Summarizing Two Great Books in One Word:  Relationship

This past week I began reading two books.  The first The Divine Dance by Richard Rohr was one I’ve tried to get hold of since its publication in 2016. The second is Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship by Gregory Boyle, author of Tattoos on the Heart.  At first glance these two books could not be more diverse, but they share the same theme: relation, relation, relation. William Paul Young, author of The Shack, calls Rohr’s book “a celebration of Relationship,” the relationship within the Trinity and our relationship with God and one another. I’ve been reading about God as a “fountain fullness” of love always pouring out the flow of divine love. Barking to the Choir has stories on every page about the individuals from gangs that Boyle has helped through Homeboy Industries. Every story warms the reader’s heart with its focus on belonging and “the holiness of second chances.” Boyle writes: “In all my years of living, I have never been given greater access to the tenderness of God than through the channel of the thousands of homies I have been privileged to know.” Both books bring God closer. Both books delight. The reader smiles in the midst of abstract truths made accessible through humor, malapropisms, slang, and clever expressions. Among the intriguing titles of Rohr’s chapters are “Tide Boxes at Kmart,” “Paradigms Lost,” “Transcendence Deficit Disorder,” and “Metaphors Be with You.” God is with us. Both books make God incredibly close and infinitely open to us. When we are in need, God is there. Or as Boyle in the language of one of his Homeboys writes: “The Dude shows up.”