Book Review: Between a Rock and a Holy Place

Information about the book

Between a Rock and a Holy Place by Thomas Patrick Nolan.  Published by Archway Publishing in 2025.  Available as a paperback, audiobook, or e-book (Kindle).  Amazon link.

Summary

From Amazon: Sermons and stories of faith, hope, and love from the heart of a friend and follower of Jesus. With humor and grace, these simple but profound writings will lead you into the presence of One whose word brings healing and hope to longing hearts.

Impressions

This book is a collection of about 36 sermons written by an elder in the West Virginia Annual Conference.  Tom is currently a retried elder who attends my church, and I've heard him preach several times. He's a fantastic preacher, and you can hear his words as you read the sermons. I wish I had seen the audiobook prior to reading the book - I might have chosen to listen to them instead of read them.

The sermons are divided among the liturgical year, beginning with advent and continuing through Pentecost. I started reading the book in December. When I finished the Christmas sermons, I set it aside, thinking I would pick it up during each season and read the sermons at a liturgically appropriate time; however, once I started reading again near Lent, I just continued it until I finished. I didn't want to stop and wait until after Easter to continue. The book works well for a devotional time - read one sermon a day to give yourself time to consider the words throughout your schedule.

Tom's sermons are very engaging, full of excellent illustrations that lead you through and to a deep message. I rated this book five stars and would highly recommend it to you.

Posts about book

To see posts I read that were inspired by this book, explore the tag Nolan Holy Place on my blog.

 

Real

I'm (slowly) reading the book of a sermons called Between a Rock and Holy Place by Rev. Tom Nolan. I'm reading it slowly because it is a book of seasons through the season (Advent, Christmas ... all he way through Ordinary time).

I'm a little behind and catching up. In what I read today, Tom tells the story of a Christmas pageant in Kentucky. The characters - Mary, Joseph, angels, and others - were played by preschoolers.  Jesus was someone's baby brother.

As the angels left the stage, one of them stopped and stared in amazement at the baby in the manger.  "Look! It's a real baby."

In the Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples that they need to have a child-like faith.  In Matthew 18:3, Jesus says, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

As I read about the angel who was amazed that the baby was real, I am reminded that we can have that kind of faith, too. We can believe that Jesus, the child, the man, the son of God, is real.

What difference will it make in our lives and in the world if we have that kind of faith?

 

Bring the Light

I'm reading a book called Between a Rock and a Holy Place by Rev. Tom Nolan.  Tom is a retired elder in the West Virginia Annual Conference. In his retirement, he and his wife chose to be a part of our church. We are blessed periodically to hear Tom preach. He's a wonderful preacher; his book is a collection of his sermons. 

I just finished the first sermon called "Keep an Eye on the Acolytes."  In it he says, "I'm glad we have candles in churches. The flames remind us that we are not alone here. It isn't just us. Somebody else is with us. Jesus, the light of the world is here in God's house. His presence lights our way and ignites our hearts with his love."

I remember in 2008 that a member of our church died. Jim Ray was a man of service - involved in practically everything in church, but more than that, in service to the community. People who rode the bus with him came to his funeral to remember him. He spread the light of Christ, all the time. You can read about him here.

We realized at his funeral that the altar candles were lighted. Why? Because he was the one who lit them for funeral, quietly, just in service.

Bring the light.