City of God: Faith in the Streets

by Sara Miles

Paradise is a garden. . .but heaven is a city. From the acclaimed author of Take This Bread and Jesus Freak comes a powerful new account of venturing beyond the borders of religion into the unpredictable territory of faith. On Ash Wednesday, 2012, Sara Miles and her friends left their church buildings and carried ashes to the buzzing city the crowded dollar stores, beauty shops, hospital waiting rooms, street corners and fast-food joints of her neighborhood. They marked the foreheads of neighbors and strangers, sharing blessings with waitresses and drunks, believers and doubters alike. City of God narrates the events of the day in vivid detail, exploring the profound implications of touching strangers with a reminder of common mortality. As the story unfolds, Sara Miles also reflects on life in her city over the last two decades, where the people of God suffer and rejoice, building community amid the grit and beauty of this urban landscape.City of God is a beautifully written personal narrative, rich in complex, real-life characters, and full of the "wild, funny, joyful, raucous, reverent" moments of struggle and faith that have made Miles one of the most enthralling Christian writers of our time.

Genres: Memoir, Religion, Nonfiction, Christian, Theology, Faith, Christianity

225 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Sara Miles is the founder and director of The Food Pantry, and serves as Director of Ministry at St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco. Her other books include "Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion," and her writing has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the New Yorker, Salon, and on National Public Radio.

Reviews

[Christie Alicea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate what I think Sara Miles was going for in this book, but I did find it hard to follow at times. Like some other reviews I've read on this site, I found that the author jumped around from past to present quite frequently, without clear transitions many times. There were points where I wondered why she even told the story from the past that she chose. I found myself craving more of what I thought the book would be about from the description - her experiences on one Ash Wednesday, meeting different people, etc. But most of the book wasn't even focused on the present day, and when it was, I found it was more focused on her thoughts and the logistics of the day than it was on the people she met, and the stories they told. There isn't anything wrong with this, of course, but it did not meet my expectations, especially given the synopsis, which is why I had to award only 3 stars.

A quick read which made some very good points; go into it without expectations and I suspect you will have a pleasant reading experience.

[Deidre · Rating 5 out of 5]

The kind of Pastor I want to be. Only Pagan. Same same. Whatever your path, this woman speaks of a faith I can relate to.

[Don Watkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Sara's books. This is no exception. It's well written and uniquely Sara. If you have a vision about how the church ought to be more inclusive then this book is for you

[Marisa Gonzalez · Rating 3 out of 5]

True story of a member of the Episcopalian Church distributing ashes on Ash Wednesday on the streets of San Francisco. I have mixed feelings about this book. I read it during Lent hoping for some inspiration but it sort of fell flat. I liked how it showed how the Church doesn't exist only in a building but throughout our communities and how churches need to reach out to those who will not go into a church. I didn't like how those receiving ashes seemed to treat it as a novelty. Ashes are not only a sign of mortality but also a sign for us to repent for our sins. Those who receive them need to pray and meditate on their sins upon receiving them and reflect on how they need to change. When you read about people receiving ashes and then happily going on with their day it loses its meaning.

[Art · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked Jesus Freak in places, but this book really hit home. Anyone who has gotten to minister Ashes To Go out on the street will relate to this book. I found it refreshing, it's raw, there's cursing, there's love anger and frustration. It's one day behind the scenes in a Episcopal church as a lay employee on Ash Wednesday, and as a lay employee in the Episcopal Church myself I have to say location and regional differences aside- I work in a small parish in a small town, not a major city, there's a connection I made in the book that I've not made in many others.

[Peggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sara Miles' powerful, moving account of one Ash Wednesday in the Mission District of San Francisco is exactly what Pope Francis is talking about when he says he "prefers a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets."

[Kari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this. I love the way that Sara Miles lives out her faith in such physical ways. Perfect for people who want something to read during Lent.

[Janhmmn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sara Miles is an Anglican in San Francisco who felt challenged to take her faith out on to the streets. While a lot of people I know feel that they meet God in the natural world, she clearly recognises God at work in all the dirt and bustle and mess of the city. With other members of her church and others in the district, she takes ashes on Ash Wednesday out to the public squares and streets, into the shops and businesses, and offers to sign people with a cross of ashes on their foreheads with the words "Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return". More often they come to her to ask for the ashes, she certainly doesn't force them on anyone.

The book tells the story of the day, from the early morning Ash Wednesday liturgy to getting home from the streets after dark. A lot of the book concerns her backstory and information about people she knows and the area where she lives, which was really interesting. She writes self-deprecatingly, but in a really accessible way, and I found myself quite challenged by the challenges she recognises herself facing.

One of the things she says about her neighbourhood is that it is quite secular by American standards, and that sounds strange, because I can't imagine that if you went out with ashes on Ash Wednesday in the UK that anyone would have a clue what that was about, nor be interested in receiving them. And yet do we not all need an occasional reminder of our mortality in our frantic rushing about and pre-occupation.

