Hard and Holy Work

Mary Alice Birdwhistell is the pastor of Highland Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky. Prior to coming to Highland, Birdwhistell served on ministerial staff at Calvary Baptist Church in Waco, Texas, for eleven years. She received a MDiv from Baylor University in 2013. Tyler D. Mayfield is A. B. Rhodes Professor of Old Testament and Faculty Director of the Grawemeyer Award in Religion at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. He is the author of Literary Structure and Setting in Ezekiel; A Guide to Bible Basics; Unto Us a Child Is Born: Isaiah, Advent, and Our Jewish Neighbors; and Father Abraham’s Many Children: The Bible in a World of Religious Difference.

“What better Lenten discipline and exercise than to ponder well, carefully, and daily our premier text on emancipation—the book of Exodus! Mary Alice Birdwhistell and Tyler D. Mayfield have written a study guide that is hands-on, quite personal for them, and readily accessible for daily use. Surely Christians in Lent have no more important work to do than to engage the scriptural promises of and mandate to emancipation, especially in our world that is so bent on enslavement, the practice of cheap labor, and the systemic abuse of vulnerable lives. This book makes one wish: that Lent were longer in order to do more of the Exodus. This is a most winsome invitation to fresh faith.” —Walter Brueggemann, William Marcellus McPheeters Professor Emeritus of Old Testament, Columbia Theological Seminary, and author of Delivered out of Empire“Hard and Holy Work is an inspired guide for brave and curious Lenten travelers yearning for liberation. Be careful, though: Birdwhistell and Mayfield’s intimate exploration of the Exodus saga refuses to skip past the perilous contradictions privileged readers are sure to encounter. Expect your journey inward with them to arrive at unexpected places.” —Amos J. Disasa, Senior Pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Dallas “This lovely study and devotional is written with a wise and compassionate voice, bringing timely reflections on timeless Scriptures and nudging us to consider the significance of movements, moments, and our own spiritual yearnings. It is an invitation to pay attention, as the authors say, to ‘the divine possibility of the present moment.’ In a season in which our hearts are broken anew each day, may this book give us what we need as people of faith to mend and heal and move.” —Laura M. Cheifetz, coauthor of Race in America: Christians Respond to the Crisis