The Soulmaking Room

by Dee Dee Risher

In this personal story, Dee Dee Risher weaves experiences from her life with the biblical story of the prophet Elisha and the Shunammite woman. Risher is captivated by this spiritually attuned, generous, hospitable, honest, and bold woman. The woman from Shunem extends radical hospitality to the prophet, expecting no reward. But when disaster strikes, she does not hesitate to hold Elisha accountable or talk back.
Hidden in the story, Risher believes, are the questions that lead to a more authentic








"Every human being goes through so much," Risher reflects, "and there is some heartbreakingly beautiful fruit we are to shape from that. That is our own unique, authentic gift to the world." Her book encourages each of us to find a holy room in which we are in community with others and where we can shape our souls into their unique dimensions. We each need a space for this work-a soulmaking room.
"If we cannot deal with failure, if we do not know how to put our deepest losses in our holy room, and if we do not know who our people are, we can never fully join the joy and power of God's story," Dee Dee Risher asserts. Embark with her on the adventure of creating and discovering the joys of The Soulmaking Room .

Genres: Nonfiction

210 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2016

About the author

Dee Dee Risher is a freelance writer and editor who wrote for and edited the Christian social justice magazine The Other Side and helped launch and edit Conspire magazine, an ecumenical quarterly publication. She is a cofounder of the Alternative Seminary in Philadelphia and helped start Vine and Fig Tree, a faith-based, intentional cooperative housing community in the Germantown neighborhood, of which she is a longtime resident. She has published over 200 articles in such magazines as Sojourners, Progressive Christian, The Utne Reader, and Grid magazine and blogs for The Huffington Post, Theological Curves, and other venues. Dee Dee's new book, The Soulmaking Room, was recently released by Upper Room Books and is available in print and e-book formats. In it, she explores what it means to live authentically, by sharing from her lived experience as "a bold, Southern, white woman who loves the earth and its fruits and likes to share stories and laugh, sing, and dance with my sisters and brothers...and then watch the moon rise."

Reviews

[Chris Evens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book. It is full of honest struggle to live in the world as it is. I resonate with Dee Dee's journeys overseas, learning languages, being an outsider, seeing systems of oppression that I personally benefit from while others are burned by them. I resonate as a parent attempting to teach my kids to live true to themselves while not blindly following all that is around and in front of them. I'll keep returning to these pages as I embark on my own mid life journey to (re)discover who I truly am. Thank you for this gift.

[Sue Jackson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dee Dee Risher did a good job of telling us her personal story. She discussed many topics including living in a poorer area with children, using public schools, and life as a married couple with kids. I appreciate that she tied that to being honest while looking for glimmers of hope even in the darkest times. She did show that she gained strength from God and shared Biblical stories to support that.

This book was just ok for me because she described what most anyone goes through in life. I also couldn't help but feel that she was coming from a position of money. She got to chose where her white, financially comfortable family got to live. It would be a different view for those without that choice. The effort was good but I wanted more.

[Jeanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book. Wonderful thoughts,very well written. I believe I will always remember it. This is a book that someone in their middle or older years will get a lot out of. This is a story of a person who, in her youth, has dreams, is very idealistic, and believes in accomplishment. As she gets older, she still has her ideals, but has also had failure. She is learning about resurrection and redemption. (Pretty deep.)

[Cathy Sweeney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book from the Patheos Book Club, and so I was determined to read and write a review for the site. There were all kinds of reasons I thought I'd enjoy it - I was looking for something more spiritual and contemplative, the forward was written by Shane Claiborne, and great recommendations from bell hooks and Jim Wallis.

Those alone were reasons to read - but I also realized that I had never spent a lot of time with the bible story Risher chose to highlight: The Story of the Shunnamite Woman (2 Kings 4:8-37).

All that said, I had high expectations. And while I wasn't disappointed, it's important to note that this is not a quick read. Perhaps because of the format of other memoirs I have read, as well as other conversations of bible stories, I expected each chapter to stand alone - almost as a devotional based on one part of the bible story.

Instead, Risher groups themes of the bible story into 5 or 6 chapters of the book. At first, this was a little distracting, but once I realized the organization, I was hooked. Dede Risher has definitely bared her journey to us, in some of the most revealing and almost confessional ways. What adds to the personal journey is how she shares her story with that of the Shunnamite Woman.

And what comes across is something totally unexpected. We learn of her childhood in South Carolina, her college days at Duke, her work in the Lutheran Volunteer Corps, and later in the Red-Light District in DC working with the homeless and those in poverty. After reading about her time in China, we read of meeting her husband, and of the struggles of parenting, of parenting with a purpose, and coming to terms with her family struggles.

All the while, she integrates themes from the Shunnamite Woman into her story: hospitality, crossing the thresholds, embracing gift and dealing with loss, persistently pursuing what we know is truth, and finally, finding our own - but new - face in the wonder of redemption and resurrection.

Chapter 8 hit me hard. I took about a week to chew on it. Why? This was the story of Risher's time in the Red Light District, one of the poorest in D.C. That Risher understands the Albert Nolan defined four stages of 'helping the poor,' tells me a lot about her compassion. Even more so, her admission that she cycles through this process constantly (p. 75) reminds me that the non-poor will always have something to learn from those who are poor.

Part IV of the book "Finding Our Own Face," addressed grief, self condemnation, resentment and bitterness head on. In her discussion about gratitude, she artfully argues that one cannot be angry or bitter, when one has a proper attention toward gratitude. This entire section - how gratitude helps with redemption, and with resurrection - is artfully done.

I recommend this book to those who enjoy memoirs, specifically about individuals who help or work in nonprofit or care for the poor. I recommend this book to anyone who is going through broken-ness and who needs to find a way to find themselves again. I recommend this book to contemplaters who spend time not just reading, but chewing on the words, moving them around, hearing and reading them over and over again, until the story becomes their own story.

Because, after all, by reading about others, and especially stories from the bible, we learn a little more about ourselves.

[Joan Broadfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bell hooks says about this book: "Few books on spiritual issues cover as much ground and offer the brilliant insights that are essential for the strengthening of our faith as [this]." I have not known myself to argue with bell hooks... and certainly do not with this. A midlife memoir of the life and soul journey, this recounting of DeeDee's story captures so much. I find in here the poignant, the sad, the determined, the loving, the deeply frustrated voices I experience. I am so grateful.

[David Kirkpatrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic. Inspiring. Moving.

[Joann]

Thought provoking
Gratitude
self reflection
Being thankful
Being present in the moment
Serving
Neighborhood participation