Have you ever felt like the universe cracked? Whether globally, like in the rise of nationalism and racism, or personally like the loss of a friend or family member? We’ve all gone through those times of crisis and felt powerless and unable to move forward. We see society making the same mistakes over and over again and we don’t know how to stop it. We’re too busy with the necessities of life to stop and grieve and lament and actually assess the crisis and figure out what to do better. What are we to do?

In When the Universe Cracks, Angie Ward assembles a team of pastors and faith leaders to answer that question: What do we do in the face of crisis? This book was, as you may suspect, borne out of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic that began two years ago. Despite that inspiration, the book seeks to be timeless by being general enough in its discussion to encompass a wide variety of crises.

Christine Jeske begins with an excellent chapter on the opportunity that can be found in crisis. She doesn’t downplay the horror that crises can bring or spiritualize it all as “God’s plan,” but acknowledges the seriousness of crisis that demands drastic change. Things cannot continue on as is, something has to give. It is a revealing disruption of live and society and Jeske uses the context of the pandemic talk about how different inequalities and injustices were brought out in the open by the pandemic.

This foundation proves to be the jumping off point for other writers, who all clearly write from the perspective of COVID but with a long-ranging, evergreen perspective that fits all sorts of crises. One of my favorite chapters is Kyuboem Lee’s chapter “Growing a Church in the Ruins.” The pandemic exposed how much of our idea of church was tied to a once-weekly experience in a building and in accelerating the decline of many churches as people walked away due to increasing politicization, nationalism, or distrust of science. Lee shows us how the current crisis has revealed the weak spots in the church and offers us a new model forward that will give us an opportunity to flourish.

Matt Mikalatos—through whom I learned of this collection of essays--closes out the book with a reminder that God remains good and that the exhaustion, anger, fear, and uncertainty we’re all feeling is normal. Mikalatos uses the story of Elijah after the defeat of the Baal worshippers to draw a straight line to where we’re at today. We know God is powerful…but we’ve just got nothing left. He exhorts us to allow ourselves to rest and to lament and be embraced by God.

When the Universe Cracks is a timely word for the church. As the first in the Kingdom Conversations series, it’s a solid entry that hopefully sets the tone for the books to come. These kinds of collaborations and conversations are much needed in the church and I’m thankful that Tyndale is sharing them this way.