“I love a book that’s useful and this book is wildly useful. Useful for congregations who face beginnings, endings, challenges, disasters, and celebrations. For congregations claiming or reclaiming a stronger identity of hospitality and justice-making. For meetings and worship and private reflection. This book is useful. I predict that my own copy will become as thumbed and well-worn as my favorite cookbooks and poetry books, and that it will become an oft-given gift to religious professionals and lay leaders.”
—Meg Riley, Senior Minister, Church of the Larger Fellowship and editor of Testimony: The Transformative Power of Unitarian Universalism
“I’m happy for those new ministers and lay leaders who are starting out in congregational service now that The Spirit That Moves is available. Unlike when I was beginning in ministry some decades ago, there is now a single publication that brings together such a wealth of inspiring readings, rituals, and reflections under one title. Need a litany to commission your Ministerial Search Committee? It’s here. A poem that reflects the loss that comes with a beloved pastor’s departure? Just turn a few pages. A prayer for New Member Sunday? Right at your fingertips. With this book, we have resources for even the most tragic and devastating events of our times—the mass shootings, the natural disasters, the lethal violence borne from supremacy culture. What once took phone calls, emails, text messages, and Facebook posts to find is now collected for our convenience, inspiration, and enjoyment. Thank you, Barbara Child and contributors—you have given us powerful tools to help us navigate the transitions and changes that give our lives meaning and depth.”
—Rev. Carlton Elliott Smith
“As a retired accredited interim minister, I read this collection with awe and longing—there is much wisdom here that could have helped me aid congregations navigating the dynamics of transition. This treasure-trove of resources is a gift for clergy and congregants, especially worship leaders, who are on the front lines of dealing with the disruption and discomfort that comes with change. For creatively and bravely embraced, transition can become transformation.”
—Rev. Gail Collins-Ranadive, author of Finding the Voice Inside: Writing as a Spiritual Quest for Women