Our Church Speaks: An Illustrated Devotional of Saints from Every Era and Place

by Ben Lansing, D. J. Marotta

Overview

Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award Winner

Find Strength in the Legacy of the Saints Who Walked Before Us

Step into the stories of faith, courage, and perseverance that have defined Christian history through the ages. Our Church Speaks offers a beautifully illustrated, deeply inspiring devotional that bridges the teaching of Scripture with our embodied, everyday lives through the lives of great men and women from throughout the history of the church.

D. J. Marotta invites you on a year-long journey, connecting you with fifty-two remarkable saints from across continents and centuries, from Polycarp of the first century to the martyrs of modern-day Sudan. Stunningly illustrated by Ben Lansing, these saints, from every continent and century of church history, illustrate God’s faithfulness in all times and demonstrate the historic church's relevance for Christians today.

Our Church Speaks Features

• Full Color Illustrations: Fifty-two vividly illustrated devotionals bring the lives of saints to life through art and narrative.
• A Global and Historical Scope: Learn the stories of Christian men and women from every continent and era of church history.
• Faithfulness for Today: The artwork, biographies, devotionals, and prayers in this book are meant to spark your imagination, helping you be faithful in your own time and place.

Whether you're looking to deepen your spiritual life, find inspiration for your daily walk of faith, or learn more about the figures who have shaped Christianity, Our Church Speaks will encourage faithfulness in the here and now.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781514009031
Publisher:	InterVarsity Press
Publication date:	10/29/2024
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Ben Lansing is an artist from Richmond, Virginia, and the creator of the online art series Our Church Speaks. He is an Anglican deacon and a lifelong student of the history of art and religion. He loves sharing the history of the global church through art and storytelling. He lives in Richmond with his wife, Bethany, in a house full of books.

D. J. Marotta is a priest in the Anglican Church in North America and the founding rector of Redeemer Anglican Church in Richmond, Virginia. He is the author of Liturgy in the Wilderness: How the Lord's Prayer Shapes the Imagination of the Church in a Secular Age. His wife is gracious and his children are clever.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction: Saints Over Celebrities
How to Use This Book as a Prayer Tool

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

Appendix A: Church History Survey
Appendix B: Chronological Listing of Saints
Appendix C: Geographic Listing of Saints
Acknowledgments
Notes

Editorial Reviews

"Ben Lansing and D. J. Marotta invite readers to pull up a 'third chair' and join this dynamic duo 'at the table' for a transformative conversation. The table is set with a smorgasbord of spiritual delicacies that whet your appetite to know more about the Divine. They entice you with appetizers such as the Calendar of Saints and various theologians through the ages. Their 'dessert' is offered at the beginning, 'How To Use This Book As A Prayer Tool.' Such dessert enhances spiritual disciplines. This book made me feel that I could 'sup on this spiritual smorgasbord' while drawing closer to Yahweh!"

Barbara L. Peacock

"This is a beautiful book. Reading it is like coming home to a family you forgot you had."

Justin Whitmel Earley

"Whenever I've encountered these arresting modern 'icons' on social media, I've always stopped scrolling in order to read further. To have them wonderfully collected into one winsome book is a gift to the church, especially as we seek to know and honor the global story of our great 'cloud of witnesses.'"

Jennifer L. Holberg

"This isn't a history textbook but a lively introduction to a group of flawed but faith-filled followers of Christ spanning the breadth of the Christian church. You will come away from this book not just educated about these men and women but inspired to seek out the ways of the Spirit to which they point."

Russell Moore

"Like brilliant stained glass in cathedral windows, saints are people who let the light shine through: humans broken yet radiant and splendid, illuminated not by their own goodness but by God's glory. Our Church Speaks holds up preachers, healers, artists, reformers, women, men, and children, fifty-two saints from across times and places who scatter light of every imaginable hue. They inspire me with wonder: what are my own peculiar colors, created to display God's presence in the world?"

Karen Wright Marsh

"I love Our Church Speaks! Ben Lansing and Dan Marotta are doing such a service to the church in our day by introducing us to so many saints, martyrs, and heroes from around the world. Each of them bore witness to the living Jesus with their lives—and with Our Church Speaks, Ben and Dan are doing the same. Check this book out! You'll be encouraged and inspired."

Caleb Maskell

"In a world captivated and mesmerized by the cult of celebrity, this book helps us to reorient our hearts to experience the saints as ones that not only speak to our past but also shine the light and guide the path to our future. We stand on the shoulders of brothers and sisters in the faith who've faithfully shown us the way—and this resource helps make them accessible and relevant to our everyday lives. Our Church Speaks is a useful tool full of stunning artwork and meaningful prayers to help us to sit at the feet of saints young and old and learn from those who are a part of the great cloud of witnesses. For the past few years, I've been shaped and formed by these visuals online. I'm thrilled this collection has been published into a book we can now hold in our hands!"

J.R. Briggs

"I'm always grateful to see books that bring the rich history of the church to Christians today who need to hear such stories. I've followed Our Church Speaks on Instagram for a long time, and it's a delight to now have a sampling of their art and wisdom in this physical book—perfect for reading, savoring, praying over, and giving to friends and relatives as a gift."

Jennifer Woodruff Tait

"With so many reasons today to feel discouraged about the state of the Christian witness in the public square, Lansing and Marotta draw our attention to a cloud of witnesses—of saints and sinners, priests and poets, Asian and African, Byzantine and Baptist—who persevered in their devotion to Christ in the face of manifold temptations to become a faithless, hopeless, loveless people. This is a wonderful book for those who need a little encouragement to remain faithful, hopeful, and love-full in the face of their own temptations to become otherwise."

W. David O. Taylor

"The saints are not finally dead but are our living friends and mentors, alive with us in Christ now. We need their witness and their voice now. Which is why we need this beautiful book, especially with its ultimate aim of leading us into prayer—which is (as every saint insists) our truest work."

Winn Collier

"I cannot think of a more helpful resource for the future than diving into this resource about the past. Enrich your soul and drink in both the words and art from this trusted guide as you live faithfully into all the vibrant streams of the church that flow from the loving heart of Christ."

AJ Sherrill

"This book masterfully crafts illustrations and words to bring to life a mosaic of exemplary men and women who have embodied the way of Jesus in various circumstances that inspires us to live faithfully today. I'm grateful for this book."

David M. Bailey

"Our Church Speaks is a catechism for anyone anywhere, in the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere, in the East and the West, drawing on the stories of men and women who have lived and died by faith, in hope, for love. Born of unusual pastoral imagination, surprising historical depth and wonderful artistic skill, this new book by Ben Lansing and Dan Marotta is a remarkable gift for this generation and for generations to come, read by many people in many places who long to know more of God and of his faithful people in and through the centuries and cultures whose threads have become the tapestry which is our history."

Steven Garber

"Here is profound, incarnated instruction, in both word and example, from the lives of those whom Christ Jesus worked mightily through. Deacon Ben Lansing has a great nose for which sayings of the saints are most fragrant with the sweet aroma of Christ, and these are thoughtfully explicated by D. J. Marotta. This collection reminds us that the saints don't 'belong' to some other church or some other age, but they are ours—to be savored."

Ben Jefferies