Book Report: Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

While perusing the book store in the Berlin airport on my recent solo trip the US, I was reminded that I wanted to read Yaa Gyasi's second book Transcendent Kingdom. 

Shockingly it turns out it's easier to casually peruse bookstores when traveling with this baggage:

vs

Also packed for four days. More on this trip in the next blog post. 

Yaa Gyasi's second book is very different but similar in that I find the themes very interesting while the rest of the world likely does not willingly dive into these weighty thoughts. It is the kind of book that makes you want to google to get more of the back story. Thankfully the NYTimes delivers here and here. 

One of the aspects of the book that I find most interesting to my current stage of life, is her flashbacks of her days in Sunday school. While hanging laundry today, I listened to a part of the book where she writes about reading John 1 for the first time as a child. As it turns out, last Sunday night we read John 1 as a family for home church. 

We're working through this devotional given to us by our Berlin Methodist church as a parting gift.

Carmen is equal parts enthusiastic and disruptive.

Our next thought is they would pay attention if they ate cheetos while listening. 

Apparently we need to work on the Ten Commandments next for the "Thou Shalt not Steal..." reminder.

As you can see from my facial expressions, home church is a work in progress. It is our best current church solution until kids' church starts again in the fall. The relief of not having to keep our kids quiet in a big sanctuary is worth staying home. It is also nice to not start the week after a late Sunday night. We'll be adding in some music, animated Bible stories, and Play Doh for next Sunday. Prayers welcome.