Being Bread

by Stephen Muse

If, indeed, as Dostoevsky says, "Beauty will save the world," it is because beauty arises only in the presence of love. Without love, there is nothing beautiful. There is nothing valuable. There is nothing meaningful. Meaning arises and transformation occurs through the call and response of personal encounter when we discover a third presence Who offers us being-in-relationship that is greater than the determinism and inertia of biological life. The stories and reflections in this volume are offered in celebration of the One who, in surprising ways and unexpected circumstances, becomes the precious and pure gift of our being bread so that we may live the mystery of becoming bread for others. I wish this for all who read this book.

* * * "This inspiring book will help many people break out of their customary way of viewing life. The questions at the end of each chapter do not let the reader be merely content with enjoying the insightful ideas, but they gently invite a deeper look within. It would be a good thing for people to read before going to confession!" (Hieromonk Ephraim)

* * * "Stephen Muse's finely-written book is full of profound insights, eyebrow-raising surprises and unforgettable stories. Muse adds new depths to a sentence most of us pray at least once daily, 'Give us this day our daily bread.'" (Jim Forest, author of All is Grace; Saint George & the Dragon; For the Peace From Above; Silent as a Stone)

* * * "Pouring over these sustaining narratives I startled to joyful recognition at having come upon another brother along the way who is being drawn along the journey of prayer, which is also the journey to prayer, which is abundant life in Christ. !!" (Scott Cairns, Author of Slow Pilgrim (originally Short Trip to the Edge))

* * * "Rarely is the depth of God's love of the cosmos and of each of us tasted so enjoyably." (Dr. Demetra Velisarios Jaquet, D.Min., Clinical Director, Rocky Mountain Center for Spiritual Caregivers)

Genres: Christianity

258 pages, Paperback

First published January 6, 2013

About the author

Stephen Muse, Ph.D., LMFT, LPC, B.C.E.T.S is Co-Director responsible for the Pastoral Counselor Training program and Clinical Services for the D.A & Elizabeth Turner Ministry Resource Center of the Pastoral Institute, Inc. in Columbus, Georgia and teaches and supervises in the U.S. Army Family Life Chaplain Training program at Fort Benning. He has served as a part time instructor in the graduate counseling program of Columbus State University, as a clinical field supervisor for Auburn University counseling psychology program and as adjunct faculty with the doctoral programs of Garrett Evangelical Seminary in Illinois and Union Graduate Institute in Ohio.

Dr. Muse has taught and led professional workshops throughout the U.S. and Internationally in the civilian sector as well as for the U.S. Army Chaplains in the areas of his specialties which include healing combat trauma & abuse, training clergy as pastoral counselors, stress and burn-out of clergy and helping professionals, Orthodox Christian life and spiritual formation, and Orthodox Christianity and marriage.

He has contributed chapters in eight books and more than 30 articles, book reviews and poetry for professional journals and trade magazines, including national award winning research in the area of religious integration and clinical empathy of therapists. His work has been translated into Russian, Greek, Swedish and Serbian. He served as Managing Editor of The Pastoral Forum from 1993 to 2002. Previous books include Beside Still Waters: Restoring the Souls of Shepherds in the Market Place (2000); Raising Lazarus: Integral Healing in Orthodox Christianity (2004), and When Hearts Become Flame: An Eastern Orthodox Approach to the 'Dia-Logos' of Pastoral Counseling (2010).

Dr. Muse holds a bachelors degree in philosophy from Davidson College, an M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary emphasizing Greek New Testament exegesis and early church spirituality, M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Loyola University of Maryland in Pastoral Counseling and has completed post graduate work in marriage and family studies through the University of Georgia. He holds Diplomate certification in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors; in Professional Psychotherapy with the International Academy of Behavioral Medicine, Counseling and Psychotherapy, and is an AAMFT Approved supervisor, Board certified in Traumatic Stress and in clinical hypnotherapy. He is licensed in the state of Georgia as both a Professional Counselor and a Marriage and Family Therapist and board certified as a life and clergy coach.

Prior to his reception into the Greek Orthodox Church where he is ordained as a Subdeacon and set apart for ministry as a pastoral counselor, Dr. Muse pastored a Presbyterian congregation for 11 years and helped begin an outpatient psychiatric clinic in Delta, PA. He is past president of the Orthodox Christian Association of Medicine, Psychology and Religion and a founding member and first parish council President of Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Mission Church in Columbus. He and his wife Claudia have four children: a daughter killed in 1982, a daughter 34, a son 30, a daughter 29 and a grand-daughter, 5 with another on the way.

Dr. Muse can be contacted at smuse@pilink.org.

Reviews

[Matthew Schneider · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book begins strongly, and ends strongly, several stories in the middle probably focus too tightly on the Orthodox mindset to be readily accessible to the casual Protestant reader - such as a personal encounter involving the Theotokos (the God Bearer, mother of Christ). But overall the writer uses personal experiences to illustrate, exemplify, and to draw the reader into exploring their faith from a perspective that I have not encountered too often in the world of popular American Christian culture.

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muse puts both spiritual reflection and some theology within his anecdotal stories from his life. The stories are fairly short and very readable. At some points wonderful analogies and metaphors. Not sure why but I really liked the book when I first began reading it, but that feeling wasn't sustained for me throughout the book. But if you like anecdotal evidence of the spiritual life, it is a good read. Personally I find anecdotal readings and case studies do not hold my interest for long.