Hope: A User’s Manual
Eerdmans, 2022
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What hope is, what hope isn't, and how to find it in hopeless times.
How do we cultivate hope to face each day? How do we find the energy to persevere, knowing things don’t always work out OK, no matter what the platitudes say? How do we pursue the work of justice, knowing that the task is too big for any of us?
This book addresses these questions. It’s MaryAnn’s attempt to write herself back into a sense of hope after a grueling few years of life and world events.
Though this is not a pandemic book, readers will see COVID-19’s hulking presence from time to time, as well as the looming specter of climate change and the urgent work of confronting racial and economic injustice. Also braided in these pages is MaryAnn’s experience walking with her daughter through a debilitating depression. The family found hope hiding in unexpected nooks and crannies in that journey. But hope also lurks in tattooed wisdom from a beloved children’s book and in Marvel movies, on the running trail and in a sweater full of holes.
One thing is certain: real hope demands that we do something with it. That we live it out. That we use hope to participate in a bigger story playing out behind the bleak world we see on the news or in our social media feeds every day.
Whether you’re a person of faith, or someone disillusioned with faith, or someone who hardly ever thinks about faith: if you're a human being who longs for a spiritual counternarrative to live by, this book points to one resilient enough to endure crises and crushing defeats. If you’re tired of hearing about some heavenly hereafter amid the pressing need for justice here and now, this is a book about hope for this world.
Different book, different hairstyle.
God, Improv, and the Art of Living
Eerdmans, 2018
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The central principle of “yes, and…” in improvisational theater has produced a lot of great comedy. But it also offers an invigorating approach to life in general, and the spiritual life in particular. From Moses to Ruth to Jesus, Scripture is full of people boldly saying “yes, and . . .” as they accept what life throws their way and build upon it.
This book blends scripture, psychology, theology, and pop culture in a wise, funny, down-to-earth guide to improv as a practice for life. Offering concrete spiritual wisdom in the form of seven improvisational principles, this book will help readers become more awake, creative, resilient, and ready to play—even (and perhaps especially) when life doesn’t go according to plan.
“We are all improvisers,” MaryAnn says, “whether we realize it or not. We improvise in order to get through the day. We improvise when life surprises us. We do it without even thinking about it. This book will help you do it better.”
Check out the Living Improv video series.
Sabbath in the Suburbs: A Family’s Experiment with Holy Time
Chalice Press, 2012
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Download a discussion guide for this book (PDF) here, and access five short videos to help supplement group discussion here.
MaryAnn brings a fresh voice and energy to the familiar topic of time management as understood by people who would describe themselves as either religious or spiritual but not religious: Sabbath-keeping. She writes from a perspective that many can relate to, that of a suburban mother of three who works part-time. Bringing the gift of self-awareness and irony, Dana notes that a four-minute difference in school bus rides ought not to prompt a letter-writing campaign from anxious parents. She also brings theological awareness of the historical practice and meaning of Sabbath-keeping. Dana writes in a distinct voice about making a traditional religious practice meaningful to contemporary families.
–Publishers Weekly
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Sabbath In the Suburbs is the beautiful story of one family’s decision to spend a year exploring the meaning of keeping Sabbath. It is a powerful affirmation of living a life that does not just manage time, but embraces the moment. MaryAnn McKibben Dana writes with elegance, clarity and humor about the family’s search for a creative and workable Sabbath framework, while pondering the transformative and restorative quality of rest. It is a luminous reflection with deep resonance in our culture of perpetual motion.
–Carrie Newcomer
Musician, Performer, and Grammy Award-Winning Songwriter