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Words from the Hill: An Invitation to the Unexpected
A disruptive and surprising journey through the Beatitudes.
Most of the time, life doesn’t work out like we expect it will. We spend time and energy trying to climb some sort of spiritual ladder, oblivious to the fact that it is God who is moving toward us.
We want answers to our problems, yet what is offered is presence.
What if we were to become united with our brokenness rather than our victories? What if God moves closest to us in the absence, the ache, and the longing?
Words from the Hill turns each beatitude on its head to see the unexpected beneath the understood―diving into the story of a woman on death row to speak about mercy, personal stories from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to talk about peace, and much more. Stu Garrard has walked with these people in their stories, and he vulnerably offers his own as he unpacks the Good News of the Beatitudes.
God is on your side, and He is closer than you think.
Most of the time, life doesn’t work out like we expect it will. We spend time and energy trying to climb some sort of spiritual ladder, oblivious to the fact that it is God who is moving toward us.
We want answers to our problems, yet what is offered is presence.
What if we were to become united with our brokenness rather than our victories? What if God moves closest to us in the absence, the ache, and the longing?
Words from the Hill turns each beatitude on its head to see the unexpected beneath the understood―diving into the story of a woman on death row to speak about mercy, personal stories from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to talk about peace, and much more. Stu Garrard has walked with these people in their stories, and he vulnerably offers his own as he unpacks the Good News of the Beatitudes.
God is on your side, and He is closer than you think.
240 pages, Paperback
Published April 18, 2017
20 people are currently reading
55 people want to read
About the author
Stu Garrard
2 books1 followerStu Garrard is best known as the guitarist for the British band Delirious?, who, for nearly two decades, penned many of the best-known worship songs in modern Christendom. Now, when not touring as a guitar player, Stu is writing, recording, speaking, leading worship, and watching Netflix.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
May 1, 2017
In Words from the Hill: An Invitation to the Unexpected, author, Stu Garrad, invites the reader to move in just a little closer as if we were in the crowd on the mount near the Sea of Galilee as Jesus gives His famous teaching that includes the Beatitudes. He sets the stage reminding us to go back in time when there would have been no screens to read from, no amplifiers to make sure even the back row could hear well, no devices to make notes on, and no band to warm everyone up for what was to be taught. Then he tells us to really listen and asks, “What does it mean to listen?”
One-by-one through eight chapters Stu revisits each of the Beatitudes and asks us to listen and look at them with fresh eyes and apply them to our own hearts today to delve into the rich meaning of each one.
Stu Garrad, best known as the guitarist for the British band Delirious?, lays down his guitar and picks up his pen to once again move in closer to the Words from the Hill and to recognize afresh that God is on our side.
One-by-one through eight chapters Stu revisits each of the Beatitudes and asks us to listen and look at them with fresh eyes and apply them to our own hearts today to delve into the rich meaning of each one.
Stu Garrad, best known as the guitarist for the British band Delirious?, lays down his guitar and picks up his pen to once again move in closer to the Words from the Hill and to recognize afresh that God is on our side.
May 31, 2017
What a powerful book this proved to be. Written by a member of the contemporary Christian music group called Delirious? it was a highly emotive and spiritually challenging book. The book was written in the form of personal reflections and discoveries made by Garrard in relation to the Beatitudes. Stu Garrard wrote many of this group’s songs, but these days he spends much of his time “... writing, recording, speaking, and leading worship ...”. The reflections contained in this book aren’t just heard from Stu’s viewpoint but from many other people, for example we hear from Amy Grant, Amanda Cook, Audrey Assad, and Matt Maher.
The introduction begins with the story of Stu in hospital, where his wife was sitting in an emergency room. She had been unwell for some time and the doctor said she needed to have a blood transfusion as a matter of urgency. Stu’s description of how he was trying to comfort her reminded me of when my husband did a similar thing for me many years ago from complications of hysterectomy. Needless to say, Stu had my undivided attention and I had to just keep reading to discover what other gems he was going to uncover for me. Not only did he uncover other gems but he posed many challenges at the same time.
It is hard to narrow down what parts of this book meant the most to me, but one quote from chapter 3, which talks about being meek, comes close. When Stu says “The temptation to keep measuring myself against others who “do” awesome things is always with me, ...” I thought to myself - “I’m not the only one who does this.” It was reassuring to know that this is a normal experience.
The rest of the book continued in this vein with challenges around almost every corner. I enjoyed it immensely and would love to read more of Stu’s work and to re-read this one at some stage.
