Finding Holy in the Suburbs
by Ashley Hales | Book Summary
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Author: Ashley Hales
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Whether urban, suburban, or living elsewhere, the places we call home are influenced by and influence our loves and desires. More than half of Americans live in suburbs. Suburban living reflects right longings for home, security, and community. Look closely, though, and they reveal our brokenness too. "Each suburb, in its own way, evangelizes for the good life: a life of safety, beauty, comfort and ease. Suburbs, like all places, reflect both our good, God-given desires to create home, and also the brokenness of a place in their geography, entry systems, and laws." (p. 9) We long for home, so we measure ourselves by square-footage, always longing for more. We long for safety, so we create an illusion of safety behind the gates of our homogenous communities, growing more anxious all the while. We long for significance and desperately pack and re-pack our schedules with endless busyness. A relationship with Jesus calls for holiness even in everyday suburban life. We need to see how that relationship meets these longings and shows us a better way. We need to discover how to be holy in the suburbs. |
Ashley Hales holds a PhD in English from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. She is a pastor's wife and mother to four children. Finding Holy in the Suburbs is her first book, although she is a member of Redbud Writers Guild and writes regularly for The Well and The Mudroom.
Since publishing Finding Holy in the Suburbs, Ashley has begun to produce the Finding Holy Podcast, and can be found at aahales.com.
Finding Holy in the Suburbs
by Ashley Hales
[ Book Summary ]
| Author | Ashley Hales |
| Publisher | IVP |
| Date | October 23, 2018 |
| Pages | 184 |
Overview:
"Each place fashions what we value. Places form our loves." (p. 8)
Whether urban, suburban, or living elsewhere, the places we call home are influenced by and influence our loves and desires. More than half of Americans live in suburbs. Suburban living reflects right longings for home, security, and community. Look closely, though, and they reveal our brokenness too.
"Each suburb, in its own way, evangelizes for the good life: a life of safety, beauty, comfort and ease. Suburbs, like all places, reflect both our good, God-given desires to create home, and also the brokenness of a place in their geography, entry systems, and laws." (p. 9)
We long for home, so we measure ourselves by square-footage, always longing for more. We long for safety, so we create an illusion of safety behind the gates of our homogenous communities, growing more anxious all the while. We long for significance and desperately pack and re-pack our schedules with endless busyness.
A relationship with Jesus calls for holiness even in everyday suburban life. We need to see how that relationship meets these longings and shows us a better way.
We need to discover how to be holy in the suburbs.
Ashley Hales holds a PhD in English from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. She is a pastor's wife and mother to four children. Finding Holy in the Suburbs is her first book, although she is a member of Redbud Writers Guild and writes regularly for The Well and The Mudroom.
Since publishing Finding Holy in the Suburbs, Ashley has begun to produce the Finding Holy Podcast, and can be found at aahales.com.