Come Here, Jesus

• Popular author with devoted following • Non-threatening way to start conversations about Jesus The inimitable Barbara Crafton describes the birth of this book: “We have to learn about Jesus from somebody. Somebody has to tell us. Jesus has been told to people by other people for better than twenty centuries. There are things you only have to hear once and you’ve got it . . . Jesus is different. Him, we have to tell and re-tell. We mostly experience him in each other: in our ways of telling and, more importantly, in our ways of showing who he is. It is this that has prompted me to write a book about Jesus, something I never expected to do . . . But then this happened: You need to write a book about Jesus. This was not a voice I heard or anything spooky like that. It was just a thought that popped into my head one night when I woke up at about 3 A.M. . . . But this one had an air of urgency. And it refused to leave. You need to write a book about Jesus. Well, all right then.”

Barbara Cawthorne Crafton is a popular preacher, retreat leader, and writer who teaches at Marble Collegiate Church and at the General Theological Seminary in New York City. Her articles have appeared in the New York Times, Reader's Digest, Episcopal Life, and many other publications. She is the author of many books, including Called, The Courage to Grow Old, The AlsoLife, Jesus Wept: When Faith and Depression Meet, Mass in Time of War, The Sewing Room, Living Lent, and many others.