Please visit my website

Hi friends and readers,

Thanks for visiting my author blog. As you can see by some of the previous posts, it's been awhile since I've kept this up! That's because, in addition to attending graduate school and giving birth to a baby boy, I've completely overhauled my author website, where I am now blogging.

So starting June 1, 2011, please visit www.saraharthur.com for all further updates, comments, and conversations about my books and events. Feel free to "Like," "Tweet" and generally be obnoxious about the new & improved website! Hope to see you there.

Keep walking with Jesus,
Sarah Arthur

Spring Update 2011

Just a note to let you know that at long last I have another book coming out! I know I haven't posted much since last summer, but in the meantime I've been, well, writing a book. Oh, and having a baby (lousy excuses, I know!). On November 17 I turned in the final edits for At the Still Point: A Literary Guide to Prayer in Ordinary Time and on November 27 Micah John Arthur entered the world. You might call them twins. Both are delightful, as far as I'm concerned, and I can't wait for you to meet them.

At the Still Point, published by Paraclete Press, is a collection of readings from classic and contemporary poetry and fiction, organized by theme, for each of the twenty-nine weeks in the season of Pentecost or Ordinary Time. During the summer when many of us "go to sleep" spiritually, as Phyllis Tickle says, my book is a prayerful journey of the imagination, guided by poets and authors from throughout the centuries. It's something of a departure from my youth-related resources, since it is for a broader readership. But it still focuses on great stories and nurtures the imagination on the spiritual journey. Check out the details on Paraclete's website.

At the Still Point is now available all over the internet (Amazon, Borders, Barnes & Noble, etc.). Signed copies will be available soon on my website, www.saraharthur.com--which is in the process of being completely overhauled. I hope for the new site to "go live" in the next week or two, at which point the old site and all of my blogs (including this one) will redirect to the new site.

Stay tuned for more details!

Peace,
Sarah Arthur

Summer Update

Dear friends & readers,

It's hard to believe we're halfway through 2010. Time flies! But we've been having fun here at the Arthurs, with a bunch of updates to share:

• Be sure to pick up a copy of the brand new book, Shaped by God, ed. by Robert Keeley. It's a compendium of essays about faith formation from twelve contributors, including my mentor from Duke, Fred Edie, and myself. My chapter is about the importance of stories in spiritual formation. I really enjoyed working on this project and I'm excited to see it in print!
• I also was invited to be a consultant for the forthcoming C. S. Lewis Bible, published by HarperCollins. Mark it for your wish list this Christmas.
• Speaking of Lewis, don't miss the annual C. S. Lewis Festival this October in Northern Michigan. After a long sojourn in the south, I'll be back for an evening lecture on the friendship of Lewis & Tolkien with my friend, Prof. Suzanne Shumway.
  
• Check out the youth ministry blog "Slant 33," with contributions by a number of youth ministry experts (including yours truly--or perhaps we should put "expert" in scare quotes?). Topics I've written about so far include narrative theology, community, and evangelism, with more to come. Feel free to add your comments and keep the discussions rolling.
• Look for my forthcoming article "Telling a Better Story: Why Worship and the Sacraments Matter for Youth Ministry" in the July/Aug issue of IMMERSE journal (formerly The Journal of Student Ministries). The folks at Barefoot Ministries are doing some great stuff.
• I'm also a contributor for a forthcoming book by Gen-Xers (edited by Andrew Thompson) about the future of the United Methodist Church. My chapter will be about youth ministry, specifically the process of Confirmation. Stay tuned...
• Meanwhile, two of my friends are publishing some wonderful books that you'll want to check out: Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove's The Wisdom of Stability and Enuma Okoro's Reluctant Pilgrim: A Moody, Somewhat Self-Indulgent Introvert's Search for Spiritual Community. I'm especially excited about Enuma's first book. You go, girl!
  
• Thanks to modern technology, you can now download almost all of my books in Kindle editions, with the exception of Dating Mr. Darcy. Not sure why Lizzy Bennett gets the smack-down, since she's as "delightful a creature as ever appeared in print" (thank you, Jane Austen). But it's happy news for the rest!
• Sad news, however, for Walking through the Wardrobe: it is now officially out of print. Yes, the first of my literary children to be benched--although I'm happy to see that Kindle has made it possible for even out-of-print books to live forever.
• My current project, due in October (for release in 2011) is a book with Paraclete Press entitled At the Still Point: A Literary Guide to Prayer in Ordinary Time. Similar to the Guides to Prayer published by the Upper Room, the book will include suggested prayers, scriptures, and literary excerpts--organized by theme--for each of the weeks in the season of Pentecost (or Ordinary Time). Unlike other prayer guides, however, the excerpts will not be from devotional or spiritual writing, but from classic and contemporary fiction and poetry. Yes, I've been able to indulge all my literary geekiness and spend hours with my nose in books! Dante, Donne, Hopkins, Herbert, Hawthorne, Eliot, Dostoevsky, Dickinson, MacDonald, Rossetti, Chesterton, and more--and those are just the classic writers. Does that sound delicious, or what? More soon!
  

