A Pilgrimage into Letting Go
Helping Parents and Pastors Embrace the Uncontrollable
About
Andy and Kara were anxious--anxious about their teenaged children approaching adulthood in a tumultuous world. Anxious, too, about their ministries; after all, as America's pews empty, the church depends on its leaders to save it. If only they could control the circumstances faced by those who depended on them, they could ensure their success.
But maybe the solution isn't paving the way for our kids or our congregations. Maybe it's hiking the long road alongside them.
Andy and Kara took this literally. Following the way of Cuthbert, a seventh-century saint, they embarked with their kids on a sixty-three-mile walking pilgrimage in England and Scotland. Over the course of their journey, Andy and Kara learned that when we release control, we can regain connection--with our families, with fellow pilgrims along the road, with nature, and with God.
Thought-provoking and relatable, A Pilgrimage into Letting Go will help parents, pastors, and ministry leaders let go of their anxiety and open themselves up to God's transformative grace.
Contents
1. Control-Freak Parenting
2. The Thrill of Uncontrollability
3. Get Aggressive, Get, Get Aggressive
Morning Prayer
4. Grow, Grow, Grow
5. Losing Grip
6. The Longest Mile
7. Losing What We Never Had: A New Way to Think About Parenting and Leadership
Midday Prayer
8. Haunted by the Frame: The Church, the Kids, and the Viking Raiders
9. Door-Knocking Demons and the End of It All
Night Prayer
Epilogue
Endorsements
"With wisdom forged in the tensions of parenting, pastoring, and pilgrimage, Andrew Root and Kara K. Root offer a profound meditation on the spiritual necessity of surrender. Drawing on deep theological insight and lived experience, they uncover the illusions of control that shape our modern anxieties, and they invite us instead into the liberating posture of trust, resonance, and true presence. This book is a gift to all who seek to walk with God in the uncontrollable terrain of real life."
John Swinton, Chair of Divinity and Religious Studies, University of Aberdeen; author of Finding Jesus in the Storm: The Spiritual Lives of Christians with Mental Health Challenges
The Authors
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Nathan Lyke Andrew Root
Andrew Root (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is the author of more than twenty-five books, including Faith Formation in a Secular Age,...
Continue reading about Andrew Root
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Kara K. Root
Kara K. Root is senior pastor of Lake Nokomis Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis and is a spiritual director and certified educator in the PCUSA. Her books include The Deepest Belonging and Receiving This Life. She lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Continue reading about Kara K. Root