(704) 599-9810 | Worship Sundays @ 10:55 a.m.
(704) 599-9810 | Worship Sundays @ 10:55 a.m.
Author: John Fugelsang | Year: 2024
In this sharp, soulful, and often humorous work, John Fugelsang—a devout Christian, political comedian, and cultural critic—lays out a compelling vision for reclaiming Christianity from weaponized hate. Separation of Church and Hate speaks to believers and skeptics alike, challenging Christians to live into the radical compassion of Jesus rather than the fear-based rhetoric of culture wars. For communities like Holy Covenant, this book affirms that justice, humility, and humor are holy ground—and that love is our highest public witness.
“If someone uses your religion as an excuse to hate people, it’s not your religion they’re defending—it’s their hate.”
📖 Scripture: 1 John 4:20
“Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.”
“When you weaponize scripture, you stop proclaiming the gospel and start justifying oppression.”
Reflection: This verse from 1 John cuts to the heart of Fugelsang’s prophetic message. Love of God is inseparable from love of neighbor—not in theory, but in action. When faith is distorted to justify exclusion, we violate the very gospel we claim to uphold. This book is both a challenge and a comfort: a reminder that Christianity’s greatest strength is not in control, but in compassion.
Authors: Chris Hays & Richard B. Hays | Year: 2023
In this poignant and powerful work, father and son scholars Richard and Chris Hays engage the biblical witness on salvation, judgment, and divine grace. Writing from both a personal and theological lens, they explore whether the scope of God’s mercy might extend farther than the boundaries of traditional doctrine. The Widening of God’s Mercy is a deeply respectful yet daring conversation on inclusion, hope, and the mystery of God’s redemptive love. For a church like Holy Covenant, committed to radical welcome, this book resonates with our lived theology: that God’s mercy is not narrow, but boundless.
📖 Scripture: Romans 11:32
“For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.”
Reflection: Paul’s words in Romans 11 anticipate a mercy that transcends moral transaction. This verse suggests that human limitation is the very soil in which God’s expansive compassion grows. The Hays’ work brings this vision into focus, challenging us to embrace the mystery and wideness of grace—unearned, unstoppable, and for all.
Author: Barbara Brown Taylor | Year: 2009
In this follow-up to Leaving Church, Barbara Brown Taylor invites us into a luminous exploration of sacredness embedded in the ordinary. Through practices like paying attention, finding community, embracing wilderness, and honoring Sabbath, she shows us how everyday acts—washing dishes, walking the earth, pausing in prayer—can become altars in the world. It’s a poetic, practical field guide to living with reverence and spiritual responsiveness.
📖 Scripture: Romans 12:1
“Therefore, I urge you, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”
Reflection: Romans 12:1 calls us to spiritual attentiveness—not in distant rituals, but through offering our very lives. Taylor’s book embodies this verse: showing us that everyday moments, when noticed and honored, become our worship and spiritual altar. Living fully present is holy offering—simple, real, transformative.
Author: Barbara Brown Taylor | Year: 2006
In this poetic and candid memoir, Episcopal priest and acclaimed spiritual writer Barbara Brown Taylor explores the profound choice to leave parish ministry—not as a withdrawal, but as an invitation into deeper faith. She shares how compassion fatigue, institutional tension, and a longing for authenticity led her into solitude, teaching, and renewing spiritual life in ordinary places and shared human encounters :contentReference[oaicite:5]{index=5}.
📖 Scripture: Ecclesiastes 3:1
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”
Reflection: Taylor’s memoir is a testimony to sacred transitions. Ecclesiastes reminds us that letting go can be holy and necessary. Recognizing the “season” to leave institutional roles for deeper spiritual clarity echoes Taylor’s journey and invites us into trust, humility, and renewed longing for God beyond structures.
Author: Rob Hopkins | Year: 2019
In a culture starved of possibility, Rob Hopkins dares us to reclaim our collective imagination. From What Is to What If offers a vibrant and practical vision of how communities—when rooted in creativity, courage, and connection—can build just and joyful futures. At Holy Covenant, where faith meets action, this book renews our call to dream boldly, act bravely, and shape the world with sacred hope.
Author: Brené Brown | Year: 2017
In a world pulling us toward polarization and performance, Brené Brown calls us back to something deeper: true belonging. Braving the Wilderness is an invitation to stand in sacred solitude when needed, to speak truth with love, and to show up as our whole, unarmored selves. At Holy Covenant, where community is rooted in authenticity and justice, this book reminds us that belonging is not about fitting in—it’s about daring to be seen and loved exactly as we are.
Author: Parker J. Palmer | Year: 2000
With gentle wisdom and soulful clarity, Parker Palmer invites us to listen inwardly and live authentically. Let Your Life Speak is a tender and transformative meditation on vocation—not as a job, but as the sacred intersection of inner truth and outer action. For Holy Covenant, this book resonates as a call to discernment, rooted in community, courage, and the Spirit’s quiet guidance toward wholeness.
Author: Walter Brueggemann | Year: 2019
With urgency and insight, Walter Brueggemann invites us into the world of the prophets—voices who dared to name injustice, envision liberation, and imagine a future rooted in God’s covenantal love. From Judgment to Hope helps readers wrestle with the raw honesty of scripture and hear echoes of the prophets’ calls in our own time. At Holy Covenant, this study fuels our desire to be a justice-seeking, hope-bearing people grounded in sacred truth.
Author: Bradley Onishi | Year: 2023
A former insider turned scholar, Onishi confronts the violent underpinnings of white Christian nationalism with moral clarity and intellectual courage. Preparing for War is both exposé and call to action—a warning against complacency, a reckoning with distorted theology, and a challenge to live out a gospel of justice. For congregations like Holy Covenant, this book ignites reflection and calls us to stand boldly in love, truth, and peace.
Author: David Zucchino | Year: 2020
A Pulitzer Prize-winning exposé of America’s only successful coup, Wilmington’s Lie uncovers the coordinated racial terror that toppled a multiracial government in North Carolina. Zucchino’s telling is haunting and urgent — reminding us that truth-telling is sacred work.
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