Searching for Sunday

Rating: 4 stars of 5

Rachel was a fantastic storyteller with a gift for putting sentences together in beautiful ways. Her poignant words in this book often left me sitting and staring off into the distance as I thought through some truth she had shared that caused me to pause and reflect for a few moments.

Searching for Sunday is presented as a memoir of Rachel???s journey through seasons of disillusionment with and love for the church. People who can relate to her story will likely find inspiration and communion in it.

Rachel always has a way of making christianity feel like there's true hope for progression. I love her. This book was just her talking about her messy life and leaving / coming back to church and all of the nuance that involved. I wish rachel was my friend IRL.

I am a Christian who doesn't attend church. To put it quite simply: it has harmed me greatly, mostly over my trans identity. That is what drew me to this book. I was excited to hear about the experiences and feelings of another Christian struggling with church. I truly am so glad that I got to read this book. I learned a lot about the church. I learned about how much diversity in practices, styles of worship, services, ways to observe communion (or the eucharist, depending on your form of the Christian faith) there is. For the first time I got to see what draws people to Christ in different ways and how so many practices I never considered or previously thought dumb were beautiful in their own ways and how they brought other Christians closer not only to God but to other Christians. For instance, I have never been publicly baptized. I was baptized the night I gave my life to Christ with only my immediate family and maternal grandparents around. Because of that, I don't understand what it means to a Christian, how it impacts one to be baptized in a public way in front of their spiritual family. Another example is confirmation. I have never been part of a church that had confirmation. So, I never really thought about it much. After reading this book I think that I understand to an extent what kind of beauty it brings to a community of believers. Those are just a few examples. I could go on about how it changed my views on communion, oils, etc. At the end of the day what I want to say is, this book opened my eyes. It opened my eyes to the true beauty of diversity of different Christian faith forms. To see how different ways of observing different sacraments can bring different people closer to God and the rest of the church. This book truly shows the beauty of the Christian church, despite how much brokeness there often is in it, even if I can't be a part of it.

I needed this book now. With everything that has gone on in 2020 both in society and in my life, I needed to hear someone else's struggle.
For many years, I have avoided reading blogs and books by this author because I thought I disagreed with all of her stances. When I found out about her death, I grieved for her family and friends. Then 2020 happened and I reached out to her book. I found out that I can relate to many of her doubts. I found out that I agree with some of her stances. I still disagree with some, but this book helped me see where she is coming from and how she developed her beliefs.
The strength of this book is not the stances she takes, but the way she describes her doubts and her struggles. She doesn't give up on faith because of her doubts. She doesn't give up on her doubts because of her faith. This tension and struggle is a breath of fresh air in a world where struggle and tension and doubts are discouraged.
This book is what I needed for this time in my life. I would not have been ready to read it earlier, but I am sad that I wasn't ready when Rachel Held Evans was here.
If you are wrestling with doubts, belief, and what church is, then this book is helpful. If reading about doubts and frustrations are going to make you want to argue, then this book isn't for you.

I didn't realise til about a quarter in that I have already read one of Rachel Held Evans' books before - it must be a later one than this because I couldn't find it in the author bio. I am fascinated by this new type of Christian memoir/ apologetics from the ‘former' (?) American evangelical Christians who had a crisis of faith and moved into other denominations. They aren't new monastics like Shane Claiborne, they still preach the ‘loving like Jesus' thing, but there is a desire for the rituals of sacrament and liturgy in Anglican/Episcopal tradition here (and the Lutheran church in Pastrix earlier, Rachel mentions Nadia and several of her ideas more than once) It's interesting that attitudes towards lgbtqi individuals is the breaking point many times for being able to deal with Christian churches and organisations (more accessible/ understandable for a general audience? or just the cultural bugbear of the times? not that I object necessarily, it just makes me wonder what if it had been something else?)

Short Review: I really went back and forth about whether I was going to read this or not. I had read very convincing reviews both pro and con. Two things made me eventually pick it up. One, I knew it was about Evans move toward the Episcopal church and I have been moving that way as well. And two it is on Scribd as an audiobook. Subscription services really allow you to try something out that you would not read otherwise.

I think this is Evans' best book so far. But it is not a slam dunk. I love her writing. She has humor, real insight and she is a wide ranging thinker that is not afraid to put out her own thoughts. I think she has not been well served by Thomas Nelson's editorial staff. I think she could be a great writer, but she needs a better editor that really understands how to bring the best out in her.

The structure of the seven sacraments, while interesting, never really made complete sense to me.

I do think the book is worth reading, hence 4 stars. But it is a book that is primarily for doubters and skeptics. If you are not a doubter or a skeptic, you probably will be frustrated by Evans. That is ok, this book isn't written for you.


My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/searching-for-sunday-by-rachel-held-evans/