The New Church's Teaching series has been one of the most recognizable and useful sets of books in The Episcopal Church. With the launch of the Church's Teachings for a Changing World series, visionary Episcopal thinkers and leaders have teamed up to write a new set of books, grounded and thoughtful enough for seminarians and leaders, concise and accessible enough for newcomers, with a host of discussion resources that help readers to dig deep. Michael Curry leads off this volume with a clarion call for Episcopalians to join the Jesus Movement. A team of the church's brightest stars follow up with reflections on the practice of ministry in light of the movement: Nora Gallagher on encountering the "other," Rob Wright on adaptive leadership, Broderick Greer on reconciliation, Anthony Guillen on new ministries, Megan Castellan on evangelism, and Kellan Day on ministry with young people. Michael Curry closes with a word on making the world whole. Christians have been following Jesus together for some 2000 years - these leaders help to illuminate how we follow him in our time.

The sacred meal that is part of our faith does more than connect us to the holy, it connects us to each other.

"I think Jesus wanted his disciples and everyone who came after him to remember what they had together. What they made together. What it meant to be together. How the things he did could not have been done without them."

In her inimitable style of memoir and personal reflection, Nora Gallagher explores the beauty and mystery of this most fascinating of topics. Whether exploring the history of Christian communion, taking us inside the workings of a soup kitchen, or sharing times of joy and sadness with friends, she reminds us what it means to partake of, and be part of, the body of Christ.

A volume in the eight book classic series, "The Ancient Practices, " with a foreword by Phyllis Tickle, General Editor.

Nora Gallagher’s compelling story of a woman at a crossroads, discerning what to do and how to live after her brother’s death, is a continuation of the spiritual journey she chronicled in her acclaimed book, Things Seen and Unseen: A Year Lived in Faith.

When her beloved brother, Kit, dies, Gallagher finds her own life no longer makes sense. Stretched between meetings, always ten minutes late, increasingly drained of surprise and humor, Gallagher realizes she’s lost more than her brother. She’s lost her “own wild life,” and a sense of the sacred in the world.

Gallagher sets out to find “a new way to spend” herself. Practicing Resurrection describes the often un-
settling, sometimes comic, and finally redemptive process of discovery as Gallagher discerns a possible call to the ministry, and explores her marriage, her work as a writer, and the natural world. It extends to the full meaning of life after a death as Gallagher finds that experiences of “resurrection” are not believing “six impossible things before breakfast.” The surprising end portrays a vision of ministry redefined and a marriage honestly renewed.

A beautiful and often harrowing account of the exploration of a vocation and of new life after loss, this powerful memoir will inform and inspire anyone trying to discern the signs of a “call” to what might be a deeper purpose, and how to act on it.





From the Hardcover edition.

"Gracefully written and moving ... Things Seen and Unseen starts with Nora Gallagher entering the labyrinth of her life ... and ultimately it leads to the center of her being."--The Boston Globe

It started with an occasional Sunday, a "tourist's" visit to a local church. Eventually Nora Gallagher entered into a yearlong journey to discover her
faith and a relationship with God, using the Christian calendar as her compass.

Whether writing about her brother's battle against cancer, talking to homeless men about the World Series, or questioning the afterlife ("One world
at a time"), Gallagher draws us into a world of journeys and mysteries, yet grounded in a gritty reality. She braids together the symbols of the
Christian calendar, the events of a year in one church, and her own spiritual journey, each strand combed out with harrowing intimacy. Thought provoking and profoundly perceptive, Things Seen and Unseen is a remarkable demonstration that "the road to the sacred is paved with the ordinary."

"Like Kathleen Norris in Amazing Grace, Gallagher is renewing the language of ultimate concerns."--San Francisco Chronicle

"The deep serenity that suffuses Gallagher's work, the lyrical cadences in which she writes, do not blunt the sharp edges of what she discovered in her quest for meaning."--Los Angeles Times