Curated Coals: And Other Resurrection Stories that Change Everything I Believe About Christianity: Changing Everything Series, #2

By Ryan Fasani

Are you disillusioned with the Christianity from your childhood?

Have you grown allergic to religious clichés?

Are you exhausted from trying to salvage terms like evangelism and church?

 

If any of those questions strike a chord, Curated Coals is your companion in constructing something better!

 

Once again Ryan Fasani's earthy sensibilities (he is a farmer, after all), passionate investigation, and bold efforts at reconstruction lead us into familiar biblical territory to discover hidden insights. Along the way, Fasani gives us all the tools to dig into the fertile soil that nurtured early Christian communities. And like those first Christians, we're inspired to imagine a more profound, radical, and often scandalous expression of faith.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ryan Fasani
• Release date: Mar 11, 2023
• ISBN: 9798985384932

Book preview

Praise for Curated Coals

"Often there is more going on in Scripture than we give attention to. Ryan Fasani in his book, Curated Coals, has put in his work and it shows! Brace yourself for a submersive experience into the post-resurrection stories of Jesus! With meticulous care, Ryan invites us into the sights, sounds, smells, taste, and touch of these ancient and miraculous stories. In these pages you may be surprised to discover that the good news of Jesus Christ is covered in flesh, embodied, and placed as it stretches through all creation."

—Caleb Cray Haynes, author of Garbage Theology, calebcrayhaynes.com

"In a world where the word deconstruction is a pop culture catch phrase, I've rarely read words that offer hope in the midst of a dying faith. Ryan Fasani offers those words in this book. He not only offers a way forward when your faith grows cold and bitter, but offers new life—a better life."

—Anjuli Paschall, author of Stay, Awake, and is a contributing writer with InCourage, anjulipaschall.com

"Amidst a dizzying cacophony of voices, Ryan’s is a steadying voice, one I'm eager to hear—be it about parenting, love, farming, or the messiness of faith. In Curated Coals, we’re offered all this and more. With piercingly insightful and fresh readings of familiar biblical texts, infused with hard-won wisdom and fascinating historical accounts, Ryan overturns so many assumptions of Christianity that frankly need undoing. But he doesn’t stop there. Ryan invites readers to embrace anew an inherently risky faith, a life imbued with love, and the communal God who shows up in the form of the Stranger. In these words, Ryan gently leads readers into the kind of life we’re all desperately hungering after."  

—Ryan J. Pemberton, author of Called: My Journey to C.S. Lewis’s House and Back Again and Walking With C.S. Lewis, ryanjpemberton.com

"There’s a question Ryan asks in Curating Coals that’s not only key to the book, but the Christian faith itself: Is the spiritual application of a biblical passage really as obvious as we think it is or do we simply think it’s so obvious because we’ve heard it taught so often we’ve been conditioned to believe it has only one meaning? This challenge to re-examine our assumptions about the Bible, its teachings, and the character of the Christian life is one we should continually be taking up, yet rarely do. But anyone longing for a breath of fresh air to blow through their spiritual life will find Curating Coals to be the source of renewal they’ve been searching for."

—Zack Hunt, author of Godbreathed: What It Really Means For The Bible To Be Divinely Inspired and Unraptured, zackhunt.com

"Fasani’s critique of his childhood faith, with its shallow, sanitized, and unsatisfying answers, is relentless, while tragically common. But even more relentless, and refreshingly uncommon, is his interrogation of familiar Jesus stories. In Curated Coals Fasani mines profound insights, inviting delightful discoveries rarely exposed by modern writers. This front-row seat to Ryan’s reconstruction project is holy ground." 

—Nathan Oates, author of Stability and The Benefits of Temptation, nathanoates.com

A wonderful journey through the stories around the Resurrection.  The stories are filled with detail and much of it hidden before our eyes. Written with humility and vulnerability, revelation is opened around issues of trauma, witness, and honest struggle. Bodies matter, emotions matter, conversations matter, and women matter.  I like the way Ryan Fasani weaves a story. As a therapist, I find his probing questions into the text quite exhilarating. Layers and layers come to light. As with all stories, a ‘story-within-the-story’ is present. His patient questioning and honest reflections offer wonderful opportunities for revelation and insight that change us. Pick up this book and read it! You will not look at the Resurrection texts the same way again.