The introduction begins with the story of Stu in hospital, where his wife was sitting in an emergency room. She had been unwell for some time and the doctor said she needed to have a blood transfusion as a matter of urgency. Stu’s description of how he was trying to comfort her reminded me of when my husband did a similar thing for me many years ago from complications of hysterectomy. Needless to say, Stu had my undivided attention and I had to just keep reading to discover what other gems he was going to uncover for me. Not only did he uncover other gems but he posed many challenges at the same time.
It is hard to narrow down what parts of this book meant the most to me, but one quote from chapter 3, which talks about being meek, comes close. When Stu says “The temptation to keep measuring myself against others who “do” awesome things is always with me, ...” I thought to myself - “I’m not the only one who does this.” It was reassuring to know that this is a normal experience.
The rest of the book continued in this vein with challenges around almost every corner. I enjoyed it immensely and would love to read more of Stu’s work and to re-read this one at some stage.
November 9, 2019
The documentary that is part of Stu's Beatitudes Project is amazing. Essentially, the book is the documentary in print form and that's why I had to give the book 3 stars. The film works because he has the actual people on camera telling their stories. For the book, a lot of the chapters become long quotes of their stories interspersed with Stu's thoughts and commentary. The parts with Stu are actually great. Don't get me wrong, the stories from the people he interviews are powerful and moving, but those are their stories to tell. Stu is passing them along. Stu has plenty of his own that are fascinating. For example, he has a quick paragraph or so where he describes meeting Iraq War vets at a Delirious? meet and greet. They tell him that they blasted the song History Maker from their tank and it left him speechless that a song of peace would be used in a situation of violence. That encounter alone would have made a very compelling chapter. I hope Stu tells more of his own story for his next book. He is in a great position to have seen so many sides of modern Christianity that his commentary and insight would be welcome.
January 16, 2019
Despite being a Christian for many years as a member of the Christian Rock Band, Delirious? Stu Garrard had a real epiphany when visiting the mount of the Beatitudes overlooking the sea of Galilee. It was here that the truth of Christ's words spoken to the multitudes there, really came home to him. Upon his return home he began the Beatitudes Project which consisted of a video, a musical album and this book Words from the Hill. This is a beautiful book. Garrard draws from his knowledge of scripture, his own faith and most importantly, the stories of ordinary every day people, to illustrate how these statements made by Jesus to his followers two thousand years ago are just as if not more than important and relevant in this 21st century world. I loved this book.
July 24, 2020
I really enjoyed this and it was very easy to read. I love how Stu looks at the beatitudes in the context of people, culture , society and relationships today. I listened to the podcast and the album before reading this so that was helpful but not necessary. There is a humility to this book and a vulnerability that is beautiful. I appreciated the insight into different peoples lives and even into Stu’s own life and journey. I’ve read a few books on the beatitudes and this was unique in its own personal approach- it’s not a theological study but it’s great at giving living insights into how powerful Jesus’s words were and are now into our culture and world.
Thanks Stu
Thanks Stu
July 21, 2021
A must read book for a Christian
In every generation of Christians, there comes a book, that changes people's lives, makes them better Christian. In my opinion, this book has the makings to be that book for the this generation of Christian, who look around and only find divisions. This book brings us to the idea, that we are to be living to counter to what the world says (upside down), and when we do that, we face trials and in the midst of these trials, Jesus is there.
In every generation of Christians, there comes a book, that changes people's lives, makes them better Christian. In my opinion, this book has the makings to be that book for the this generation of Christian, who look around and only find divisions. This book brings us to the idea, that we are to be living to counter to what the world says (upside down), and when we do that, we face trials and in the midst of these trials, Jesus is there.
July 25, 2018
I couldn't finish this because he talked about himself too much in a book where he probably shouldn't. Perhaps he should have written a memoir before trying to write this book.
April 6, 2019
This book was a look at the Beatitudes and how they can be applied to our lives today. The author has many anecdotes about people who are living the Beatitudes.
September 11, 2022
Love Stu’s heart for Jesus and His people. I love the stories of people living in an upside down kingdom.
It’s so opposite of American culture. This was refreshing.
It’s so opposite of American culture. This was refreshing.
May 24, 2023
Very good, thought provoking. Loved it.
March 31, 2017
Stuart Garrard is best known as a guitarist, most prominently with the Christian rock band Delirious. The ambitious Words from the Hill project, comprising a book, an album and a documentary film sees him turn author and filmmaker too. Words from the Hill reflects on the Sermon on the Mount, perhaps some of the most well-known words of Jesus as recorded by the New Testament. Garrard methodically considers each phrase beginning ‘Blessed are the…’ (known collectively as the Beatitudes) in turn, considering what it might look like to be poor, meek, merciful, persecuted or a peacemaker in today’s society.
