The Church is dying, and you know that because every pulpit, Christian blog, skeptic's website, and news media in America delivers that message like a skipping record. The church is tearing itself apart over the authority of science, patterns of abuse, and the "gay issue." Mention any of these issues on Facebook, and dozens of people will be happy to tell you what "Jesus really meant," or why "religion is harmful and headed for extinction."
Rachel Held Evans dives head first into these waters in her latest book, Searching for Sunday. I should mention that this is no unbiased review–I'm both a fan of Rachel's work and fond of her as a human being. This is a vital book: a vision for a church that rises to face this era, and it's by far the most powerful writing that Rachel has done. That's saying something, as Rachel's skill with prose is something I envy almost every day.
Rachel's voice is often associated with two very different streams in the world of Christianity: Evangelical and Progressive. For many Evangelicals, Rachel is often a thorn in their side, a voice shouting over the fray that undercuts some uncomfortable issues. For this same reason, she's a rally point for Progressives. Rachel gives a lot of disenfranchised people hope.
And yet, I've seen scores of my conservative, evangelical friends express interest in Searching for Sunday. That attention is well deserved because Searching for Sunday is a beautifully written, much needed work for a Church in the middle of Civil War. It's a reminder of what following Jesus together can look like. It's a thoughtful examination of how an entire generation of people longs for Jesus, but have trouble with His Church.
Centered around seven sacraments, Searching for Sunday tells stories from different traditions within Christianity, along with Rachel's journey from her Evangelical roots, to a small church plant, and finally an embrace of the mainline Church. Most encouraging is the way Rachel incorporates the presence of all these movements into her faith.
Don't expect to find the tenets of the One True Christianity here. Instead, you'll find the story of a large, half-dysfunctional family made up of Baptists, Methodists, Catholics, Orthodox, Episcopalians, Pentecostals, Emergents, and I-Just-Can't-Do-This-Anymore people who are all obsessed with Jesus Christ. I mean that literally, Rachel describes the church as a family living in a house together, and it's a beautiful metaphor for how denominations are a gift as much as a curse.
I used my camera phone to take note of the passages I wanted to highlight when I wrote a review of Searching for Sunday. I took over 40 pictures, mainly when I found myself laughing or weeping. I'm a big hearted guy, but that's an uncommon level of emotional engagement even for me.
Chapter 10, What We Have Done, is stunning in its power as it describes both the ancient and modern atrocities of our faith, as well as the saints who stood for justice and peace.
That's because Rachel never casts anyone as the hero or the villain. She spends plenty of time mourning with those who mourn, but she doesn't point the finger at anyone. Rachel highlights our shared brokenness and our shared hope. She talks about doubt, and the infuriating ways that Christians "help" the doubting.
In one story, Rachel is teaching at a youth retreat, while unsure what she believes. At the climax of the event, she's asked to be one of the communion servers. Rachel writes this about the experience:
“As I stood at the front of the rustic camp meeting room, holding a loaf of bread in one hand and tearing off a piece at a time with the other, hundreds of people approached, one at a time, with their hands held out, ready to receive.
'This is Christ's body, broken for you,' I said.
I said it over and over again, to each person who came to the table–to the back-row boys who avoided my gaze, to the girls whose mascara rivered down their cheeks, to the kids who giggle in line with their friends, to the ones who came all alone.
This is Christ's body, broken for you.”
Rachel goes on to describe the transformative experience of serving communion for the broken from a place of brokenness and the insights she gained from the experience. So often we search for answers to life's most difficult questions in ideas and beliefs, but the Gospel only takes on life in flesh and blood. When our questions turn into actions that meaning is found, and Rachel illustrates that beautifully in Searching for Sunday.
So what of a dying church, tearing itself apart? This was the most powerful message of Searching for Sunday. Empires fear death, but the Church is in the resurrection business. Christianity has died over and over throughout history, and each time it's been resurrected with a new voice and a new body that speaks to a new time.
Perhaps it's time to stop lamenting this death, and instead become a part of new life. As Rachel says in a chapter titled Easter Doubt, “And sometimes, just showing up, burial spice in hand, is all it takes to witness a miracle.”
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From the brand
Rachel Held Evans
Discover these thought-provoking books from Rachel!
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New York Times bestselling author Rachel Held Evans (1981–2019) is known for her books and articles about faith, doubt, and life in the Bible Belt. Rachel has been featured in the Washington Post, The Guardian, Christianity Today, Slate, HuffPost, and the CNN Belief Blog, and on NPR, BBC, Today, and The View. Rachel’s messages continue to reverberate around the world.
From the Publisher
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| Inspired | Searching for Sunday | A Year of Biblical Womanhood | Faith Unraveled | |
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| About this book: | What do people mean when they say the Bible is inspired? When author Rachel Held Evans found herself wondering, she embarked on a journey to better understand the Bible. What she discovered changed her--and it can change you, too. | Are you struggling to connect with your church community? Do you find yourself questioning your core beliefs? Searching for Sunday is a heartfelt ode to the past and a hopeful gaze into the future of what it means to be a part of the modern church. | Is there really a prescription for biblical womanhood? Does the Bible's idea of womanhood have a place in modern Christianity? Join Rachel Held Evans as she embarks on a year-long study of what it means to live by the standards of biblical womanhood. | Eighty years after the Scopes Monkey Trial made a spectacle of Christian fundamentalism and brought national attention to her hometown, Rachel Held Evans faced a trial of her own when she began to have doubts about her faith. |
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Reviews with images
A love letter to the church
This new book from Rachel Held Evans goes far beyond the words on her blog, far beyond the stories we have heard in her past two books. This is a love letter to the church, using the language and imagery of the sacraments to convey a deep love, loss and reconnection to God's church on earth. Sometimes I find Evans to be too liberal for me, sometimes just liberal enough, but this book surpasses political lines to go back to basics, and find roots and love in the basics of faith and in the basics of the church as an institution. It is a balm for those who have been hurt by the church, and a breath of fresh air to those who have not. In this book Evans has really turned a corner in finding her voice and I look forward to seeing where she goes next.
Top reviews from other countries
OrdinaryGirl
The story of so many who were raised in evangelical homes
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 27, 2020John Carroll
Great book and I bought the Audible version as well....
Reviewed in Australia on January 30, 2023