THE WORD AT THE CROSSINGS:

Living the Good News in a Multicontextual Community

by ERIC F. H. LAW

Many of us know Eric H. F. Law for the books he has written, the workshops and classes he has conducted, in multicultural education or cross-cultural ministry.  This book is a little different: it deals with how to live the gospel in those spaces and times when two (or more) seemingly-opposed traditions or cultures or worldviews - - even simply ideas - - come together, intersect, cross.  These are the "crossings" of the book's title. 

Law is an Episcopal priest of Chinese descent, brought here by immigrant parents and raised mostly in New York City.  He reminds us of what many Christians seem to have forgotten in recent years: that the church was born in the midst of wild diversity.  How else to explain that we started life together with four very different gospels?  The early Christians knew, Law says, that if one was made the official version, future generations would meet, not the risen Christ, but a Jesus who lived long ago, as he was remembered by one community - - who would thus become obsolete.

If we are honest, we will own that our ideas about God have changed through the years as we have grown.  We can then appreciate Law's contention that it is God who leads us to the "crossings" of our lives, and guides us through them.  His chapter titles point to what happens at the crossings (we encounter God anew), what we find at the crossings (elephants, angels, truth), what we are to do there (preach and teach, but these are things that all Christians do, not just the professionals), and put on a Christmas play with the unlikely title of "Rudolph and the Little Lamb."

Lots of useful teaching and preaching ideas here.  A good piece of summer reading. 

Judith FaGalde Bennett

Executive Director, THE RESOURCE CENTER

The Word at the Crossings: Living the Good News in a Multicontextual Community (Chalice Press)