—Luther Matsen, Marriage and Family Therapist

Ryan Fasani loves Scripture so much that he wants to infect the rest of us with that same love. His ‘incarnationalizing’ of the Bible in this book makes it approachable and applicable to anyone with a heartbeat. He breaks the writer's taboo and fearlessly wanders into the stories himself—telling on himself and sharing his fears, doubts and hopes—all the things we humans need to hear as we seek to not get lost ourselves. Fasani is a legitimately gifted writer which when combined with his discipline will enable him to continue to write beautifully crafted works far into the future. For my money Fasani is probably his generation’s Eugene Peterson.

—Jim Henderson D.Min, author of Jim and Casper Go To Church and 3Practices For Crossing The Difference Divide, offthemap.com

"If you’ve ever wondered if lectio divina (spiritual reading) is worth the effort, I recommend Curated Coals as hard evidence that it is. Following the counsel to ‘Go there, be there, experience it with your whole body,’ Ryan Fasani has allowed the Spirit to usher him deeply into the gospel stories. The result is a lively, provocative, imaginative collection of meditations. Read this book! And, better yet, embark on your own journey into the resurrection stories to smell the bread, taste the fish, warm yourself by the fire and hear the voice of the Risen One."

—Rick Power, PhD, Nazarene District Superintendent, Hawaii Pacific District 

In a poignantly pastoral act, Ryan Fasani takes his readers to familiar stories and gives them new life. He encourages us to look beyond Sunday School retellings and stuffy Easter Sunday recitations of the central story of the Christian faith. We find there new details and understandings that make these Resurrection stories powerful to present day ears. In a world where the resurrection stories of the gospel are often understood as fanciful myths from ancient times, this book reminds us that the work of the gospel writers was to bear witness to the act of God that turned the world upside down.

—Heather Daugherty, University Minister, Belmont University  

If you are looking for a unique and surprising perspective on traditional Gospel stories, this is the book for you. Be prepared to be challenged.

—Rev. Dana Preusch, D.Min, Director of Contextual Education, Nazarene Theological Seminary

"Curated Coals will enable the reader to generate a healthy exploration that bends away from relativism and leans towards truth. A truth wrapped in grace.... A truth that is radical and courageous enough to break down the walls of conservative, evangelical, Christian nationalism. A truth that is liberating.... Ryan Fasani in his writing leads us into the mystery of the Good News. [It] tests us, which is good for our soul.... Thank you Ryan for your exploration and willingness to delve into this mystery."

—Todd A. Womack, Co-Pastor, The Underground

"Does God recognize your tears? Can Jesus relate to deep grief or the need to pull away from the noise and just go fishing? Rev. Ryan Fasani offers a new way to experience familiar Bible passages by connecting scripture with everyday life experiences that we too often dismiss as insignificant. [He] invites you to pause and dive deep to learn the intrinsic value of human responses and interactions combined with Jesus’ timeless teaching.... [Curated Coals] is an invitation for us to explore a deep and authentic relationship with a Living God who shows vibrant love for us by valuing the details in life.

—Rev. Dr. Amanda Montgomery, Marriage and Family Therapist 

"Fasani writes in the same engaging style as Walking Trees. Most of the books I've read on Christian scripture engage my mind; but Curated Coals gripped my imagination and senses—mind, body, and emotions—in a new way. Time with this book is an immersive experience in the best sort of way—invoking an engagement with Gospel, rather than an explanation of it."

—Eric Paul, Director of Compassion and Justice, Church of the Nazarene in Hawaii

"Curated Coals is a book for those of us looking to cultivate a life of following Jesus but have a hard time discerning if the one we are following is a fabrication of our religious past, a Jesus that looks more like an all-American hero rather than the crucified carpenter from Nazareth living under an imperial boot. If your faith has been deconstructed and crucified, Ryan is an incredible, compassionate, funny, and insightful guide who unveils a compelling vision of what it looks like to follow Jesus. Curated Coals will help you clear the weeds that inevitably grow any life of faith and invites you into the immersive, God-saturated world of hope made possible by the resurrection." 

—Garret Shelsta, Director of Grow Students, Stuff You Can Use 

If you hold a disembodied faith secured by an inanimate view of scripture: BEWARE. You may not be ready for the transformative heart journey stoked in these pages. 

