“This book will help us to wake up and discover within ourselves the naked courage these times call forth.”
Perhaps there has never been a more important time to gather together and spend some time with this powerful book.
We all know that our world is in a significant time of transition, uncertainty and upheaval. You likely feel it deep within yourself too. Change is upon us and “ordinary days” are gone. The ground of certainty beneath us has fallen away.
This book offers shorts essays as a guide to walk in this unfamiliar terrain, provides language to navigate the anxiety of the unknown, teaches tangible ways to welcome all that is with reverence, and to show us how to respond with wisdom.
“In each essay, Weller fortifies us to become immense - to meet these unpredictable times with presence and faith, to restore our soul’s place in the soul of the world, and to hold steady, amid and for it all.”
This book club is unique.
Read at your own pace, anytime (truly…anytime, anywhere!) and enjoy a helpful reading guide, unique contemplative practices, and additional podcasts, videos, and song playlist that will amplify your experience with this stunning book. These resources will always be available to you!
For those of you who are interested, you can follow a reading guide during the season of Lent 2026, and then gather together online a few days before Easter with others who have been following along.
“When the ordinary fades, when the familiar rhythms and patterns of shared living erode, something is activated within the soul. Hidden invitations and initiations arise in a time of uncertainty.”
About the Book:
In the Absence of the Ordinary: Soul Work for Times of Uncertainty is a beautiful book of short essays written by Francis Weller. These essays are a collection that has been said to be “precise medicine for this time.” (Adrienne Brown, Emergent Strategy). These essays focus on grief, change, and sacred transitions and call upon perennial wisdom to help us develop the muscles of courage and hope.
This book is a generous dose of wisdom for these uncertain, anxious and unknown times and is thoughtfully curated into 17 chapters - a perfect size for our book club!
Part 1: When the Bough Breaks
Chapter 1: Rough Initiations
Chapter 2: Some People Wake Up
Chapter 3: Everything is Burning
Chapter 4: An Apprenticeship with Sorrow
Chapter 5: Baptized in Dark Waters
Part 2: Care of the Soul
Chapter 6: The Grandeur of the Soul
Chapter 7: The Reverence of Approach
Chapter 8: The Art of Vesseling
Chapter 9: The Gift of Restraint
Chapter 10: The Value of Repetition
Chapter 11: Approaching Geologic Speed
Chapter 12: The Generous Heart: the gift of self-compassion
Part 3: Meanwhile, the World Goes On
Chapter 13: A Beautiful and Strange Otherness
Chapter 14: The Erotics of Place
Chapter 15: Gratitude for All That Is
Part 4: Closing Thoughts
Chapter 16: Medicine for the Long Dark
Chapter 17: It All Turns on Affection
“In the Absence of the Ordinary is a collection of rich essays rooted in the currents of sorrow, vulnerability, love, initiation, longing, and beauty. The imprints of soul are everywhere in these pages.”
Included in your Registration:
Weekly Reading plan to support your “read-at-your-own-pace” experience and enjoy all the essays in this book in seven weeks. OR NOT! You’re invited to read the book as fast or as slow as you’re able and enjoy the resources as you do! These resources can be used anytime of the year.
AND, if you’d like to join a group of others during the 2026 Lenten season, you can enjoy a easy pace of reading over the seven weeks leading up to Easter.
Week One (February 15 - 21, 2026) : Introduction and getting familiar with the resources
Week Two (February 22 - 28, 2026): Chapters 1, 2 3
Week Three (March 1 - 7, 2026): Chapters 4,5,6
Week Four (March 8 - 14, 2026): Chapters 7,8,9
Week Five (March 15 - 21, 2026): Chapters 10,11,12
Week Six (March 22 - 28, 2026): Chapters 13, 14, 15
Week Seven (March 29 - April 5, 2026): Closing Thoughts, Chapters 16, 17
A LIVE ONLINE ZOON GATHERING on April 1, 2026, facilitated by Christa Hesselink to process, share, and learn from others about their own experience reading the book
Thoughtful questions to help you digest the essays in a way that can impact your own life.
Contemplative Practices and Resources: Resources to amplify your reading, and help bring the ideas to life.
hand-picked contemplative practices
additional podcasts, article, and poetry to support your experience
special video interviews with author Francis Weller
thoughtfully curated music playlist to play in the background as you read, or anytime you wish
All resources are online and can be accessed at your own pace anywhere, anytime.
All you need to do is order, or borrow your own copy of the book. Find it here. Or, support your local bookseller or library.
REGISTER Now:
This book club is priced for everyone. If for some reason you’re unable to afford the price of registration, please let Christa know by using the contact form.
Click “PURCHASE” and you’ll be prompted to provide your payment information.
You’ll receive a one-page PDF with simple instructions on how to access the complete online Reading Resource Guide and Practices. They will remain available to you so you can always access them.
Access the resources at your own pace from anywhere you have access to the internet
Enjoy them on your mobile phone, tablet, or desktop computer
Reminder: This purchase does NOT include a copy of the book. You must purchase that separately.
“Fear & Anxiety readily appear in times like these when the ground of the ordinary is unsettled. Our work is to turn toward these jittery guests and make a place at the table to offer tea and soup, a warm place to rest.”