Wow, I think this is the longest update ever. But there's one more big project underway. The Arthurs are pregnant! Yes, we're due Dec. 15. I'm feeling great so far, but prayers are much appreciated.

Have a lovely summer, all.
Yours,
Sarah Arthur

.slant 33 blog

I'm not sure if this is public yet, but I haven't been told otherwise: I've been invited to be a contributor for a new youth ministry blog that provides three perspectives on various issues, including prayer, worship, narrative, social justice, etc. The first topic (on prayer) is now posted, with perspectives from myself, Steve Argue of Mars Hill Church in Grand Rapids, and Jim Hampton, professor of youth ministry at Asbury Theological Seminary.

The funny thing is, all three of us made a point of "introducing" our readers to The Book of Common Prayer. Whaddup with Evangelical Protestants now going unapologetically Anglo-Catholic?!? I'm sensing a theme...

Anyway, other contributors include Scott McKnight, Chris Folmsbee, Mike King, Dave Rahn, Andy Root, Claire Smith, Brooklyn Lindsey, and Danny Kwon. A couple of us are way famous (not me). One of us is a former model (not me). At least three of us are using The Book of Common Prayer, apparently. It will be interesting to see where this blog takes us!

My Dear Snubnose

Just for fun, check out my latest post on HarperCollins' official C. S. Lewis blog. It's a "Screwtape letter" that I wrote for my small group at Sycamore Creek Church, which has just started reading Lewis's famous satire. Enjoy!

Latest Arthur publication & other updates

Greetings, friends & fellow readers!

I'm pleased to announce the latest Arthur publication, which is not, as you might expect, from yours truly. Rather, my husband Tom is a contributing writer for a new book entitled Mere Christians: Inspiring Stories of Encounters with C. S. Lewis (Baker Books, 2009; edited by Mary Anne Phemister and Andrew Lazo). Other contributors include Philip Yancey, Francis Collins, Thomas Howard, Walter Hooper, Chuck Colson, and a host of folks who share how Lewis's writings have changed their lives. Interested in a signed edition for the book lover or Lewis fan on your holiday list? Copies can be purchased through my website here. Tom is happy to personalize books for you: simply send me an email with details at sarah@saraharthur.com.

Meanwhile, I am currently offering a 50% discount on Walking through the Wardrobe, my youth devotional on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Books can be purchased for $4.99 plus shipping by visiting my website here. Again, I'm happy to personalize any orders, so just let me know.

Blessings as you journey through this Advent season!

In Christ,
Sarah

The end of summer

Wow. I'm not sure what happened to summer. One minute I'm graduating on Mother's Day in Durham, North Carolina, and the next I'm canning late August tomatoes in the kitchen of our new home in southern Michigan. It's been a busy, delightful, challenging three months as we adjust to our new life here...and I can't say I've done much writing. But I've read a lot, including Kathleen Norris, Wendell Berry, Barbara Kingsolver, and (drum roll, please) a myriad of cookbooks. Yes, cookbooks! By some odd miracle I have overcome 35 years of kitchenphobia--including the fear of knives, boiling water, hot ovens, and fractions (shudder)--and discovered that I actually kind of enjoy cooking. Quite a lot. It helps that our new kitchen is spectacular, that we've signed up for a weekly share of produce with an Amish farmer, and that someone, somewhere, invented the food processor.

On the writing front, there's the slow chipping away at a novel, the opportunity to contribute chapters for two different book projects, writing various curricula, the continued development of rites-of-passage material for families of teen girls, and shaping a book proposal or two. And meanwhile my speaking schedule will kick into high gear starting in mid-October (details can be found here). After a two-year sojourn camping out in the reference library at Duke Divinity School, I'm grateful to find that I'm still employable as a freelancer.

Normally I sign off with a quote, but (just in case you didn't think I was serious about the whole cooking thing), this time I leave you with--yes, you guessed it--a RECIPE. For chilled watermelon soup. It's sort of my own concoction based on other recipes out there, so you'll want to keep taste-testing to balance the various ingredients. It makes a great lunch soup or first course. Enjoy!

8 cups fresh local watermelon, seeded and cubed
1-2 cups plain yogurt
2-3 Tb white wine vinegar (some recipes call for 1/3 C)
1-2 Tb lemon juice
2-3 Tb sugar
1 bunch fresh mint, reserving some for garnish

Combine SIX cups of watermelon and the smallest suggested amount of each ingredient in a blender and blend until smooth. Taste the soup, then add more of each ingredient as needed (if you add more yogurt, you will need to add more sugar). The consistency should be thick enough to be creamy but not as thick as a smoothie. Refrigerate for at least an hour. Ladle into small bowls (I use glass pyrex ones that I've chilled in the fridge). Garnish with remaining watermelon cubes (I pile them in the middle of each bowl) and a sprig of mint. Makes 4-6 servings (or more?). NOTE: If you do this in a food processor, you are maxing out the liquid level--trust me, I learned the hard way--so you will want to do this in several batches. Onward!