The Gift of Wonder – Creative Practices for Delighting in God - Softcover

"Christine Aroney-Sine's new book is as delightful as its subject. Full of invitations to pleasure, rejoicing, and play, it celebrates a truly incarnational spirituality that reflects God's exuberant yes to all of creation."--Christine Valters Paintner, author of The Soul's Slow Ripening

"Spiritual practice is designed to awaken us to God's presence, but it need not be boring. Aroney-Sine has produced a brave work here, inviting spiritual seekers to become like children--playful, curious, and trusting. With Aroney-Sine's guidance and support you will discover the God who delights in you and unlock a wellspring of joy."--Phileena Heuertz, founding partner of Gravity, a Center for Contemplative Activism, author of Mindful Silence

"Jesus talks about childlike trust in God. The apostle Paul writes about compassion and thankfulness. These themes play a big role in Christine Aroney-Sine's new book. Using stories from the Bible, creative exercises, reflection questions, and her own beautiful poems, Christine addresses the questions of how we can bring joy to God and how we can live out the Christian faith as a journey of discovery. The topics of her book--awe, play, curiosity, creativity, imagination, adventure, and wonder--bring balm to the soul in this age of fear and polarization. She guides us on pathways to experience God's generous gifts and to grow in contentment and peace in Christ."--Lynne M. Baab, author of Sabbath Keeping and Nurturing Hope

"In a culture that values adulthood it will stretch us to explore Jesus' crucial observation that we can only enter the kingdom through childlikeness. To explore that strange reality we'll need some friends on the journey. Christine Aroney-Sine is such a friend, inviting us into the kind of rich, whole-person communal engagement with God we knew as children. If you join her on this playful, messy, wonder-full adventure, you might never be the same again!"--Mandy Smith, pastor, author of Making a Mess and Meeting God and The Vulnerable Pastor

"As a pastor committed to the spiritual nurture and formation of my congregation, this book is a dream resource. Christine Aroney-Sine doesn't just recover the by now familiar ground of spiritual practices laid out by others, she brings to bear research, commentary, story, and practical experience that make her contemporary take on these practices (and the large number of new practices she offers) applicable to a huge range of settings, learning styles, and intelligences. A rare strength of what she offers is that it isn't a soft spirituality but a robust approach that has something in it for men as well as women. Any individual, group, or leader will find creative inspiration and sustenance to flourish in this book."--Mark Pierson, pastor, worship curator, author of The Art of Curating Worship

"I trust Christine Aroney-Sine to teach me about wonder because she lives with playful curiosity--discovering beauty in the unexpected and the everyday details of life--and she writes with uncommon eloquence and simplicity."--Mark Scandrette, author of Belonging and Becoming, Practicing the Way of Jesus, and FREE

"Play, pray, plant, paint! Christine Aroney-Sine invites us to recover our childlike sense of wonder. Each page encourages us to pause, to exhale, and to breathe in each moment with holy awe. Aroney-Sine offers wise, practical ways to care for our souls by cultivating gardens all around us. This is lived theology, rooted in the world, mediated through our eyes and ears, hearts and hands. I'm grateful for such respite and creative renewal."--Craig Detweiler, president of The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology

Can you imagine a God who dances with shouts of joy, laughs when you laugh, loves to play, and invites us to join the fun? In this book Christine Sine invites us to pay attention to childlike characteristics that have the power to reshape us, with fresh spiritual practices that engage all our senses and help us embrace the wonder and joy that God intends for us.