Searching for Sunday, by Rachel Held Evans

This book is part memoir and part musings about the institutionalized, denominational church in the West, especially America. Her memoirs are weaved throughout every chapter, along with her reflections. Glennon Doyle Melton another author, has written the forward to this book. Evans writes her own prologue to her book. The book is arranged into sections for each ritual in church denominations. Part 1 is devoted to Baptism. Part 2 is devoted to Confession. Part 3 is dedicated to what is called Holy Orders. Part 4 is devoted to Communion. Part 5 is dedicated to Confirmation. Part 6 is devoted to what is called Anointing of the Sick. The final section is dedicated to Marriage. She wraps up this book with an Epilogue and provides acknowledgments of those who have been part of this book. The book has several pages of notes that cite sources that Evans has used in her research for this book.

I expected this book to focus on the author's own experiences and her lessons in her congregations. She includes these but her book is more about her musings of what she calls resurrection and what she thinks the church can be or should be. By "church" she is referring not to the universal body of Christian believers. She is referring to local Christian fellowships of various congregations, especially those she has been involved in. I found out early where she stands on GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender) issues, as she makes it explicit that the answer to welcoming the GLBT community is to accept their alternate lifestyles as morally and spiritually acceptable. I liked all the parts of her book where she discusses the importance of being real in our church fellowships. In an age of compromise and lukewarmness in the modern Christian Western Church, I could not agree with her solution to the sad problem of the across-the-board lack of transparency and diversity in our local church fellowships, especially our denominational fellowships. One of her solutions is to give into the cultural pressures to re-define marriage as accessible to the GBLT community. This aspect of her book, and her condoning of GLBT lifestyles as morally acceptable, keeps me from embracing Evans as a like-minded sister in Jesus, as much as I want to. I understand why Evans and other like-minded Christians cave into the worldview of the culture, and call homosexuality and its cousins morally acceptable, even to Christians. They are acutely aware of the bullying, hate and mean-spiritedness that have been leveled against the GLBT community. They are aware that even some Christians have failed to show Jesus' love to members of the GLBT community. Evans, like like-minded Christians, fails to see that when Jesus said to the woman in adultery, "Neither do I condemn you," He told her, "Go and sin no more." He did not say, "Since I accept you, I accept your lifestyle. You deserve to be happy." No! Evans and like-minded Christians fail to realize that the grace that forgives us of our sins also is meant to enable us to do what we can to stop sinning. Also, in the book, Evans refers to God the Holy Spirit with the feminine pronoun. I understand that God indeed, sometimes, uses feminine images to describe His love, as He has done especially in the Old Testament. And she no doubt wants to stress that God affirms women. But taking liberties with how God has revealed Himself, as male, is not the way to go. I think Evans can make her point just as well without using a female pronoun for the Third Person of the Trinity. Evans has done a stellar job of diagnosing the problems of interpersonal relationships in the modern Christian Church, but I think she is taking an unBiblical approach in calling things God clearly calls sin, as good and acceptable. I know that Evans is popular and has a popular blog. But hasn't Jesus said, "Woe to you when all men speak well of you"?

I cannot feel comfortable recommending this book to any non-believer, as this book will just enable them to in their natural desire to make God in their image, and re-defining an institution He has set to operate in His way. For the same reason, I cannot comfortably recommend this book to new Christians who may be confused to read some things in this book that condradict Scripture. I do recommend this book to many Pastors and those in other Christian leadership positions in many churches that are losing members. This book will provide insight into why this is happening, though I do not think that Pastors should condone or embrace GLBT lifestyles in order to show Christ's love to the GLBT community, as she thinks should be done.

I have received this book free of charge through Booklook Bloggers, in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to give a positive review of this book.