Book Review

BIOGRAPHICAL ENTRY

Evans, Rachel Held, Searching for Sunday. Nashville, TN: Nelson Books, 2015, 269 pp.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF AUTHOR

Rachel Held Evans, an award-winning writer, is a popular blogger and the author of Faith Unraveled and the New York Times best-selling A Year of Biblical Womanhood. She lives in Dayton, TN. Note: Rachel Held Evans transitioned on May 4, 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee.

SUMMARY OF CONTENTS

Prologue, Dawn: Rachel Evans begins by addressing the issue of why millennials leave the church. She writes her book centered on the seven sacraments given to us by the Roman Catholic Church. Millennials are not looking for a hipper Christianity. They are looking for a truer Christianity, a more authentic Christianity. They are looking for Jesus, not a church with gimmicks and promotions of itself; its brand, but Jesus. They are not seeking for a Sunday church, but they are seeking for Sunday Resurrection.

Part I, Baptism: Water has the capacity to bring both life and death. Rachel Evans recalls her early childhood learning about different beliefs about baptism. Baptism identifies us as persons adopted into a community of faith. Evans tells about churches that refuse to baptize persons that do not meet their standards. Baptism is done at the beginning of one’s faith journey; not the middle or the end of the journey. The only requirement for baptism is that one grasps God’s grace.

Part II, Confession: In this section Evans reviews the need for the church individually and cooperatively to confess sins. Instead of allowing confession the church insist on conformity, but people are not allowed to express doubts and curiosity. There is no room for people with different faith perspectives. The organization Alcoholics Anonymous models shared brokenness. It is an example of openness, honesty, confession, and sharing. Over the centuries the religious leaders have used the scriptures to justify abuse, mistreatment, and murder of people. People leave the church for various reasons. Tension and misunderstanding exist between the church and the unchurched. Jesus did not play by the rules. People of every social and religious group followed Him because they had shared needs. That Jesus came for “sinners” means that He came for all people.

Part III, Holy Orders: People need to feel the touch. The act of “Laying on of Hands” is confirming that someone is being empowered to carry out a God-assigned work. Through touch, God gives us the power to injure or to heal, to wage war or to wash feet. Evans describes the building of a new church called “Mission.” The Mission wanted to be defined by what they were, instead of by what they were not. As members changed their life focus they left and the church closed. There is a difference between preaching success and preaching resurrection. Jesus washed the feet of His disciples to set an example of what it means to lead by serving those in need. All believers in Jesus are called to be priests.

Part IV, Communion: Jesus is the bread come down for heaven. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. We are never to forget this. Evans describes the early church as a largely disregarded religion of slaves and women. They met to share a meal to remember that Jesus was present with them. Constantine made Christianity the religion of the state and the Eucharist became a ceremonial stylized event. Regardless to how the Eucharist is celebrated there is a focus of remembering that God is with us. When we open our hands to receive we lose power and control. We admit our needs. Evans believes that the only requirement for partaking of the Eucharist is that a person be hungry. Sharing the Eucharist is the celebration that all people find community in their shared need to be fed the bread and wine which joins us as companions. Wine symbolizes that God has more than we need as seen at the wedding in Cana recorded in the Gospel of John.

Part V, Confirmation: The Spirit is like the wind. We cannot control it. We know not where it comes from, and where it goes. The Spirit is the power of God that both creates and destroys. It gives life to everything that lives. It removes Himself from the living, and the living die. We are confirmed by its present. In her search for church Evans discovers that she was really looking for sanctuary, a quiet place to be with God. When the Spirit lives within you, any place can become a sanctuary. Listen and pay attention. There are many denominations in Christianity. Each has its own individual identity. Each reaches out to people of different cultures. All are talking about God who is reconciling the world to Himself through Jesus Christ. The Spirit is always moving, and He makes Himself known through people that He gives new life to.

Part VI, Anointing of the Sick: Evans gives us the many uses of oil found in the scriptures. The fragrance of oil reminds us of God’s presence. Oil is used in relation to being chosen and consecrated for a holy task. The church too often wants to cure people, but the church is not a cure. The church is called to heal, that is to love people, to walk with people unconditionally through their journey. Cynicism prevents us from knowing truth. We are connected to the church of our birth even if it rejects who we are and cause us pain. As old churches die out, Jesus resurrects the church to be more effective in His goals for the church; mainly to offer salvation to everyone.

Part VII, Marriage: Evans gives us a perspective on marriage described in Ephesians 5:21-33 that differs from most traditional views of marriage. Instead of prescribing a hierarchy of gender roles, marriage and all relationships and vocations give Christians the opportunity to reflect the grace and peace of the kingdom of God. The church is like a flawed body. “Maybe it’s time to make peace with her. Maybe it’s time to embrace her, flawed as she is.” In the Gospels Jesus talked about the kingdom. In Acts and the Epistles the church is talked about more than the kingdom. The church becomes sacramental when it reflects and points the world to the kingdom. It is dark now, but resurrection is sure to come.

CRITICAL EVALUATION

Rachel Held Evans writes an important book that I believe will help bridge the gaps that exist in our churches today. This daughter of a preacher that was raised in a traditional evangelical church and educated in Christian schools is able to connect the old ways of church to the new ways of church. It is often the case that the new church is critical of the old church without understanding the reasons that the old church did things the way that they did. There must be some connecting of the dots if the church is to include all people. Rachel Held Evans does this in this work.

Evans describes to us how the traditional church viewed scriptures that are different from the views held by the new church today. This work can be beneficial to young pastors that are replacing older more traditional pastors. The new younger pastor can study “change theory,” and they can combine it with the information that Evans gives to build bonds between older more traditional members and the younger members. This is important because older members often are people that have been in church all of their life. New members are often people that have never been connected to the church and Jesus Christ. Thus, older members sometimes do not grasp the concerns of the new members. They may see these younger people as people that lack faith. While older members were obedient to what their elders told them, younger members ask questions and express their doubts. This is true because younger members are born into a more diverse and complicated society than that experienced by their elders.

I recommend this book to all people in the church; especially those persons in leadership positions. It will help leaders to bridge the gap between older members and younger members. By bridging gaps the church will be unified and effective in the ministry that Jesus calls us to; to be a church for all people.