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More Than a Memoir – Blue Neon Cross:
A Personal History of the Church in the Modern World
by Dennis L Maher, Dmin
Dennis Maher is a retired Presbyterian minister and church executive.
The blue neon cross that glowed from above and behind the pulpit in the author’s childhood church in Sioux City, Iowa, left a lasting impression on him, becoming a metaphor for the church in the modern world.
The modern design of the ancient means of torture and death framed his quest for spiritual and cultural understanding.
Deciding as a youth that the church had nothing to offer him, he describes the death of a friend, engagement to the friend's sister, and his decision to follow Jesus.
During the '60s racial justice and peace in Vietnam became his personal issues.
He taught school in Chicago, but his search for how to be a Christian in the world led him to enter McCormick Seminary. In so doing, he discovered that becoming part of the leadership of the church removed him from the world.
He led congregations in Minnesota, and while serving a pastorate in New Jersey, the author earned a Doctor of Ministry in transforming organizations.
He raised money for new churches and social justice programs in Chicago, led professional development within the Presbyterian Church USA in Louisville, and became a regional church executive in Peoria.
Then he left to be Assistant Director of the Jesus Seminar in northern California.
Reflecting on the theology of Paul Tillich and the thinking of Jacques Derrida, John Caputo, and others, he came to understand that the Spirit is what transpires between and among us, and that together we create the highest human values.
Maher now believes that God is the calling we experience to live according to the values of love and Justice.
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Published May 27, 2022. Available at amazon.com.
Contact: Dennis Maher – reverendsax@gmail.com
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