When "Spiritual but Not Religious" Is Not Enough: Seeing God in Surprising Places, Even the Church

by Lillian Daniel

Hardcover, 2013

Status

Available

Description

The phrase "I'm spiritual but not religious" has become a cliché. It's easy to find God amid the convenience of self-styled spirituality--but is it possible (and more worthwhile) to search for God through religion? Minister and celebrated author Lillian Daniel gives a new spin on church with stories of what a life of faith can really be: weird, wondrous, and well worth trying. From a rock-and-roller sexton to a BB gun-toting grandma, a church service attended by animals to a group of unlikely theologians at Sing Sing, Daniel shows us a portrait of church that is flawed, fallible--and deeply faithful. With poignant reflections and sly wit, Daniel invites all of us to step out of ourselves, dare to become a community, and encounter a God greater than we could ever invent. Humorous and sincere, this is a book about people finding God in the most unexpected of places: prisons, airports, yoga classes, committee meetings, and, strangest of all, right there in church.… (more)

Publication

Jericho Books (2013), 224 pages

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Rating

(15 ratings; 3.1)

User reviews

LibraryThing member Othemts
A Christian minister writes several essays about contemporary religious life, challenging people to go beyond seeing God in sunsets and waterfalls and seeking out God in the flawed human beings in the community around them. Daniel is wise and humorous and at times sounds like a cranky old person (I
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looked at her author photo, she's not), but always with the underlying goal of startling the reader into taking their relationship to God and community to a higher plane.
Favorite Passages:

"When you witness suffering and declare yourself to have achieved salvation in the religion of gratitude, you have fallen way short of what God would have you do, no matter what religion you are called to.

And by the way, while I think God does want us to feel gratitude, I do not think God particularly wants us to feel lucky. I think God wants us to witness pain and suffering and rather than feeling lucky, God wants us to get angry and want to do something about it.

The civil rights movement didn't happen because people felt lucky. The hungry don't get fed, the homeless don't get sheltered, and the world doesn't change because people are who are doing okay feel lucky. We need more." - p. 9

"At one point, the whole world was safe for animals. Now their territory is constricted. Human beings control so much of the landscape and we have huge areas where animals rarely go -- schools, hospitals, stores, churches. So I like to think of the sight of an animal in the airport as a special gift. We get a glimpse of nature in a sterile place. We get a dose of animal instinct in a place where we all have to behave ourselves. It's as odd as hearing a dog bark in church, and just as wonderful." - p. 137

"I don't want to choose. The church has plenty of tents staked out on the battlegrounds of who Jesus is, and why it matters. I pitch my tent in the field of mystery, and have yet to nail it down." - p. 161

"I'm tired of playing by that dull and pedestrian set of rules, which has everything to do with a litigious, factoid-hungry culture and nothing to do with following Jesus. I don't come to church for evidence or for a closing argument. I come to experience the presence of God, to sense the mystery of things eternal, and to learn a way of life that makes no sense to those stuck sniffing around for proof." - p. 166

"I believe that there really is a connection between who we were raised to be and who we are now. It might bot be a straight line, but you cannot connect the dots. God works through all kinds of religious communities at different points in our lives.

No spiritual home is all good or all bad. So give thanks for the small and tender blessings of every place that has never been our spiritual home, and for lessons you have learned." - p. 182
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LibraryThing member Unreachableshelf
A thought provoking yet witty book from a United Church of Christ minister. Frequently when I was reading this book I thought a section might be good to use as a devotional at a women's circle meeting, except I could never figure out how to read *only* a section of an appropriate length.
LibraryThing member auntieknickers
Lillian Daniel, pastor of a United Church of Christ congregation in the Chicago suburbs, was preaching to the choir when I read this book of short pieces (essays, reworked blog posts, mini-sermons, pastoral letters?) We agree on most things she wrote about, though her perspective is that of a
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minister and mine that of a layperson. Plus, we are very distant cousins -- she's also, as she mentions in a piece on immigration, a descendant of the prolific Mayflower passengers John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley. I'm not sure how persuasive her arguments would be to the "spiritual but not religious" folks who aren't filling the pews. But it won't take long to read, and I would recommend it.
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LibraryThing member mcelhra
Lillian Daniel is the senior minister of a United Church of Christ church in the Chicago area. I read this book because the minister of my church (a Unitarian Universalist church) told the congregation he was going to give a sermon based on it.

The focus of this book is the importance of religious
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community. Daniel has a snarky, sarcastic sense of humor but stops short of sounding self-righteous. She uses personal stories to make her points. The book is a serious of thoughtful, sometimes funny, sometimes serious vignettes. The UCC is a liberal Christian denomination, which is apparent in her writing and viewpoint. I really enjoyed this book and recommend it to all.
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LibraryThing member CovenantPresMadison
Lillian Daniel’s newest book, When “Spiritual But Religious” is Not Enough: Seeing God in Surprising Places, Even the Church, was recently mentioned in one of Pastor Charlie’s sermons. In an age when so many people want to write off the institution of the church as being lifeless and dead,
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with great honesty and truth, Daniel offers an alternative, realistic, life-giving approach to the death-of-the-mainline-church crisis. Pastor of a prominent United Church of Christ congregation in the suburbs of Chicago, Daniel challenges those who contentedly and easily “search” for God outside of the church walls by insinuating that it is a lot more difficult to see God in the face of suffering and death, poverty and injustice, and fallible human beings. Daniel’s writing is both humorous and fabulous. Daniels is one of the presenters at the 2014 Wisconsin Council of Churches Washington Island Forum in late June. Her book is currently available in the Covenant Library.
- Jessica Nylund Salt
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