Behold What You Are: Becoming the Body of Christ - Christian Spiritual Growth Book for Bible Study and Faith Development

A brief disclaimer: I have known the author for many years.This is a wonderful gem of a book.Like a diamond, it is the result of ordinary times and insights compressed into a thing of great beauty that reflects the world (and the Word) in surprising ways. The Rev’d Fischbeck brings together her experiences and those of The Church of the Advocate with ways of thinking about liturgy drawn from many sources. Yet this is not a book that screams “Look what great things we did!” or, more harmfully “This is the way YOU should do things!!”Rather Fischbeck carefully distills these experiences and these insights into a thoughtful exploration of what means to create liturgy, do liturgy, and reflect on liturgy. If you’ve ever felt depleted by social media debates about the right color or the right words (and I’ve taken part in a few of those myself) you’ll be refreshed and reinvigorated by this book.Especially helpful are Fischbeck’s reflections on how the liturgies of The Advocate changed in response to COVID. The communal understanding of liturgy helped the community grow their sense of what worship is and can be when “new occasions shape new duties.”The text is helpfully seasoned with thoughtful “Questions for Reflection” that would make it an ideal book for group study.Do give it a read.