Home to Harmony Book

One of the reviews on the back of this is from Library Journal, which called the book "filled with grace." They're absolutely right. Sometimes, Christian fiction can be so heavy-handed, but this was just beautiful. Having gone to a church in small-town Indiana (and also having actually been to the real Harmony), I could totally appreciate the characters who hated change, the characters who wanted change more than most other things, the characters who loved all the weird crotchetiness but wouldn't admit it for fear of being thought provincial. These people were so real, from the ways they made you want to bang your head on the wall to the ways they made you hope for humanity. And one thing I really loved was that, though it all, Pastor Sam (who is in first person, which can be tricky to pull off without sounding terribly folksy and ridiculous) keeps admitting that he has so much to learn. He lies, he judges, he screws up just like "the rest of us" and has to say, yes, that is what grace is about, that is why we follow this God who creates people that make us want to hibernate until they retire to Florida. This a book quietly overflowing with grace, with love, with patience and a recognition that just because you fall down doesn't mean that you get to hate yourself or the people around you.
I have a lot of friends who are either pastors or in some theological role--this book made me want to hug all of them for what they do (and what they don't), but it also made me realize how crazy-stupid-God-awful-annoying-lovely-beautiful-broken-redeemed this family of Christ is. It also made me want to go find the next one, because I've been told this is the first of a series.
I look forward to it very much.