A Dresser of Sycamore Trees: The Finding of a Ministry

The prophet Amos, a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore trees, had a parallel, and more challenging, calling as a shepherd of human souls. So too does Garret Keizer, an Episcopalian minister to the community of Island Pond in Vermont's Northeast Kindgdom. This profoundly contemporary book displays not only keizer's knowledge of life's small practicalities (winding the church clock, shopping for groceries), but also his insights about faith and the mysterious ways of God. With an eye attuned to both the pleasures and foibles that make life on earth so rich, he presents a refreshing and often hilarious account of the hands-on work needed to maintain a parish and sustain its spirit. He is a man who believes that God's intentions, if seldom apparent, are inevitably compassionate and compelling.

• 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List
• This House of Sky: Landscapes of a Western Mind
• I'd Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life
• The Sacred Journey: A Memoir of Early Days
• The Death and Life of Great American Cities
• Unexpected Consequences: The Diaconate Renewed
• Joan Chittister: Essential Writings (Modern Spiritual Masters)
• Praying Shapes Believing: A Theological Commentary on the Book of Common Prayer, Revised Edition (Weil Series in Liturgics)
• Memoirs Of A Highland Lady
• Transforming Vocation (Transformations Series)