Let’s be clear…
Emmy Kegler is my friend.
Not an acquaintance.
Not a woman I had a few classes with in seminary.
Not one of those people who travels in and out of your life for a while.
No, Emmy and I are friends in the fullest and best sense of the word.
It all began in the most miserable 3 hour Monday night class ever; we listening to a woman ramble on about Lutheran hymnody (no, I will NOT define that for you because it DOESN’T MATTER) and right there we bounded over Linux operating systems, our hate of ridiculous assignments and a longing that worship and the church could be different.
For almost ten years now Emmy, I, along with 7 other incredible women have been walking together in this thing called life. We attended seminary classes, listened to the same lectures on ancient Hebrew (Emmy always understood them…I did not), fell in love with the same theologians, argued, drank a lot of wine and supported each other, physically after too much wine and emotionally as we wrestled with God, life and our call to ministry. We all interned at the same time, spread across the country, desperate to finally try our hand at this ministry thing and then we bore each other up through the emotional rollercoaster that is the assignment and first call process.
Emmy and I have cried together, laughed together, yelled at each other, born each other’s pain in the worst of times and found forgiveness for our brokeness in the honest love and care we share. All this to say; Emmy Kegler is my friend.
And now my friend is an author! A bonafide author, with a book about to come out in five days and I find myself in awe of this new reality. My life is covered…literally covered in books and I never once thought I would even know a published author, must less be her friend. Authors to me are what I imagine sport figures or stars are to most people. Authors are the people I get anxious to talk to, who I don’t want to bother, or faun over. Of course not the big name authors, those I have little to no time for, mostly because I always root for an underdog. The authors I love are those up and coming, scrappy and under the radar authors. To make my point, I may have completely fan-girled out on Kao Kalia Yang, tears included, not once, but TWICE this past November. As in TWICE in ONE DAY! It was not my best moment and yes there were witnesses…soooo authors, vulnerable, honest and risky authors mean something to me.
Emmy Kegler in her book One Coin Found: How God’s Love Stretches to the Margins is all of those things and now everyone, not just her friends, has the opportunity to see more fully her beautiful wrestlings, scars, life, mind and faith.
And here is the BEST part; the book is really good! I’m not blowing smoke either, I swear. Even though Emmy is my dear dear friend, I promise, if I didn’t like her book, I would be much more constrained in my recommendation. But, it is an excellent book! Through the honest vulnerability of her life story, Emmy weaves the overwhelming love of God. Her ability to preach through her life narrative gave me goose bumps. I found my eyes brimming with tears (that might be because she’s my friend) and my head doing the Lutheran (so silent) AMEN! nod. I found myself longing to simply dwell in this rendering of a God filled life, not because it was perfect, but because it wasn’t and neither is mine.
I am honored, humbled and a little in awe of that fact that not only do I know an author, but I am friends with one. And I am so so happy to commend this book to you:
Lutheran or not.
Church-goer or not.
Christian or not.
Believer in any deity or not.
I believe this book, Emmy “Jo” Kegler, my friend has some truth for you to chew on.
Happy Reading Everyone!
Goodreads Review of One Coin Found by Emmy Kegler
