Recent Reads: Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith by Kathleen Norris

What the book's about: Amazing Grace is a book of essays about all facets of faith including, as it's subtitle suggests, the articulation of our faith. 

Why I read this book: I kept reading quotes from Kathleen Norris in other, more recent books. I finally decided to read the source rather than just the quotes. 

My favorite quotes from the book:

- "When we have stability without conversion, we end up stagnant, curled up comfortably with that familiar idol called "This is the way we've always done it." Conversion without stability may describe the current state of affairs with regard to the spiritual life in America." 

- "If we can determine what it is we give our heart to, then we will know what it is we believe." 

- "We praised God not to celebrate our own faith but to give thanks for the faith God has in us. To let ourselves look at God, and let God look back at us. And to laugh, and sing, and be delighted because God has called us his own." 

- "If God did not choose to work in ways that confound us, grace would not be amazing. It would not be grace." 

- "I don't go to church for myself. Church is the Christian community, and it exists in order to worship God & to live out the commandment given by Jesus Christ, to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself." 

- "Christianity is at its worst when it becomes defensive." 

- "If a church has life, its programs are not just activity, but worship. This is helpful, because if the Sunday morning service falls flat, it is the other forms of worship that sustain this life." 

Thumbs up or thumbs down? Two thumbs up

Who I'd recommend this book for: Anyone who wants to grow in their faith.