Book Review: Firstlight

If anyone has a way with words, it is Sue Monk Kidd. She has woven beautiful tapestries in her famous novels, The Secret Life of Bees, and The Invention of Wings. After the suggestion to read her book, When the Heart Waits, I discovered another of her titles in our library's audio book selections. Thus, I lapped up Firstlight: The Early Inspirational Writings of Sue Monk Kidd. As always, I could relate to many passages. I returned to the library to check out the hard copy because I wanted to glean more from its pages.

If the book had been my own, I would have highlighted a passage she shared about compassion. She writes: "When compassion wakes up in us, we find ourselves more willing to become vulnerable, to take the risk of entering the pain of others. We open our lives to them in a genuine willingness to be known. We tell them our own story of suffering as a way of offering healing and hope." And later she writes: "The most gracious and courageous gift we can offer the world is our authenticity, our uniqueness, the expression of our true selves."

Even though I listened in half hour to forty-minute increments (to accompany my morning treadmill walk), I loved that the passages offered bite-sized reflections. She has so much of value to share: thoughts about letting go of our children, about navigating tricky waters when it is hard to trust God and His plan, and embracing solitude.

My only complaint is that sometimes her message presents a watered-down gospel (which is not the "good news" at all). Devoid of recognition of our sinfulness and desperate need for His atonement on our behalf, it references mystics and others who parrot feel-good concepts that skirt the edges of Christianity. It emphasizes God's love without clarifying His holiness and His just wrath for sin. It presents the idea that God is in all of us and we tap into His divine essence just by seeking Him in contemplation. Her ideas fall in line with Niebuhr's description of the liberal, social gospel, where "A God without wrath brought man without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross." So, while there is much to glean from her words and her thoughts, I would proffer this reminder: her words are extra-Biblical. For the best guidance, go to the supreme source, His Word.