Good Faith Reads

This book is a memoir of my journey in faith. That journey began in the home of my childhood, but the chapters cover experiences extending from some of my earliest memories until just a few years ago. I had already begun reflecting on these experiences, theologically, as the later ones were occurring, but it was not until a friend invited me to speak to his congregation that I connected them. "You're not what most of our people think of when they hear the word Baptist," the priest of a local Episcopal church said. "Come talk to us about how you got where you are from where you started."

It was a fascinating challenge. As I sat down to prepare a one-hour Sunday school lesson for Episcopalian adults, I realized I had a story to tell. My suspicion is that this story, regardless of how eloquently I have or have not told it, will resonate with many people. Too frequently I hear people speak of their "bad experiences" with the church, experiences often occurring in the formative years of childhood or adolescence. Sadly, too many of these folks leave organized religion, if not turn their backs altogether on a God they suspect has turned a blind eye or a judgmental whim against them.

I have managed to stay within the realm of organized religion. In fact, it is my life. I have not felt the need to abandon or reject God. In fact, God has become more important, more real, more central to my story. I understand those who leave, but because I believe so strongly in the church and the value of faith in one's life, I hope my experience might be an encouragement. One can question, doubt, reject much of what we learned in our childhood, and still remain faithful.

There is a "new way home." Maybe my experiences will help some of you find it.

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American mom and Baptist church lady Becky Ramsey moves to France knowing her family’s life will change, but her faith? Why would it? Then a quirky new friend gives her a holy card she found at the flea market and soon Becky finds herself on an accidental pilgrimage out of the pew and into the streets of France.

Readers come along as she collects a ragtag assortment of unlikely saints and sacred everyday things, each one earning a chapter and holy card of its own. Curious encounters with a silver haired prostitute and the ghost of Vincent Van Gogh, a bowl of cidre in a stranger’s garage and an éclair chocolat at Patisserie Antoinette, among others, whisper into her workaholic heart, revealing the wildness of God’s love, tempting her to let go of her striving to become God’s teacher’s pet and finally accept grace for herself.

After being asked by the associate pastor of his church to write a weekly blog post, author Jeff Hampton jumped at the opportunity to offer up his thoughts on matters of faith—which he has now done for the past ten years. This act of deliberate writing has forced him to explore what he believes, and to consider whether or not he practices what he preaches. At his wife LeAnn’s suggestion, Hampton collected these blog posts into a book. It was then that LeAnn noticed that most of the writings were about community— not “community” as defined by the census bureau and the chamber of commerce, but rather all the different types of community in which we live. That includes family, friends, neighbors, churches, workplaces, towns, states, countries, races, and humankind. At different times we all live and interact in these communities—usually in several simultaneously. Jeff Hampton explores through his weekly personal writings how we all fit into and contribute (or not) to the communities to which we belong.

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I almost gave up on Christianity. Growing up in a conservative Protestant church, I was taught a lot of ideas about God, the Bible, salvation, and what was called faith. I never questioned most of this until I got older and began to really study the Bible.

I slowly discovered that much of what I had been taught did not make sense in that it was internally inconsistent and sometimes contradictory. My childhood theology could not answer even the simplest questions about prayer or how to know what was authoritative.

Jesus taught that we should love our neighbors as ourselves. Was my church in the forefront of advocating for social justice? Sadly no, but it didn’t really matter because all the church members believed they were saved regardless. This version of Christianity just didn’t make sense to me. I found it hard to believe that Jesus didn’t teach a coherent understanding of the nature of God, how God interacts with us, and what God expects of us in this life.

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I am not an authority on the practice of yoga. I am, in many ways, deciding to be the proverbial blind leading the blind. I am a beginner offering insight to other beginners. I am a novice sharing my embryonic experiences and pitifully sophomoric thoughts in order to get you past whatever anxieties and fears you hold with regard to yoga. Some may seem simple: What equipment do I need? How will I ever learn the poses? Will my body really do that? Other concerns may be deeper: Will this conflict with my faith? Do I have to be vegan? How will yoga affect my life?

I am making the assumption that my experience and subsequent thoughts will naturally address the mental and physical obstacles that have kept you from entering the yoga world, your local yoga studio, or your community center's yoga class. Some fellow novices will be astounded by the depth of my knowledge and commitment after having only practiced for one year. Longtime practitioners of yoga will probably smile and roll their eyes at my ignorance and naivete. Both reactions will be expressions of truth.

I want this book to be informative and fun. I want you to laugh with me and at me. I will transparently expose my worries, missteps, and fumbles so that you can either avoid them or fall fearlessly into them. I would suggest the latter.

I'll admit it: I want to entice you into a world-no, into a way of being in the world-that makes the world a better place for all of us.

Learn more at GoodFaithMedia.org.