Book Synopsis The beauty of the world and our experience of human empathy and compassion collide with our experience of bitter discord between individuals, severe societal divisions, brutal oppression, war, and profound estrangement from our environment. All manner of rational analysis and proposed solutions have not solved these elemental problems, the basis of which is spiritual. This book focuses on the spiritual nature of participation. It is about participation in a humanity rooted in Holy Mystery, in God who is in all things. It is about what is essential to being human: the experience of transcendence expressed in faith, hope, and love. It is about being in Christ. In part, it is a meditation on the apostle Pauls insistence that we participate in Christ in whom we find our true humanity and through whom we are transformed in our relationship to ourselves, others, and the world. Being rooted in Christ, we gain discernment and power for transformative action in the world as it is, with all its wonder, beauty, and brokenness. This book moves from the inner reality of participation in Christ to the outer reality of engagement with the world. Review Quotes In the midst of our current social unrest, Lowry illuminates a path for us to examine how to live out our personal faith in a way that engages and transforms the world around us. This thought-provoking, timely book will help foster a greater understanding of how to cultivate a deep, inner connection with God that manifests itself through conscientious stewardship and relational healing within ourselves and our communities. --Alicia N. Ayodele, Saint Marys University of Minnesota Participation explores human identity, inviting readers to discover what it means to be their authentic self in Christ. Providing a biblical perspective on experiencing humanity, Lowry addresses the process of developing in Christ, both personally and globally. . . . Participation inspires readers to a call of action and offers a reflective and liberating experience. --Hannah Mngwamba, Program Supervisor, Metropolitan Family Services Equal parts pastoral and prophetic, this refreshing book is nourishment for the soul hungry for love, justice, and transformation. David Lowrys wise meditations offer a timely invitation to a life--and a world--of more freedom and wholeness. This is a book to revisit time and again. --Katherine Rehberg, Vice President of Programs, Church World Service (CWS) I highly recommend Participation to those who seek a deeper understanding of engagement with Gods call in their lives. Participation addresses the presumed tension between a divine call and our humanity. Lowry shows that rather than tension, there is divine synergy between being in Christ and being participants in the natural world and with our fellow human beings. --Aderonke Bamgbose Pederson, MD, Harvard Medical School About the Author David Lowry served as pastor of St. Thomas Lutheran Church in Chicago for over twenty-eight years, a church with a strong outreach to children in crisis, a ministry to people recovering from addictions, and a commitment to social justice. He is the author of Released Outward: Liberating Congregations to Do Justice, Love Mercy, and Live Faithfully and Following Jesus in an Age of Hypocrisy .