—Kenny Wade, Missiologist and Ecclesial Broker, Co-host of the YAMCAST

"In Curated Coals, Ryan Fasani does something we don’t often see in theology and Christian ministry publications: He leverages his own vulnerability to challenge assumptions we make about common passages of scripture...His inquisitive mind and creative approach to the craft is as refreshing as it is intriguing. He asks tough questions that are rooted in his own upbringing, shares from his own journey of faith formation, and is incredibly honest with what he believes we can learn about our creator if we only take the time to look closer at what the scripture actually says about following the life and teachings of Jesus."

—Josiah Jones, Author of The Millennial Pastor and producer of the Millennial Pastor Podcast and Guerrilla Pastor Podcast

Also by Ryan Fasani

CHANGING EVERYTHING SERIES

Walking Trees (Book 1)

Curated Coals (Book 2)

Starstruck (Book 3, forthcoming)

MEMOIR

Consuming Hope: Father and Son and Four Days to Live

OTHER

Examining Shadows: Finding Light in the Dark Corners of Creativity

Changing Everything Series

Deconstruction is a term used to refer to the process of critically analyzing one’s religious origin(s). A book about deconstruction is published about every week. And for good reason. Many of the practices and beliefs we grew up with are narrow, even unhealthy and hurtful.

But deconstruction is the easy part. Much harder is figuring out what to do with all the fragments laying around after the demolition. The Changing Everything Series chronicles Ryan Fasani’s journey of reconstruction—the work of piecing back together an honest, healthier faith after the one he inherited proved anemic.

The titles in this series avoid polemics and instead employ a hopeful tone as readers are led through familiar New Testament stories with fresh eyes. In the end, all the stories demand the same thing: everything must change!

To Katahdin,

Ahanu,

Chenoah,

& Adele,

for reminding me that if it doesn’t give life,

it’s not the Good News.

FOREWORD

Melissa Jackson and I have been best friends since we were youthful and wide-eyed. We have journeyed together for nearly a quarter century. We met Ryan Fasani about ten years into our friendship. Back then he asked hard questions—not only the ones others may be afraid to ask, but often ones that no one had even thought to ask. He's always been good at asking the questions underneath the questions.

Now, almost 15 years later, Melissa and I have faced our share of deep hardships, the kind of hardships that resemble a wrecking ball or a devastating storm. We have found that Christian platitudes and proof-texting the Bible do little to help pick up the pieces and make sense out of the rubble. 

And those hardships have led to what some might call a deconstruction of our faith. We would call it a deconstruction of our beliefs. The beliefs we were taught as foundational didn’t quite hold when the storms rolled through. But our faith did! 

Some of the questions Ryan asks in Curated Coals—Is the Christian faith a rule-breaking faith instead of a rule-following faith? What are the cultural norms that are inhibiting our awareness of God’s presence? Are relational risks and radical hospitality inherent to a healthy faith?—are the questions we find ourselves asking while we sift through the rubble that is left. 

Some believe deconstruction will cause people to lose their faith. We are of the opinion that it takes faith, not a lack of it, to pull apart and examine what we have believed to be true. So we join Ryan in asking hard questions so that we can rebuild a faith that can expand, contract, and most of all, make space for whatever comes our way. In other words, we are on a journey toward deeper faith.

Ryan’s book looks at a handful of beloved stories in Scripture with the goal of embracing rather than explaining away the grit of life. In Curated Coals he lets go of shallow certainty to find the deeper, more meaningful details that are necessary for rebuilding beliefs from the rubble. For example, you will find yourself around a fire at dawn rethinking the meaning of failure and questioning why we hide our brokenness and messes. And you will journey to the empty tomb and meet Mary, who, through tears of protest, interrogates power structures that are antithetical to the Gospel. You will even have the opportunity to climb a mountain with the disciples, and right alongside them, hold together worship and doubt, faith and uncertainty.  

By asking the questions underneath the obvious questions and by embracing the gritty details of real life, Curated Coals portrays in a fresh and new way a Christian faith that inspires ever more dialogue and digging. And quite literally it inspires us to curate in our hearts, souls, and minds what we think is deeply true. 

