Lillian Daniel, Tired of Apologizing for a Church I Don't Belong To: Spiritual without Stereotypes, Religion without Ranting (New York: Faithwords), 2016

I'm with Daniel. I, too, find myself often in conversations where people are describing their experiences with religion and the church and their perceptions of the church are so different from my experience and the institution I serve that I simply have to admit that there are institutions that call themselves churches that simply are not the same as the one with which I am affiliated. The book is an expansion of Daniel's earlier work, "When Spiritual But Not Religious is Not Enough: Seeing God in Surprising Places, Even the Church. Lillian Daniel is a bit of a heroine in the United Church of Christ because her ideas resonate with so many of us.

You don't have to be judgmental, homophobic, opposed to science, or a condemning hypocrite to be a Christian. There are churches that are open, affirming, accepting and non judgmental. Three is nothing in the Gospel of Jesus Christ or the history of the church that demands sexism, racism or other negative traits that have been exhibited by Christian institutions.

Daniel's book combines her sense of humor with her honest candor about her own journey as a pastor to provide a good entry into Christianity for those who have previously chosen not to participate as well as putting to words ideas that many of us inside of the church have impressed.

The book is an easy and light read. Just right for an evening or afternoon.