“Searching For Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church” by Rachel Held Evans

I spent this weekend like a schoolgirl with a crush. Rachel Held Evans came to promote her new book and I spent every moment that she was speaking – listening. Three separate events, different every time, and I still showed up. Kinds of embarrassing to admit to it but strong female, Christian authors are rare. That rarity causes you to savor the moments that you get to spend listening to them.

She preached on Sunday morning over John 15 and the other two lectures were part of her new book. “Searching for Sunday” is a wonderful book and I highly recommend it. She is able to articulate her thoughts on why young people, Millennials, are leaving the church and how we can get them back. She comes at it from an evangelical Christian background and speaks to why she left the church and now why she has returned.

One of the ideas she espouses is keep the church weird, wonderfully weird through the Eucharist, baptism, confession, holy orders, confirmation, anointing of the sick and marriage. She says that Millennials are experts at spotting phony, but keeping weird while still staying true to our doctrine, works.

Young people like rituals and traditions. Having fancy bands, with fog machines are not the way to go, according to Rachel.

Right up my alley.