Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times by Bishop Michael Curry

Author Michael B. Curry was elected the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in 2015 and is best known to many for officiating at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018. In this book Bishop Curry makes the case for “love as a way to a liberating and life-giving relationship with God, with others, with all God’s creation on this planet.”

He started by telling how he learned to meet the needs of two very distinct congregations that he was called to pastor.  When he was elected as bishop, he overcame the hurdles of being the first African-American bishop in the Episcopal Church. Just after that, the denomination was threatening to split over the issue of how fully to welcome LBGTQ members into the life of the church. Under his leadership, the denomination came to an agreement that held them together. Finally, he gave pointers for navigating the political divides that we face today without alienating those with views very different from ours.

The warmth and care of Michael Curry could be felt through all of the stories that he told and the advice was practical and written to be understood by laity.  After reading this book, I wanted to go find someone that I disagreed with so I could try out the skills that I learned for defusing the ideas that divide us.

This book is in the Spiritual Growth category of the 2022 UMW Reading Program list and is very applicable for these times.

— Carolyn Bircher