Cry pain, cry hope: Thresholds to purpose

by Elizabeth O'Connor

Elizabeth O'Connor, writer, teacher, counselor, and leader of small growth groups, has been a staff member of The Church of The Saviour in Washington, D.C. for more than forty years. She is the founder of Sarah's Circle, a ministry with the elderly of an inner-city neighborhood. The author shares more intimately than usual in this newest work, offering personal reflections, journal style, on her own development over the last few years as she struggled to hear and respond to a call to build an inner-city residence for elderly women. O'Connor's concern with integrating the inward and outward journeys is certainly not new for her, but her willingness to reveal herself so fully represents a real departure from her earlier writing on this church's corporate story.

Hardcover

First published January 28, 1987

About the author

Elizabeth O'Connor worked for the ecumenical Church of the Savior in Washington, D.C. since 1953 and directed its residence and support group for elderly low-income persons.

Miss O'Connor wrote a number of books about church renewal and community service. The first was "Call to Commitment," describing the founding and development of Church of the Savior, which works toward racial integration through small groups.

Miss O'Connor began and facilitated the Compassion Group counseling program at the church, where she was also a lay leader, a teacher and a workshop leader.

She was founder in 1983 of Sarah's Circle, a program for the elderly in Adams-Morgan. The residential facility has 34 apartments and a community center serving 200 people. Miss O'Connor originated the idea and raised money for the facilities. Miss O'Connor was born in New Jersey and raised in the Bronx, N.Y. She attended New York University and the New School for Social Research. She did publicity work for the company that produced "America's Town Meeting of the Air" for radio and worked for the American Bankers Association before moving to Washington in 1949.

Miss O'Connor, who was a public speaker and leader of retreats, was given an honorary doctorate from Virginia Theological Seminary.

Reviews

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a difficult book to explain (I know I say that about books a lot, but it's true). It's a series of journal entries or meditations on the subject of calling--both spiritual and vocational. Elizabeth O'Connor was a member of the radical Christian community called Church of the Savior in Washington, DC until her death in 1998. This book is at least in part the chronicle of her own call as writer, and her call to found Sarah's Circle, a community for elderly women, which is still active today. But what made the book so meaningful to me was the vivid description of her own feelings and struggles during the process.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a beautiful little book that I somehow stumbled upon over a decade ago and have read multiple times since then. It's a bit uneven, but somehow that makes it feel even more raw and honest, which is probably the greatest strength of the entire work.

[Naphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Asks good questions about various issues most people have grown numb too. Good stuff!

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

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