Broken Hallelujahs - by Beth Allen Slevcove (Paperback)

About the Book

The losses in our lives are both big and small. We leave home. We experience physical illness. We struggle with vocation. We may long for a spouse or child. We lose people we love to addiction or death. In this book spiritual director Beth Slevcove offers stories of loss from her own life along with distinctive spiritual practices that can guide us back to God.

Book Synopsis

The losses in our lives are both big and small. We leave home. We experience physical illness. We struggle with vocation. We may long for a spouse or child. We lose people we love to addiction or death. In this book spiritual director Beth Slevcove offers stories of loss from her own life along with distinctive spiritual practices that can guide us back to God.

Review Quotes

"Broken Hallelujahs is a book to keep nearby when sorrow intrudes and you need a friend to help. Beth Slevcove has walked the way of grief and tells the stories of a traveling companion who knows the way. Through her experience and expert reflective questions, Slevcove nudges the reader to step out in faith, honor the loss and trust that God is near the brokenhearted."

"All of us have experienced loss in some way, but too often we don't take the time to grieve that loss, and most of us, myself included, don't even know how to begin to process the loss so we can move toward healing. Beth's new book Broken Hallelujahs is a beautiful reflection on loss and love and finding God again after God's silence. Through her stories and the exercises and practices included at the end of each chapter, Beth gives us the tools we need to process our grief and help us connect to God and actually move on toward healing."

"Beth Slevcove has provided us with the quintessential primer on learning how to 'grieve the big and small losses of life.' No one would ask for any of these losses to come their way. Yet, in all the losses that Beth has experienced, she has and continues to be attentive to holding all before God, offering her own deep response to the pain again, and again, and again. Throughout the book we are provided with the privilege and opportunity to do the same. And you know what? Over time, we may discover that the broken hallelujahs in our own lives are the very things that take us deeper into the unbroken hallelujah. O may it be so! Thank you, Beth."

"I don't normally think of grief and beauty cozying up with one another. But that's the indelible impression this gorgeous book imprinted on my heart and mind. Slevcove-with sometimes startling vulnerability and relentless authenticity-opens up her journey into and through grief, shining a light on something far, far better than simple platitudes or greeting card perk pills. This book reveals truth. And it's the best kind of truth, messy and heart-wrenching and full of the potency of new life."

"In Broken Hallelujahs Beth Allen Slevcove gives us a beautifully written, deeply personal account of her experience of loss-its pain and its potential. As I read it, I began to see some of my own experience of loss through the lens she provided. Reading her story is a hopeful encounter, one I would wish for anyone struggling with loss. And at some point, that will be all of us."

"In Broken Hallelujahs, Beth Slevcove tells a brave, unsentimental and surprisingly redemptive story. She explores the way grief can both shatter and transform our hearts and offers spiritual practices that help readers authentically express and grieve their own wounds and disappointments. It's a beautiful, honest book."

"The beautifully fashioned sentences throughout Broken Hallelujahs summon deep contemplation and provoke a wrestling with the realities of our mysterious lives. What is truly refreshing about Broken Hallelujahs is the absence of sentimentalism. With a timely cadence, this book moved me to tears-tears of grief, loss and lament, but also tears of joyfulness and gratitude. Beth's willingness to be vulnerable and to call a thing what it is gave me permission to sink into the profound truth that Jesus Christ shows us it is truly human to sometimes cry out, 'My God, why have you forsaken me?' Broken Hallelujahs ministered to my soul like a balm of Gilead. I love this book and hope you will take care of your soul by reading this astonishing story."

"This book is a wonderful collection of real life stories, down-to-earth exercises and the needed encouragement to feel, express and engage with grief in unedited and honest ways. Beth, drawing from her own experiences, provides practical wisdom for those journeying through their own grief and those who are invited to companion with others through grief."

"This book provides a needed resource for anyone struggling to stay connected with God in the midst of faith-shaking turmoil and loss. Beth's courageous vulnerability encourages her readers to equal honesty, while the spiritual practices that close each chapter offer a means of experiencing God without denying the human emotions that accompany loss. It is a book I will read and reread, and one that I will share with others. For who has not experienced the grief and loss that are part of every life?"

"Those who find themselves in the dark and disorienting cavern of loss will sense a true and faithful companion in Beth Allen Slevcove. She has spent a great deal of time in the dark and has not only survived but has learned to discern the subtle grays and cracks of light to guide her forward. She has tended her grief well and her life's journey has given her a deep 'heart of wisdom' that some people gain but few articulate so poignantly."

About the Author

Beth Slevcove is a spiritual director, retreat leader, surfer and mother. She served as the director of spiritual formation for Youth Specialties for seven years and holds advanced degrees in theology and education. Beth is deeply rooted in her urban Lutheran congregation and is an oblate at a Benedictine monastery. She lives in San Diego with her husband and two young children.