You have likely heard it said that faith is not a destination but a journey, and with the perspective of time and hardship, Melissa and I agree. Just as when we first met Ryan, his current book Curated Coals gives us the fruit of digging and asking all those hard questions: surprising insights and new biblical resources for our reconstructive journey. 

—Tiffany Arbuckle Lee (the artist known as PLUMB) &

Melissa Jackson 

Nashville, TN

INTRODUCTION

Humans have been grinding grain, adding liquid (plus a little salt, more recently), and introducing heat for tens of thousands of years. These combined and baked ingredients go by many names—pita, tortilla, injera, baguette—and they have served as the caloric backbone for human civilization for as long as we’ve settled in place and cultivated soil. Bread quite literally is the staff of life.

While bread is a dietary staple, it is also the height of gastronomical genius. A fresh baguette, still crackling while it cools; a ciabatta loaf, torn apart and dipped in olive oil; a warm piece of sourdough smeared with chevre: bread in all its textural and flavorful glory is an edible miracle.

What about the bread I grew up eating? You know, the uniformly sliced loaves that inhabit the shelves next to the cereal boxes at grocery stores. Technically that is bread, too, but it is little more than a tasteless, fluffy vehicle for peanut butter and jelly. It’s a mere side note to the more important items on the grocery list.

I’m tempted to rant here about the superiority of old-world sourdough bread to the stuff we buy from the grocery store. Or to carry on about the health benefits of the types of breads that civilizations were built on compared to the empty calories of the commercial jelly vehicle. But what good would that do, other than to stroke my own culinary ego?

It wasn’t an argument that taught me the difference.

It wasn’t health facts that convinced me of the benefits of bread made using traditional methods.

It wasn’t the packaging labels or the marketing that introduced me to the possibilities of bread baking (and eating).

It was the taste.

And the texture.

And the aroma.

Near the winter holidays in 1998, I experienced my first bread conversion experience. A combination of holiday inspiration and setting personal health goals compelled me to begin cooking from scratch. First up on my list of challenges: learn to bake a simple loaf of bread known as a batard.

My first attempt was flat and over baked. If graded on beauty, it definitely would not have made the honor roll. But my eyes were not in charge of this experience. My mouth led the way: the nutty tone of freshly milled whole wheat complimented the sour notes. The brittle—perhaps a little too brittle—crust encased a springy, moist body that could have only been improved with a smear of equally fresh farm butter. My nose was not a neutral bystander as it supported my tastebuds with its own insights. The aromas were sweet and yeasty and welcoming, an invitation to sit back, chew slowly, and stay a while.

All it took was one (sub-par) loaf. I was convinced and converted. No longer was bread a fluffy, uniform, edible sponge. It was an oval of unadulterated beauty, a love letter to my mouth. (I’m not being hyperbolic here; I remember it as clearly as my first kiss in fourth grade!)

Eating good bread is a multisensory experience.

And potentially life changing.

What began as a single taste developed into a fascination with the complexity of this most basic sustenance. Three ingredients, flour and water and a little salt, have become a dance of many variables. Gluten, water, yeast and other microbes, heat, and humidity, to name only a handful, are not inanimate materials in a bowl or on an oven rack; they are a dynamic interaction. But bread is even more than the dance of those ingredients. It’s a relationship between humans and nature—between farmer and soil, baker and grain, chef and loaf.

I’m just beginning to understand why bread is such a powerful symbol (and staple) throughout history. And it all began with a slightly flat and over baked French batard. It all began with a single experience of a different kind of bread.

Every story I take up in this book is a resurrection story recorded by one of the Gospel authors. You’ve heard them all. Many times. While they have been at the center of the Christian faith for millennia, they have become pre-sliced, uniform loaves stuffed in a pantry. They are side notes to other more important stories.

From what I gather, current teaching on these stories hardly resembles the ancient understanding. We’ve settled for a commercialized version of the real thing, and consequently, they’ve become little more than tasteless starch. And in some cases, they are fluffy vehicles for other unhealthy ingredients.

But an argument will not do.

A carefully reasoned book will not convince you or anyone else of a different, more nutritious reading.

Only tasting can do that.

Only a multisensory experience can stoke curiosity. 

The best advice I’ve ever received on how to read the Bible is this: Go there, be there, experience it with your whole body. That’s what I’m trying to do with these stories. I enter the scene and look around. Listen around. Feel around. Even smell around. I go there and try to experience the story