[Elliot Ratzman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do a study of memoirs by urban female clergy and I suspect you will find some common themes: the diversity of their parishioners, the wry humility of the author, the wisdom of eccentric personalities, the chaos of events, the difficult destitute poor and homeless, the surprising moments of grace in the city. Nevertheless, each memoir is filled with insight and Miles’ is no exception. Miles is a lay leader at an Episcopal Church in San Francisco’s Mission District. I read this memoir to learn more about Ash Wednesday and I wasn’t disappointed. It chronicles her adventures performing the ritual in the street among the people the “complex, contradictory body of Christ.” I read some of its beautiful passages to my theology class. Eg: “I wanted the benefits of the Church and the solidarity of a movement, without the costs” and bemoaning the tiring demands of difficult neighbors, “I dreaded the [Good Samaritan] parable’s implication that I could be saved by what they had to give.” Good stuff.

[Keith Beasley-Topliffe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful love letter to the Mission District of San Francisco and its amazingly diverse people (and their many expressions of religious faith) and to the reminders of the loving and forgiving grace of God and the inevitability of death symbolized by the ashes of Ash Wednesday. It's a memoir of one particular Ash Wednesday and of others before it as well as before it and a bonus discourse on the Virgin of Guadalupe. And it all fits together in a wonderful book. Only to be expected from the author of Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion and Jesus Freak: Feeding Healing Raising the Dead.

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book every year during Lent. To remind myself what this whole thing is really about.

“I knelt. I bent over and pressed my forehead to the sidewalk, the whole rush of this neighborhood, it’s crazy beauty and apparent hopelessness, flooding my heart. I’d walked through the plaza the day two teenagers were shot a block away. I just seen someone OD in the subway entrance. I’d come here busy and distracted on the way to the library with my lover and five-year-old daughter; I’d eaten tacos, chatted with beggars, and laughed with friends on this holy ground. ‘Lord,’ I whispered, ‘have mercy.’l

I need to be reminded.

[Evelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

My Company of New Pastors (CNP) read this book in order to discuss it at our recent retreat. While it did generate some good discussion about repentance, the role of the church in our current society, and how we go about doing mission in our world, we agreed that it took Miles a very long time to get to the premise of the book (aka the imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday). While liberal Christians might enjoy this book, it may not appeal to many other groups, especially more theologically conservative Christians. I appreciate the premise of the book and hope to spend time in further consideration of how mission can be more vital to those who do not enter the doors of the church.

[Catherine Hicks · Rating 4 out of 5]

The person who recommended this book to me suggested that I read it in out in public instead of at home, so I read it on a train trip to and from Philadelphia. I imagined what it would be like to bring ashes to the people on the train, and how that experience might be different than bringing ashes onto the streets of the Mission. Sara did convince me that Ashes to Go is more than just a fad that will run its course. To connect people to one another through the cross sums up all of ministry.

[Janessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a lovely read, and I am a huge fan of Sara Miles and her story. This book is written in the same thoughtful, hospitable and grace-filled way that I've come to love in her writing, but some of the storyline wove in ways that was difficult to track with, or remain interested in. Because I loved 'Take this Bread' so much, I think I'm unfortunately comparing my reading experience of that book with this one. In short, this is a good book, but 'Take this Bread' is incredible.

[Jody Stowell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book when it was published in 2014. It’s sat on my shelf because life.

It’s such a sweet journey through the Ash Wednesday experience. The author takes it to the streets of her community and experiences God in the unexpected places. Meeting the people and reading her thoughts - I love anything that allows us to see our messy lives as part of the Kingdom of God and to know that we can’t bind God into our boxes.

[Fiona · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the way Miles wove the story of one day in with many stories of her life in the Mission. She balances a very down-to-earth tone with a perceptive and awed view of the world around her. I loved the way she saw her neighbours, friends and strangers. And this was a fascinating look at what it means to be church in a diverse community.

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started this a couple years ago during lent and couldn't manage to finish it then. I'm glad I did. it has some great stories about being present and authentic in the moment, something I really struggle with, and how we see God there.

[Debra Hale-Shelton · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is a quick read that affirms the view that church neither is nor should be confined the space surrounded by four walls. I read the book with the hope of learning more about Ash Wednesday, and I did.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Sara Miles. I've read Take This Bread half a dozen times. City of God definitely wasn't as good as her first two, but still had that blend of down-to-earth prose and magical realism that I love about her.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. Sara Miles has written a beautiful book about Ash Wednesday in the Mission neighborhood of San Francisco. I love her writing and her perspective.

[Elizabeth Cantrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

About one Ash Wednesday in the author’s life. I found her experiences and points to be inspirational and touching. Thoughtful and thought provoking.

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the story of being the church rather than the idea of simply going to church.

[Anita · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great Read for lent

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so compelling to read and so moving. It made me see Jesus more.

[John Heiskell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy reading about other people's faith journeys...

[Taylor Coleman · Rating 2 out of 5]

honestly not at all what i thought it would be, the entire book covered one day which felt drawn out and not entirely biblically

[Gary Boschee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a wonderful book! Sara is a delightful writer. Perhaps a bit unorthodox, but in many ways that actually adds to her appeal.

[Cara Meredith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just can’t get enough of Sara Miles’ writing, for dust you are and to dust you shall return.

[Stasi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think anyone would appreciate this book. It was extra special to me since I know all the people in it. Made me miss my St. Gregory's family.

[Randi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have fond memories of reading Take This Bread by this author, but found this book to be very meh. I am not sure I will remember this book in a few weeks.