Ever-Expansive Spirit of God: Hope for All Who Feel Left Out. This item is unavailable.Ever-Expansive Spirit of God: Hope for All Who Feel Left Out

Perhaps sexual orientation and gender identity are the most controversial of all the issues in family life today, and nowhere is it causing more tension and division than inside faith communities of all faiths and denominations. Into this fray comes Bishop Peggy A. Johnson to share her own remarkable experiences in a lifetime of ministry, which are at various times painful, courageous, embarrassing, inspiring, sad, happy, and even humorous. Committed to complete transparency, Bishop Johnson tells of her call to become a bishop; her marriage of now forty-four years to her best friend and fellow ordained minister; their life together with their two adult children; and the "precious secret" that is revealed to her in 2010. Bishop Johnson explores her deepest thoughts, fears, sorrows, triumphs, and mistakes. "The debates around same-gender marriage, sexual orientation, gender identity, and what it means to keep in a covenantal relationship with fellow United Methodists of differing opinions is at the center of this book," she says. "But it is also a personal story full of reflections on my journey as a Christian, a minister, and a leader in the church."