For Personal Reflection (45-60 minutes)
1. Which words or phrases catch your attention and invite you to linger? Why? Offer these to God in prayer.
2. What thoughts do you wrestle with? What sorrows do you carry in your heart? Offer these to God in prayer.
3. Write your own “How long, Lord?” questions. How long until . . . ? How long must I . . . ? How long will you . . . ? Offer these to God in prayer.
4. Think of a time when God seemed slow to act on your behalf or forgetful about you. Were you able to express your honest emotions to God during that season? Is there anything you need to express to him about that season now?
5. How has God made his unfailing love known to you? What helps you trust his love and goodness during seasons of suffering, sorrow, scarcity, and trial?
6. Write your own psalm of lament, including an honest expression of heartache as well as an honest declaration of hope.
For Group Reflection (45-60 minutes)
1. How readily are you able to express your raw and honest emotions to God in prayer? What helps you to offer lament to God?
2. How readily are you able to share your heartache with others in prayer? What helps you to share the burden of sorrow?
3. Take turns reading your lament prayers, with plenty of silence in between so that others in your group can share your sorrow and your hope in prayer.
MEDITATION ON LUKE 23:32-38
Withholding Nothing
Quiet yourself in the presence of God. Then read the text aloud a couple of times and imagine you are standing at the foot of the cross, watching and listening. Use all of your senses to enter the story and participate in the scene.
Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”
The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”
There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
For Personal Reflection (45-60 minutes)
1. What thoughts and emotions rise within you as you watch what is done to Jesus? What do you want to do? What do you want Jesus to do?
2. Which aspect of their cruelty is most disturbing to you? Why?
3. Jesus permits everything to be stripped away: his reputation, his dignity, his clothing. He clings to nothing; he withholds nothing. Not even forgiveness. What do you cling to? What do you withhold? Why?
4. What is Jesus inviting you to relinquish? What is Jesus inviting you to offer?
5. Offer your response to God in prayer.
For Group Reflection (45-60 minutes)
1. What did you notice about your reactions to praying with this text?
2. What does this text reveal to you about Jesus? Your own heart?
3. What are you being invited to release to God? Offer to others?
4. How can the group pray for you?
MEDITATION ON JOHN 20:19-20, 24-29
Encountering the Wounded One
Quiet yourself in the presence of God. Then read the text aloud a couple of times.
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
For Personal Reflection (45-60 minutes)
1. Imagine you are one of the ten disciples gathered in the upper room on Easter evening. What is like for you to see Jesus alive? How do you feel when you see his wounds?
2. When Thomas returns, you tell him about seeing the Lord. How do you feel about Thomas’s response?
3. Now read the story again, this time imagining yourself as Thomas. How do you feel when you hear the report from the others that Jesus is alive?
4. How do you feel when Jesus appears and offers you exactly what you said you needed in order to believe?
5. What do the wounds of Jesus reveal to you?
6. Take a moment to receive the revelation of who Jesus is. What is your response?
For Group Reflection (45-60 minutes)
1. What have you needed from God or from others in order to help you believe?
2. Has your testimony about Jesus ever been disregarded or disbelieved by others? What was that experience like for you?
3. What do the wounds of Jesus reveal to you?
4. Offer the peace of Christ to one another as you begin your time of prayer for each other.
5. Conclude your time of prayer by offering the blessing of Jesus to one another: “Blessed are you, [name], because you have believed.” Take time to savor the blessing before offering it to someone else.
Journey to the Cross
For years during Holy Week our congregation hosted a Journey to the Cross very similar to what I’ve described at New Hope: eight prayer stations with art and Scripture telling the story of Jesus’ road to Golgotha. Our journey was an adaptation of a historical prayer practice of the Catholic Church, Stations of the Cross. Annually we invited people from our community to walk in the footsteps of Jesus on a spiritual pilgrimage of meditation on his suffering and death in order to prepare for the glory of his resurrection. Members from our congregation prayed for months with the Scripture texts and then created art that invited reflection. The first four stations described at New Hope (the angry fists and billowing robes, the cross with the mirror, the crossbeam to lift, and the tears draped and pooled among the dead trees) are based on the art our members created for us. I am indebted to the prayerful, creative people who made our Holy Week experience such a meaningful one. Perhaps you’ll find ways to offer a similar journey in your own churches.
Listed below are eight texts you can use for personal and group meditation. Each text is well-suited for either imaginative prayer (placing yourself within the story) or lectio divina (reading slowly and listening attentively for a word or phrase that captures your attention and invites you to ponder and pray). If your group is so inclined, you might also create artwork that accompanies each text so that you can experience a multisensory engagement with God’s Word.
Matthew 27:1-2, 11-25
Luke 23:23-25
Mark 15:21
Luke 23:27-31
John 19:23-24
John 19:25-27
Mark 15:33-39
John 19:28-37
The Sensible Shoes Series
Sensible Shoes
978-0-8308-6453-9
Sensible Shoes
Study Guide
978-0-8308-8901-3
Two Steps Forward
978-0-8308-9871-8
Barefoot
978-0-8308-9883-1
An Extra Mile
978-0-8308-4332-9
For more information, visit ivpress.com/sensibleshoesseries.
Formatio books from InterVarsity Press follow the rich tradition of the church in the journey of spiritual formation. These books are not merely about being informed, but about being transformed by Christ and conformed to his image. Formatio stands in InterVarsity Press’s evangelical publishing tradition by integrating God’s Word with spiritual practice and by prompting readers to move from inward change to outward witness. InterVarsity Press uses the chambered nautilus for Formatio, a symbol of spiritual formation because of its continual spiral journey outward as it moves from its center. We believe that each of us is made with a deep desire to be in God’s presence. Formatio books help us to fulfill our deepest desires and to become our true selves in light of God’s grace.
