The Deepest Belonging

The Deepest Belonging – Kara K Root

With deepest thanks to my colleague Kerry Tankard who put me on the road to reading this wonderful book.

This book, with it's subtitle: 'A story about discovering where God meets us', has at it's heart one very simple refrain:

We belong to God and we belong to each other.

It clearly riffs on the Biblical golden rule: love God and love your neighbour as yourself. But Root takes this 'translation' of the text and uses it to explore both what it means to be in relationship with one another as members of the same congregation and as members of a common humanity, and also what it means to be in relationship with God, especially in those moments when everything around us, all our certainties and hopes seem to be crumbling. That we are beloved of God, and we never stop being beloved. As Julian of Norwich (who Root quotes in the book) says: "All shall be well... for there is a force of love moving through the universe that holds us fast and will never let us go."

It is centred around an account of the events in Root's church when a beloved and involved member of their congregation is diagnosed with terminal cancer but it also features other stories of loss, Root's own loss of faith, an earlier experience of a friend who died of cancer when Root was thousands of miles away and unable to be present at the end, and the divorce of her parents. Through these moments Root discovers a deeper and more expansive understanding of who God is and who God is calling her to be as pastor of a Presbyterian church in Minneapolis. She speaks with an honesty which can sometimes make you wince as you recognise something which touches home, there is laughter and there are tears, sometimes almost in the same breath. The unfolding realisation of this new theological vision is written with such simplicity that I found it an un-put-downable book and, suffice it to say, my copy is now littered with my own questions and comments.

I think it has a great deal to help us ponder on, about our understanding of what it means to be beloved of God, and, as a consequence of that understanding, our own discipleship and the nature and purpose of Church which she suggests is; "... those who acknowledge God is here and use words to say out loud our true connection to all others." I've written in the margin the question; 'What is my definition of church?' With the exception of wanting to include something explicit about not just using words to say out loud our true connection to all others but also using our actions to make the statement somewhat more grounded, I've yet to come up with anything better.

I don't usually post book reviews on the District Facebook page, or on the website, but this has been such an inspiring book I wanted to be able to share it with others. I think it lends itself to a book club kind of conversation, although, sadly, I am not sure that my diary allows for me to lead it. But perhaps the thought will inspire some of you to get together in your areas, even across circuit boundaries and take a look. Please let me know what you think. I'd love to hear.

God bless, Rev Angy.