Love is the Way by Bishop Michael Curry (with Sara Grace) 

Explores how there really is no other way to go than the way of God’s love - and is filled with challenges on how life needs to be lived out within that love

Love is the Way - Holding onto Hope in Troubling Times
By Bishop Michael Curry (with Sara Grace)
Hodder & Stoughton
ISBN: 9781529-33733-4
Reviewed by: Heather Jay

Some books are like eating a bar of chocolate: gentle, sweet and comforting. Bishop Michael’s book is like eating one of those bars of chocolates that has an unexpected chilli hidden in its depths. In places, it’s breath-taking.

If you’re expecting a gentle comforting book about love, this is not it.

Sure, it’s a beautifully written book exploring how there really is no other way to go than the way of God’s love and the benefits to us on doing so.

And it’s filled with encouragement on how love can bring hope, help and healing; how love never dies and how love is really God’s GPS for living.

But it’s also filled with challenges on how life needs to be lived out within that love which can leave the reader shifting uncomfortably in their seat. The book doesn’t duck that whole awkward question about who the neighbour is that we have to love and the reminder that it really isn’t just the person who shares our own world view or even those people that we like.

Bishop Michael is honest about his struggles with what that love has looked like for his journey with God. Some of that makes difficult reading but his honesty is authentic and his humbleness in making the points evident. Not everyone will agree with him on some of his views and where they have taken him but I think most will appreciate his honest – and loving - look at some very difficult issues. The breath-taking moments are mixed with reassuring ones with both reminding the reader of the love of God and why it matters.

If you’re prepared to be challenged about how love could and should underpin your life in God and if you’re someone who doesn’t mind being left breathless by the unexpected ‘chilli’ in its chapters, you will undoubtedly find this book a real and honest look at love in all its fullness from someone who’s walked a tough old walk and yet still believes in love and its power to change the world.

As Bishop Michael says: “Love turns the world upside down.” Let’s face it, that’s not always a bad thing.  
 

Heather Jay is a former broadcast and newspaper journalist in Wiltshire