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A Feature Review of
Letters from the Farm: A Simple Path for a Deeper Spiritual Life
Becca Stevens
Paperback: Morehouse Publishing, 2015
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Reviewed by Jennifer Burns-Lewis
“Love always has the last word. That truth gives me hope
that in simplicity we can find our way to heaven.
And, that, in the end, truth
will reassure us that we
were enough.”
– Becca Stevens
Episcopal priest Becca Stevens writes from the heart. A passionate advocate for victimized women, Stevens is a conduit for the healing love of God. Letters from the Farm is a collection of love letters shared across the miles and across the seasons of a year. The founder of Magdalene, a group of residential communities of women who have been survived prostitution, sex trafficking, or addiction, the communities are supplemented by Thistle Farms, a fifteen year old consortium for employment for women, including a studio, café, and a line of natural body care.
Stevens offers “letters” and reflections to general and specific recipients. Her words are penned from a variety of locations all over the world, and are offered to clergy and lay persons, new and experienced leaders and worshippers. Other reflections are penned for those who seek forgiveness, who feel they are wandering, who are holding onto hope, and still others are simply written as thoughtful and tender reflections of a keen observer of people and nature and the world. Her reflections are lyrical and heart-felt and they are gentle in their appropriate indictments as well as their compassionate care. Accompanying each letter is a verse of Scripture and some questions for reflection, making it a lovely devotional guide or simply a daily, weekly or seasonal anthology of inspiration. Prayers are included as well for use by groups or individuals. Letters from the Farm is about cultivation of soil, of souls, of life.
In the book’s introductory letter, Stevens writes that the letters from the farm “describe a faith that strives for justice and peace through loving our neighbors.” Each letter is a gleaning, a signpost to what can blossom, take root, and flourish as a result of faithful living. The seasons for farming and for faith are richly described and offered as lovely gifts from a writer and theologian who has much to offer.
The letters describe some of the fruits of Thistle Farms, the social enterprise that employs more than fifty residents and graduates of Magdalene. From Tennessee to Rwanda, women farmers growing and cultivating herbs, flowers and vegetables provides a rich backdrop for Stevens’ reflections. One reads of patience, hope and careful attention to soil, root, weed, and bugs, and is offered the opportunity to connect lessons from farming to anyone’s life. “We are made from earth.” “The way to cultivate a beautiful crop with a community after we remove our ego and sow seeds of gratitude is to listen.” “…in the fullness of time when the kingdom of love is poured out, nothing will be categorized a weed again.” And this: “Farmers seeing their pumpkins come into their ripeness, pastors seeing their congregations gathered by riversides in spring, and fishermen seeing a brown tout jump all share the same glory of feeling a fleeting reunion with that most sacred truth: We are already in eternity, living with God.”
Stevens’ beautiful descriptions of nature, farming and community are matched by her prophetic and thoughtful reflections about pain, hardship and that which seems hopeless. As a pastor to many who have been abused and marginalized, Stevens writes from a perspective that points to the power of love to heal and to reveal hope in the midst of pain and human suffering. She tells stories of women whose burdens are more bearable because of the support of an encouraging community, who were met with rousing encouragement as they overcame incarceration, addition, and sexual violence, who participate in the own healing by connecting with the land and with other farmers.
The author takes some wonderful opportunities to speak to pastors and preachers and worship leaders about the rich soil of worship and liturgy. Her words remind those of us who help to shape worship that we have everything we need right at hand. She writes with eloquence about the amazing capacity of light to offer a symbol of hope to those who would take the time to notice. She writes with passion that “worship that is true and led by the Spirit calls us to confront with compassion the needs of the world and the community in which we service. This means that our work in the world will bring new vision, life, resources into the church.” She writes with tenderness of the gift of “holding the stories of others in the role of confessor.”
Whether one is already close to the land in a rural setting that could illustrate the pages of Letters from the Farm or reading from one’s living room in an urban landscape, this slim volume offers the reader a fat helping of hope, the scent of joy, and a glimpse of the kingdom of God from one very skilled in mindfulness. Please don’t finish this review with any impression that this is a saccharin cup of tea, for it is the farthest thing from that. Becca Stevens writes with such an eye for the ordinary and the quotidian that one completes a letter or a season of the book refreshed and wanting to glimpse the eternity in which we already reside. Letters from the Farm is real—one can smell the newly turned over soil, glimpse the purple of lavender or lilac, taste the ripe tomato that are the author’s life and landscape. This book of reflections sent off in the form of letters is a healing balm for anyone who wants to draw closer to God in the living of one’s days.
C. Christopher Smith is the founding editor of The Englewood Review of Books. He is also author of a number of books, including most recently How the Body of Christ Talks: Recovering the Practice of Conversation in the Church (Brazos Press, 2019). Connect with him online at: C-Christopher-Smith.com
 Reading for the Common Good From ERB Editor Christopher Smith "This book will inspire, motivate and challenge anyone who cares a whit about the written word, the world of ideas, the shape of our communities and the life of the church." -Karen Swallow Prior Enter your email below to sign up for our weekly newsletter & download your FREE copy of this ebook! |
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