The book is surprisingly autobiographical in places, and Delirious fans will be intrigued by this glimpse into the inner life of one of their musical heroes. Where this book really finds its voice is where Garrard turns to the stories of those he’s met along the way as his musical career has gradually led to greater involvement in campaigning for social justice. He shows that in the words of the first track to be released from the accompanying album, ‘the words from the hill, they’re speaking still’, inspiring the life and work of activist Christians such as Shane Claiborne and Sami Awad, though he does a good job of keeping things relevant to readers with more ‘ordinary’ lives.
Words from the Hill ends with a call for a future focused on the Beatitudes, for the ‘Jesus Creed’ to become ‘our anthem of hope and life’. This is clearly a work of Christian theology, but it does not come across as narrow or exclusive, Garrard illustrating his points with quotations from sources as wide-ranging as a Jewish rabbi, Pope Francis and the rock-band Radiohead. So whilst there’s nothing particularly new here for those familiar with other works of progressive theology in the vein of Brian McLaren or Rob Bell, Words from the Hill is a generous-spirited guide to the Sermon on the Mount, written in a likeably frank and conversational style that will appeal to a wide readership.
The book is surprisingly autobiographical in places, and Delirious fans will be intrigued by this glimpse into the inner life of one of their musical heroes. Where this book really finds its voice is where Garrard turns to the stories of those he’s met along the way as his musical career has gradually led to greater involvement in campaigning for social justice. He shows that in the words of the first track to be released from the accompanying album, ‘the words from the hill, they’re speaking still’, inspiring the life and work of activist Christians such as Shane Claiborne and Sami Awad, though he does a good job of keeping things relevant to readers with more ‘ordinary’ lives.
Words from the Hill ends with a call for a future focused on the Beatitudes, for the ‘Jesus Creed’ to become ‘our anthem of hope and life’. This is clearly a work of Christian theology, but it does not come across as narrow or exclusive, Garrard illustrating his points with quotations from sources as wide-ranging as a Jewish rabbi, Pope Francis and the rock-band Radiohead. So whilst there’s nothing particularly new here for those familiar with other works of progressive theology in the vein of Brian McLaren or Rob Bell, Words from the Hill is a generous-spirited guide to the Sermon on the Mount, written in a likeably frank and conversational style that will appeal to a wide readership.
April 12, 2017
Review from todayschristianent.com to come!
April 13, 2017
The Beatitudes have not been a portion of Scriptures that I have heard mentioned frequently. They are often shared as a list of blessings for those who live righteously, and yet, they are meant to be more.
In teaching on the Mount that day, Jesus was giving us a guide, principles to live on and by each day. This is a sermon more about how we should live than what we will receive and in this book, Stu Gerrard powerfully challenged me (and all of us) to live differently.
The book reads easily as if sitting with the author in conversation. Each beatitude is shared with stories, thoughts, and quotes which makes us realize God is with us in our brokenness. It is in those very moments that He comes to us, drawing us closer.
This is a book for us all to read and evaluate the manner in which we will live out our days. Will we make them meaningful? Will they count and make a difference? Pick up the book and expect your heart to undergo some surgery and be changed. One read will not be enough!
***Tyndale House Publishers provided me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I am disclosing this as required by Federal Trade Commission.
In teaching on the Mount that day, Jesus was giving us a guide, principles to live on and by each day. This is a sermon more about how we should live than what we will receive and in this book, Stu Gerrard powerfully challenged me (and all of us) to live differently.
The book reads easily as if sitting with the author in conversation. Each beatitude is shared with stories, thoughts, and quotes which makes us realize God is with us in our brokenness. It is in those very moments that He comes to us, drawing us closer.
This is a book for us all to read and evaluate the manner in which we will live out our days. Will we make them meaningful? Will they count and make a difference? Pick up the book and expect your heart to undergo some surgery and be changed. One read will not be enough!
***Tyndale House Publishers provided me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I am disclosing this as required by Federal Trade Commission.
