It is often said that book reviews say more about the reviewer than about the book. I am saying this because I read this book and write as some one who, at a young age, has had far more of a struggle than many people experience in a life-time. This is the platform for my dance.Kathy Coffey lives in Denver, Colorado. She is a nationally renowned speaker, an award winning writer, the author of several books and editor of Living the Good News. She has a husband and four children.
The book is divided into five sections: Three "Whys?" (Why Dance? Why Meditate? Why the Margins?); Pivots and Pirouettes; Great Thirsts and High Hopes; Nurture and Healing; Partners in the Dance. Through the media of the real stories of those journeying through their struggle, reflection on biblical stories and the posing of questions for reflection, the reader is encouraged along a continuing relationship with Christ through times of pain and aridity, which can be an opportunity for personal growth and a deepening relationship with, and understanding of, God.
I found the personal stories, often told in quotations from the individual, intensely moving and laden with insight and integrity. There are the stories of a variety of individuals, in recognized ministry and excluded from ministry, who have left the Church or who have remained. In their stories I found parallels to my own experience and also things that were new. In all of them I found new and unique insight and new ideas for a way forward on my own journey.
The author's use of the bible is refreshing and inspiring. In keeping with the tradition of the mystics she does not see the Gospels as mere history but as pregnant with rich insight and symbolism that is the source of spiritual wisdom and the Word of God for the believer today:
"For some people who have been terribly hurt, waiting outlasts hope. They seem to experience only silence, paralysis. The emptiness might be compared to the childlessness of Zechariah and Elizabeth. They wait so long for a baby that when the good news of pregnancy finally comes, Zechariah reacts not with joy but with scepticism. Because of his doubt he is struck dumb for nine months ... And ... Zechariah's song is eventually born of that silence. Leaving that zone of incubation, that quiet cocoon, the first words he writes are, "His name is John," a name meaning "God is gracious." Zechariah models for us that even people who have lost hope in waiting that has dragged on too long, even people caught in the silence of their own scepticism can refocus on the jewel, the spark of divine life within." page 95
Kathy Coffey is not writing for those who are engaged in arguments over dogmatic niceties and the finer points of liturgical expression, for example. This is a real book for real people in real situations that place them in situations of conflict with their Church. Many have been treated very badly. Nevertheless, those quoted do not diminish themselves by simply moaning about what has happened to them, but speak the truth and use their stories and insights to offer hope and inspiration to others who walk the same road.
"Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the conviction that something makes sense regardless of how it turns out. It is hope, above all, which gives us the strength to live and continually try new things." Václav Havel quoted on page 141.
Dancing in the Margins is a book that one can dip into and return to many times that I would recommend to anyone who has trodden or who is treading this path.
A struggle is a struggle...
Meditations for People who sturggle with their churches