Sara Miles

An atheist finds God through what she considers to be the essential idea behind the Christian act of communion: feeding the hungry. Really interesting story, if perhaps overlong and a bit humble-braggy at times. What struck me most was her reluctance to tell her family and non-Christian friends about her conversion, and when she finally did, how they pushed back and asked how she could possibly believe in a religion that [insert atrocity here]. By the end of the book it is a question she has show more to resolve for herself, and comes up with this for an answer: "Christianity wasn't an argument I could win, or even resolve. It wasn't a thesis. It was a mystery that I was finally willing to swallow." Which is a pretty decent answer. show less

This is the story of unlikely conversion: A radical lesbian activist, who spend much of her youth involved in people's uprisings in Mexico & Central America, one day walks into a church, receives communion, and is transformed. She becomes filled with the idea of "sharing the body," which for her becomes a command to feed the people. Which leads her to setting up a weekly food bank in the church, and then to helping others in the city start new food banks as well, challenging her show more congregation, those in her neighborhood, and even those who visit the food bank to expand their ideas of community, service, and comfort.

What I appreciated most about this book was the author's meditations on what it means to "be the body of Christ," and sharing in that call with those whose religious beliefs differed significantly from hers. (And vice versa!) It's a thought that I've been mulling over all summer, and it's helping me be less reticent expressing my beliefs around those with more conservative views (Pretty much everyone.) show less

City of God narrates the events of an Ash Wednesday in 2012 when the author and her friends left their church and placed ashes on the foreheads of strangers they met in the Mission neighborhood of San Francisco. It explores the profound implications of touching strangers with a reminder of common mortality. A beautifully written personal narrative, rich in complex, real-life characters that is wild, funny, joyful, raucous and reverent.

I was handed this book and asked to ponder it, and it is a very good book for that purpose. Sara Miles was raised an atheist and grew to be a lesbian, a mother, and a globe-trotting journalist through war-torn countries. Her conversion to Christianity, and her fervent activism, still comes across as a genuine surprise to her, something she works to understand through her writing.

What I found fascinating was her deep exploration of what is meant by communion. That it is not something intended show more for a select few, after baptism (as I was taught), but something for everyone to celebrate in, no matter their faith, because we all share in humanity together and there is holiness in that.

I did feel like the book was too long, but then, there was a definite circulatory to her tale. She began by describing her early adulthood work in the restaurant business and the horrors of working with the public, and comes back around to working with the public in its most, well, dramatic and hurting form, really, as the poor and suffering line up to get food from the church pantry that she runs. She doesn't shy away expressing the racial biases she developed, as certain groups acted certain ways (from my experience working with the public, such sentiments are very realistic, sadly) but she is very open about the fact that she is a work in progress and that she is trying to do better. Note that the book was published in 2006 and some of the language is now outdated.

In all, an interesting book that seeks to provide food for thought (pun very much intended) and succeeds in that. show less