April 25, 2017
Throughout the month of April I have been reflecting and meditating on the Beatitudes. Each day, I have read one of them, prayed that Beatitude and then worked on how I could live out that passage from the Sermon on the Mount that day. It has not been an easy task, as the Beatitudes are like the Ten Commandments on steroids, but it has been deeply convicting and rewarding. As I was delving deeper into the Beatitudes, I was discovering that this wasn't a checklist for earning God's favor but a blue-print for living out God's kingdom on earth. The Beatitudes was a way of being, a way of becoming and that they impacted both the internal and external of one's life. The Beatitudes effects both the horizontal (humanity's relationship with God) but also the vertical (humanity's relationship with each other). The Beatitudes aren't some fanciful wish list but a kingdom design rooted deeply in the human condition and letting us know that God is there with us. Theologian Stanley Hauerwas wrote, "The basis of for the ethics of the Sermon on the Mount is not what works, but who God is."
In the midst of my spiritual excavation of the Beatitudes, Stu Garrard released both an album (Beatitudes) and a book (Words From The Hill) and has plans to release a documentary. When I received Words From The Hill in the mail, I immediately began to connect with where Garrard was coming from. From the opening, he writes of being in a place of uncertainty and worries, as his wife was in the hospital for an unexpected surgery. He is honest in his wrestling with God and self-doubt. In this place of confusion and fear he Garrard began to study the Beatitudes. In the introduction to the book he writes, "Jesus delivered what is considered to be his most complete sermon on this subject. We are not in control. Life does not always work out the way we expect it to. And, he tells us, when we find ourselves at the end of our rope, at rock bottom, God is there. God is on our side." This is the starting point for his rediscovering what Christ taught in the Beatitudes. "If you want to see who God is," he says, "look at the Beatitudes."
And he does. Very closely. Not only the words, but how he is or isn't living them in his own life. and he writes the stories of others (Becca Stevens, founder of Thistle Farms, and Shane Claiborne are two of the more high profile people), though it's often the unknown people whose stories he tells that have the biggest impact (such as Gaile, who spent 24 years on death row before having her sentenced changed and being released on parole). Garrard does not come at this as merely being a sacred text that we are meant to study and simply get knowledge from. He comes to realize this is a way that followers of Christ are meant to live their lives. While on tour in Brazil, he discovers the reality of extreme poverty. "God," he writes, "hears the cries of the oppressed, those enslaved by lack of power and choices; and I felt a pull toward the unexpected - a new way of being." The Beatitudes reveal that God is always on the side of the marginalized, oppressed, poor, weary, beaten down and those on the fringes of society. "God is on the side of everybody for whom there's no reason why God should be on their side," he discovers.
Like the Beatitudes, Garrard's book makes one think, rethink, question, struggle with, become uncomfortable over as it pushes us out of our easy answers and excuses, and candidly ask ourselves, "Am I having an impact on the community around me?" And we are commanded to. Scriptures always make the connection that righteousness to justice. One cannot choose one over the other. "The divine gifts and grace of the Beatitudes," he writes, "will always have a social dimension and a requirement to see things put right." The Beatitudes address violence, poverty, racism, hunger, hatred, injustice and loss. It addresses the human condition. And it's rooted deeply in community.
The Beatitudes force us to ask ourselves; What do we ache for?
Do we ache for what God aches for in this world?
Does our aching translate to action?
Advocacy?
Dr. John Perkins, one of the pioneers of the Civil Rights Movement, said, "The work of Justice is fundamentally redemptive. We are redeemed by God and then are invited to join the redemptive work of God."
Stu Garrard writes with clarity, compassion, honesty and with a poetic truth that reveals the reality that God is on our side and always with us. In one of the most moving and beautiful chapters, "Mourn," he retells a story that David Kessler shared with him. It's about a village where, if someone dies, all the households change something in their yard or on the exterior of their house that very night. Why? So that the next morning, when the mourners come out of their own house, where their world has literally changed with this death, they will see that the world has also changed for everyone who lives around them. Symbolically, they are showing their neighbors this and holding that pain and loss in a visible way. Can you imagine how transformational that must be for everyone? Can you picture how different our world would be if we all enacted that tradition?
The Beatitudes are the grand "What if?" of imagining and working towards the kingdom of God (on earth as it is in heaven) as an earthly reality. Words From The Hill gives us concrete examples of broken people who are actually transforming their own pain through the grace of God and then transforming the communities around them through mercy and love and compassion. They are taking the words of the Sermon on the Mount literally and at face value. They are caring for the needs of the vulnerable that God has repeatedly called us to take care of. The Beatitudes comfort us and challenge us just as all of Christ's teaching and life did. And Stu Garrard gets it.
Words From The Hill reveals that, while we don't always get answers, we always have God's presence. It shows us how that reality, that truth, can not only change and transform our lives but, when we allow it to by reaching out, it can change and transform the lives of those around us. This is the good news of the Gospel, this is the reality and purpose of the Beatitudes for those who are willing to risk embracing the life Christ has called us to live out in all the world.
