves, giving voice to the inchoate. They are not primarily about understanding ourselves. Rather, they are about addressing the one God who has everything to do with our lives. Furthermore, they are embedded in a canon of sixty-six books, part of a larger story of the People of God. Finally, although we often pray on our own, these are prayers of a community. When we pray these, we are praying with others, across the world and across the centuries.

Peterson begins at the beginning, with the “pre-prayers” of Psalms 1 and 2. Psalm 1 emphasizes meditation on Torah as the roots of our life, our prayers. Psalm 2 then leads us into adoration of the Lord and his Anointed, his Messiah, contrasted with the rulers of this world. Then as he unfolds Psalm 3, Peterson focuses on language. He contends language takes three forms, I being the language of intimacy and relationship, II the language of information, and III, the language of motivation. The Psalms are about Language I. Psalm 3 illustrates this with its cry against enemies, its expression of trust, its cry for salvation. No abstractions here but rather the language of urgent and intimate relationship.

In the following chapter, Peterson reminds us of how Psalms are set in a story–the David story, the bigger story of Israel, and ultimately a story of which we are a part. Both poetry and life have rhythms. Peterson observes for us the rhythms of evening and morning in Psalms 4 and 5. Psalm 4 begins the day in the evening and our rest in God’s care, followed by Psalm 5, with our rising in the morning to God’s work for us in the day. Then Peterson jumps to Psalm 18, observing how God teaches us to pray by metaphor. God is strength, rock, fortress, deliverer, shield, horn, and stronghold. Prayer is not gnostic. God is described but not idolized in material terms, not in spiritual abstractions.

As noted earlier, the Psalms imply a praying community. Peterson notes the liturgical notations in many Psalms. When we pray in community, we recognize that the one who summoned us is in charge. The Psalms are liturgy, but this hardly means bland as we speak the sharp-edged expressions of desperation, repentance, longing, and wonder. Then Peterson turns to the most sharp-edged psalm many of us would excise if we could, Psalm 137, with its dashing of little ones against rocks. The focus is on enemies, and Peterson argues we need to pray our hatred of our enemies before we get to the place of loving them. So this is a Psalm we desperately need.

The Psalms are about memory. We remember our creation, our implication in sin, the country of salvation. Hence, the Psalms give coherence to the disparate aspects of our lives. Finally, the Psalms end in an effusion of praise. We are thus reminded that the end of prayer, the end of life, and indeed, our destiny is the praise of God.

Thus, Peterson sums up the Psalms in ten words: Text, Way, Language, Story, Rhythm, Metaphor, Liturgy, Enemies, Memory, and End. I found that in the concision of these words and the chapters a clear scaffold on which to hang my praying of the Psalms. Peterson not only makes sense of the Psalms without a psalm-by-psalm commentary. He also gives us a primer on Christian prayer, both its purpose, and our primary instructional text. And in introducing the Psalms as the church’s prayer book, he invites us to rise from our merely personal and often idiosyncratic prayers, to pray with both ancient Israel and the church across the centuries.

Review: Paper Girl

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Cover image of "Paper Girl" by Beth Macy

Paper Girl

Paper Girl, Beth Macy. Penguin Press (ISBN: 9780593656730) 2025.

Summary: A memoir about growing up in Urbana, Ohio and how the town changed in ways that reflects the struggles of rural America.

Beth Macy grew up in Urbana, Ohio, the county seat of Champaign County, about an hour west of where I live. She grew up in a family with a mostly absentee father. As the title suggests, to supplement the family income and have some spending money, she delivered the daily paper to a section of the town and got to know those families well. With the support of her mother, older siblings and teachers, she managed to do well in school. Then she learned of the Pell Grant program, that enabled her to complete journalism studies at Bowling Green State University. From there, she went on to a career in journalism and published several best-selling books.

Her mother remained in Urbana and as her health declined, Macy spent more time there and noticed the dramatic changes in her former home. It came home to her when she met Silas James, a talented graduate from her high school from a similar poor background. She describes his struggle to find hope and his efforts to scrape together the means to enroll in a two-year welding course and cobble together transportation to get there. She wonders why the investment in her education was no longer available for someone like Silas.

And she began to notice other changes. Declining graduation rates. Confederate flags in what was once a Union stronghold and underground railroad stop. Local companies sold to outside or foreign interests followed by layoffs. The paper she delivered and later interned with was down to two issues a week and barely hanging on. Talking to counselors at the high school, she learned of stunning amounts of abuse. There were changes among former classmates and family as well. A former boyfriend, a one-time radical, was deep into QAnon.

This book is both a memoir of growing up, with lots of memories of siblings and friends, and an exploration of the cultural changes and political divides she was encountering. Rather than simply cut off contact with those she disagreed with, including families, she interviewed a number of them as a good reporter. This was not always easy. For example, one sister told her the idea of her son marrying another man was an “abomination.” But she learns about the church and political beliefs that led to these differences. She showed up for homecomings and reunions.

More than that, she weighed how broader changes in the country contributed to the changes in her town. She looks at the gutting of the Pell Grant program, so helpful to her, that resulted in making it so much harder for students like Silas to get an education. She lays blame on both parties for forgetting rural America, except to harvest their votes. NAFTA led to the offshoring that closed factories that were the backbone of small towns throughout Ohio. Drugmakers made huge profits on addictive drugs that destroyed lives and families. And media echo chambers engendered distrust of other media, science, and education.

As she listens, and sometimes argues, she also wrestles with her own contribution to the divides. The last part of the book is titled “Showing Up.” Despite the hits, she keeps showing up with aging sisters, recalling family memories, particularly when her mom passes. And she grieves the death of her ex-boyfriend, who lacked health insurance. He delayed going to the hospital for too long with a case of pneumonia. Through all the discouragement of the 2024 election and its aftermath, she doesn’t give up. Recalling her rural roots, she contends that “We must scramble for hope fiercely, the way a farm girl wrestles with a muddy sow.”

The city where I live is a government/business/education/tech center and has boomed. Politically, it is a blue island. A majority of Ohio’s 88 counties struggle with the same issues as Urbana. I grew up in Youngstown (and was a paperboy). While Youngstown was and still is much larger (59,000 vs. Urbana’s 11,000), I’ve seen the same kinds of changes Macy describes. She helped me understand rural Ohio. Not only does she model a posture of grace for how we show up. She also models the fierce hope we need to lean into. And she makes the urgent case for forgotten rural America.