What's in a Phrase?: Pausing Where Scripture Gives You Pause

This book's short reflections on fifty-one phrases from Scripture are based on the ancient Benedictine practice of lectio divina, or "holy reading." In her meditations Marilyn Chandler McEntyre invites readers to consider how a word or phrase may summon us to attention and provide theological reference points, comforting images, ways to reframe conventional ideas, or simply beautiful ways of expressing what matters. The three sections of the book - "Assurance," "Invitation," and "Surprise" - organize the reflections by tone as well as theme. Some of the reflections are devotional, some speculative, some whimsical, some edgy. In all of them readers may see modeled a way of accepting the many invitations that Scripture offers to enter its sacred spaces, play with possibilities, and connect the biblical word with the lives we are given to live.