In the midst of my spiritual excavation of the Beatitudes, Stu Garrard released both an album (Beatitudes) and a book (Words From The Hill) and has plans to release a documentary. When I received Words From The Hill in the mail, I immediately began to connect with where Garrard was coming from. From the opening, he writes of being in a place of uncertainty and worries, as his wife was in the hospital for an unexpected surgery. He is honest in his wrestling with God and self-doubt. In this place of confusion and fear he Garrard began to study the Beatitudes. In the introduction to the book he writes, "Jesus delivered what is considered to be his most complete sermon on this subject. We are not in control. Life does not always work out the way we expect it to. And, he tells us, when we find ourselves at the end of our rope, at rock bottom, God is there. God is on our side." This is the starting point for his rediscovering what Christ taught in the Beatitudes. "If you want to see who God is," he says, "look at the Beatitudes."
And he does. Very closely. Not only the words, but how he is or isn't living them in his own life. and he writes the stories of others (Becca Stevens, founder of Thistle Farms, and Shane Claiborne are two of the more high profile people), though it's often the unknown people whose stories he tells that have the biggest impact (such as Gaile, who spent 24 years on death row before having her sentenced changed and being released on parole). Garrard does not come at this as merely being a sacred text that we are meant to study and simply get knowledge from. He comes to realize this is a way that followers of Christ are meant to live their lives. While on tour in Brazil, he discovers the reality of extreme poverty. "God," he writes, "hears the cries of the oppressed, those enslaved by lack of power and choices; and I felt a pull toward the unexpected - a new way of being." The Beatitudes reveal that God is always on the side of the marginalized, oppressed, poor, weary, beaten down and those on the fringes of society. "God is on the side of everybody for whom there's no reason why God should be on their side," he discovers.
Like the Beatitudes, Garrard's book makes one think, rethink, question, struggle with, become uncomfortable over as it pushes us out of our easy answers and excuses, and candidly ask ourselves, "Am I having an impact on the community around me?" And we are commanded to. Scriptures always make the connection that righteousness to justice. One cannot choose one over the other. "The divine gifts and grace of the Beatitudes," he writes, "will always have a social dimension and a requirement to see things put right." The Beatitudes address violence, poverty, racism, hunger, hatred, injustice and loss. It addresses the human condition. And it's rooted deeply in community.
The Beatitudes force us to ask ourselves; What do we ache for?
Do we ache for what God aches for in this world?
Does our aching translate to action?
Advocacy?
Dr. John Perkins, one of the pioneers of the Civil Rights Movement, said, "The work of Justice is fundamentally redemptive. We are redeemed by God and then are invited to join the redemptive work of God."
Stu Garrard writes with clarity, compassion, honesty and with a poetic truth that reveals the reality that God is on our side and always with us. In one of the most moving and beautiful chapters, "Mourn," he retells a story that David Kessler shared with him. It's about a village where, if someone dies, all the households change something in their yard or on the exterior of their house that very night. Why? So that the next morning, when the mourners come out of their own house, where their world has literally changed with this death, they will see that the world has also changed for everyone who lives around them. Symbolically, they are showing their neighbors this and holding that pain and loss in a visible way. Can you imagine how transformational that must be for everyone? Can you picture how different our world would be if we all enacted that tradition?
The Beatitudes are the grand "What if?" of imagining and working towards the kingdom of God (on earth as it is in heaven) as an earthly reality. Words From The Hill gives us concrete examples of broken people who are actually transforming their own pain through the grace of God and then transforming the communities around them through mercy and love and compassion. They are taking the words of the Sermon on the Mount literally and at face value. They are caring for the needs of the vulnerable that God has repeatedly called us to take care of. The Beatitudes comfort us and challenge us just as all of Christ's teaching and life did. And Stu Garrard gets it.
Words From The Hill reveals that, while we don't always get answers, we always have God's presence. It shows us how that reality, that truth, can not only change and transform our lives but, when we allow it to by reaching out, it can change and transform the lives of those around us. This is the good news of the Gospel, this is the reality and purpose of the Beatitudes for those who are willing to risk embracing the life Christ has called us to live out in all the world.
May 20, 2017
Still G writes with an open mind and kind spirit as he takes a fresh look at the ancient beatitudes. The people he introduces us to in the book are beautiful examples of what it means to be humble, merciful, and peace-makers. I love his idea of becoming "holy troublemakers". An easy read and a wonderful inspiration.
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