Praise for An Extra Mile
“Sharon’s novels take you on a healing journey. She deftly intertwines compelling story and spiritual direction in a way that both draws you in and invites you to heal. And she never rushes her characters through the process of transformation—much like God never rushes us through ours. If you want to get lost in a great novel and at the same time find healing for your own soul, read An Extra Mile. You won’t want to miss one of Sharon’s books.”
Susie Larson, talk radio host, national speaker, author of Your Beautiful Purpose
“Still reeling from Barefoot, I was eager to welcome back my Sensible Shoes friends in this final book, An Extra Mile. How appropriate that stories about spiritual journey in the midst of life’s grit and grace should conclude with so many challenges. Here, significant changes for everyone have threatened to unravel their sweet friendship connection. It’s time to discern and follow God’s new calling. Yet again, Sharon Garlough Brown offers the perfect blend of a riveting story and spiritual content—this time during the season of Lent. Redeeming and refreshing, I highly recommend it, even though it means saying goodbye to literary friends I have enjoyed for four novels.”
Lucinda Secrest McDowell, author of Ordinary Graces and Dwelling Places
“Author Sharon G. Brown has done it again! Once more she powerfully weaves the stories of women who are struggling yet desiring to grow their faith in everyday life with its ups and downs. You’ll identify with them as they seek to move forward when life is difficult. You’ll watch how they begin to realize that life challenges are actually an invitation from their Heavenly Father to trust him even when the way looks very dark. Ultimately, these women show us a way to embrace God’s joy and his personal call on our own lives.”
Marilyn Hontz, speaker, author, ministry coach, pastor
“I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the Sensible Shoes books and hated to say goodbye to these wonderful characters. But An Extra Mile provided a fulfilling close to this great series. Thank you, Sharon, for enriching my life with these novels and teaching me so much about my own journey of spiritual transformation.”
Lynn Austin, author of Where We Belong
“I came to the final novel of the Sensible Shoes series with a feeling of grief. How I didn’t want the story to end! But once again, as with the first three novels, I found within the pages of An Extra Mile beautiful nuggets of truth to hold on to long after I swiped the last page on my Kindle. Navigating great joy and devastating loss, Hannah, Mara, Charissa, and Meg’s daughter Becca each struggle to move forward in life and love. With her characteristic shimmering prose and deep spiritual insights, Brown tells another story for our times as we journey with the Sensible Shoes club one extra mile.”
Elizabeth Musser, author of The Long Highway Home
“Sharon Garlough Brown has once again given us an irresistible page-turner, bringing this series to a satisfying close while celebrating that life with God is always unfolding anew. Rarely in fiction are we invited so deeply and generously into the secret contours of the spiritual life. Through the realistic stories of these four women, readers experience what it feels like to enter the darkest places of loss, resistance, and frustration, and find there the abundant grace of God.”
Debra Rienstra, author of Great with Child: On Becoming a Mother and So Much More: An Invitation to Christian Spirituality
“An Extra Mile is a testimony to the joy that comes with spiritual growth and increasing trust, even amid setbacks and sorrow. In Mara, Charissa, Hannah, and Becca, we see God faithfully renewing real, messy lives with grace and tender patience, stretching his beloved ones to greater love and service. In this final installment of the Sensible Shoes series, Sharon Garlough Brown offers a beautiful invitation to share in the deepening sacred journeys of her characters and to make this pilgrimage our own.”
Rebecca DeYoung, professor of philosophy, Calvin College, and author of Glittering Vices
“I finished reading An Extra Mile at exactly midnight with a tear and a sigh. Sharon Garlough Brown has done it again! I loved this final book in the series, and especially enjoyed seeing the transformation of the characters who now feel like friends. In this book we experience grief up close and too personal—I wept with the friends at their losses. But I cheered with them too when they found meaning and hope in the God who loves them. How I will miss these women and their spiritual journeys.”
Amy Boucher Pye, author of Finding Myself in Britain
“One of the greatest gifts a Christian author can give us is a realistic picture of what it looks like to be human and a follower of Jesus. In An Extra Mile, Sharon Garlough Brown offers us this exceptional gift. She portrays the spiritual journey of four women with compelling, candid, and relatable prose. You could be any one of them as you witness each navigate grief, conflict, jealousy, and disappointment. Just as the patterns of their own personalities trip them up, so the faithful urgings of God’s Spirit spur them toward a better way. In this final book of the Sensible Shoes series, readers will grieve, pray, and celebrate the victory of love that comes to those who dare to walk an extra mile.”
Beth Booram, cofounder and director of Sustainable Faith Indy, spiritual director and retreat leader, author of Starting Something New, and coauthor of Awaken Your Senses
“If you’ve been journeying with Brown’s beloved characters through their densely packed year of spiritual insights and practices, don’t miss this last mile. Reckoning with loss, with life not going as planned, and with relinquishing plans altogether, An Extra Mile is as harrowing as it is satisfying.”
Sarah Arthur, author, speaker, preliminary fiction judge for the CT Book Awards
About the Author
Sharon Garlough Brown is a spiritual director and cofounder of Abiding Way Ministries, providing spiritual formation retreats and resources. Her book Sensible Shoes was named one of television personality Kathie Lee Gifford’s “favorite things” in March 2013. Sharon earned an MDiv from Princeton Theological Seminary. She and her husband, Jack, have served congregations in Scotland, Oklahoma, England, and West Michigan.
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An Extra Mile Page 35