Practicing Resurrection, by Nora Gallagher

Rarely, if ever, have I been so closely drawn to a book as I was to Nora Gallagher's Things Seen and Unseen: A Year Lived in Faith. Told according to the seasons of the church year, the book is a chronicle of Gallagher's life at Santa Barbara's Trinity Episcopal Church. She came there as a tourist and stayed as a pilgrim. As we journey with her through that year, our own faith is renewed. Five of the six people at a recent committee meeting in the congregation I serve had read the book, and the sixth had been given it that day.

How could anyone who had written such a book not have wondered if she was called to the ministry? In her welcome sequel Gallagher explores her call. Her narrative artfully weaves together the continuing life of Trinity Church and its importance to her, the illness and death of her beloved brother Kit, the process of discernment about her call to the priesthood, and her year of work in a congregation unlike Trinity. The pressures on her marriage exerted by these events are an important part of the narrative.

In Gallagher's first book Trinity's leaders discussed and made the decision to call Mark Asman, a gay man, as rector. Asman was already well known to the congregation, since he had been serving as the interim rector, but the congregation as a whole did not know that he was gay, and his sexual orientation was not revealed to them. In her new book, church leaders wrestle with the issue of same-sex unions, and this time they invite the entire congregation into the discussion. Congregations that may be facing the same issue will find it helpful to eavesdrop on the concerns and objections of various committee and church members and to see how the church resolves this issue. In consultation with a trustworthy group of church leaders, the rector decided to write a letter disclosing his sexual orientation to the congregation, then to preach on the topic the following Sunday. Following the sermon the service continued quietly, but when Asman began the series of announcements about life in the parish he said, "I don't know about you, but I've had quite a week," and the congregation burst into applause, then gave him a standing ovation.