Book Review and Quotes: Field Notes for the Wilderness

So I have been reading “Field Notes for the Wilderness: Practices for an Evolving Faith”.

1. I HIGHLY Recommend!

IMPRESSION:

It’s the Christian version of book that Old-Timer wanted to write – only with more comfortable flannels and with a campfire camaraderie ambience.

QUOTE (AND AUTHOR COMMENTARY):

“The wilderness” is the space “outside church” and/or “the church community”.

“I don’t know what propelled you to embark on this journey. Some of us, like myself, very consciously found ourselves leaving the city and entering the wilderness because of our questions, our doubts, our but-what-about questions.* Others of us were never welcome in the city to begin with; the wilderness has been your primary address for as long as you can remember. You have much to teach us. However we found ourselves here, look up, you can see the stars out here in a way you never could inside the city gates. You’re not as lone as you feel.”

* It’s worth noting that I am writing you as someone who was made for that city of certainty and belonging. I mean, I’m a nice white lady who is married with kids. The “city” usually loves women like me. So when I left the city gates it was on purpose and it was a choice in some ways. But for many of us, we never belonged in a city – maybe it’s because of our sexuality or gender identity, maybe it’s because we aren’t neurotypical, maybe because of how we were raised or how we look or our body, or how we move through the world. The city tends to value conformity, and for people like me, that’s an actual possibility until it isn’t. But for a lot of us, conformity isn’t even possible and so the city was never our home, which is important to name.”