Like domesticated silkworms, faith communities that fly under the radar feel that, in order to survive, they need to break out of that system – or at least work their way around that system. What can we learn from the genius of nature about being gently and respectfully innovative?

Sometimes our acts of kindness – though well-intentioned – can do more damage than good. How can we do good in a way that respects the agency and voice of the other, especially those who seem more than most to be ‘acted upon’?

We ache for epiphanies today. Something that will reveal to us what we all deep down suspect – that there is more. This doesn’t mean the removal of darkness, pain and reality before us, but a glimpse of what one day could be.

The people in our community who are not famous, attractive, well-connected or ‘useful’ in our pragmatic, cold and calculating economy are a gift to us. They bring grace when we least expect it but often when we most need it.

This book is not about how to do nothing, but an act of ‘political resistance’ against the attention economy. Odell confronts us with who we have become, a disembodied, distracted society moulded by technologies with not so altruistic agendas, and calls us to become something different – a community that is human.

Sabbath Time is not a recipe book about ‘how to get the most you can from God during a Sabbath rest’. It offers an honest and vulnerable witness to Ringma’s experience as he openhandedly wrestles with God, finds peace, is disturbed, encounters more unanswerable questions and, finally, wonders about how he can live out a daily ‘hermitage of the heart’ after his return.

What is the role of the church in a world ‘starving to death’ for the beauty of the reign of God? Based on his research, community work and ministry experience, Van Eymeren calls on the people of God to be engaged in the community in which they are placed. The book bridges theory and practice and leads us to ask: what can I do?

We need to move beyond echo-chamber church discussions around ‘complementarianism’ and ‘egalitarianism’ that can distract us from noticing the deeper problem that pervades our society and that we desperately need to address: sexism.

As we learn the way that God works – slow, delightful, surprising – we will learn how to work, and we will begin to experience work as a joy rather than a curse.