Lauren Winner is an Episcopal priest and the bestselling author of STILL, GIRL MEETS GOD and MUDHOUSE SABBATH. She also teaches at Duke Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina. In her newest work, WEARING GOD, she introduces readers to some fresh ways of viewing God through six different guises.

Winner shares that all too often Christians have narrowly defined God by mentally seeing Him (and she discusses why addressing God in the masculine isn’t always correct) as shepherd, father, judge or king, which isn’t nearly comprehensive enough. She cites that within the pages of Scripture, there are hundreds of metaphors for God, including some (at first glance) unlikely ones: clothing, mother hen, beekeeper, homeless man, tree, fire, comedian, sleeper, water, dog. She guides Christ followers to gently explore and widen their thoughts on who and how God is described through the Bible in both the Old and New Testaments.

"Winner helps Christians better understand that God uses each and every sense as a way to engage their hearts, minds and emotions, as well as their bodies, in worship to Him. Her work here is welcome to those who struggle with finding God in their daily exercises."

One of the most profound messages Winner wants readers to take away from her book is that one’s faith can most assuredly deepen as Christians explore their relationship with God within the confines of everyday objects, needs and environment. This is why she challenges Christians to see God through clothing, the sense of smell, bread and wine, a laboring woman, laughter, and fire and flame. In each of her vividly depictive chapters, she spends ample space defining what each topic represents to us in contemporary settings and then shares how biblical definitions parallel our meanings of today.

Winner’s ability to tackle the commonplace and the mundane, and then put the spark of life into each whereby she shines the value of each small object or event, is remarkable in itself. Readers will see with fresh eyes how God is indeed in the details of life for those who take the time and care to see. One of the most creative attempts at matching the faith journey with an object is Winner’s exploration of smell as it pertains to strengthening one’s relationship with God. She reminds readers of the numerous biblical accounts in which smell is a mighty potent object that engages more than the physical senses. She even tells Christians to remember that God is described as One who shares our sensory perception with us, as King James writes, “He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? He that formed the eye, shall he not see?”

No matter that in periods of history man has demoted the senses to lower bodily functions that demean the faith walk. Winner helps Christians better understand that God uses each and every sense as a way to engage their hearts, minds and emotions, as well as their bodies, in worship to Him. Her work here is welcome to those who struggle with finding God in their daily exercises. Readers will relish each and every chapter as Winner unfolds the beauty and brilliance of the commonplace, making it all a holy offering back to the Giver of all good things.