We are discussing the book "A Tumblin' Down" by Sarah Hinlicky Wilson. (Our September book club book.) This is a fiction book about a pastor's family. This book starts with a pastor wrestling with a passage of scripture that doesn't fit well into his theological framework, and trying to figure out how to pull a sermon from it. Each person in this family goes through seasons of struggling with their faith both from their past, and in the present. But when this family is forced to grieve publically, and their faith gets put to the test, gossip overtakes the church as to how they are grieving, and how they should have handled their grief.

This gossip leads to a tension that will either drive the pastor's family out, or cause a church split. As this family starts to crumble under the pressure, an unlikely friendship with a pastor from communist East Germany enters the picture.

This book had us laughing and crying. The description of church people, while a fiction book, has so much truth.

Freely Given:

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Kelsi Klembara's "Ourside Ourselves" interview with Sarah Hinlicky Wilson