"Exile is holy only in that it is set apart, boundaried (for most of us) not by geography but by circumstances we cannot overcome--relational, social, emotional, bodily. While Joshua, Moses, and the priests might have run from the presence of the Lord, in exile we don’t choose whether we stay. We stay because we have to. Our only real control here, then, is whether we remove our shoes. Whether we choose to recognize the holy ground, God burning in the bush."
-Heather Weber
Like the Hebrew exiles in Babylon, people of faith need a road map—or a story or a song—to envision a life of flourishing while living far from our heavenly home. Join me if you, too, are endeavoring to build a house or plant a garden in the spirit of Jeremiah 29. I’m talking in metaphors, of course. (Extra points for you if you literally operate power tools and grow tomatoes.)
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Dear Boy,: An Epistolary Memoir
by Heather Weber
In this lyric memoir of loss, the narrator's relationship with a beloved brother disintegrates against the backdrop of her mother's mental illness and, ultimately, her brother's death. Part poetry, part elegy, Dear Boy grapples with the universal issues of human longing and grief while praising the unexpected beauty to be found in the wake of such sorrows.