Publication Date April 2, 2024

I’m not sure when I first came across John Pavlovitz…and although I’m not proud to admit this, I suspect it may have been online, specifically on Facebook. He is described as an author, pastor, activist, and storyteller, and his book “Worth Fighting For” is described as “Christian Nonfiction.” Since I am not a Christian, most books in this genre don’t appeal to me, but since I have enjoyed many of his writings, I was pleased to receive a copy of this book from Westminster John Knox Books and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. 

If you haven’t noticed, the U.S. is deeply divided, and (in my opinion) largely due to having a hateful, misogynistic, racist President from 2017-2021, it has become common to have people spewing hateful things to each other, whether in print, verbally, online, or wherever people feel free to speak out. It is incredibly unsettling and has made many of us fearful. 

Pavlovitz’s position is that we not only SHOULD not give up hope, but that we CAN NOT give it up! This book is designed to inspire the readers to keep fighting for justice, and to maintain their compassion. Although it seems there are many for whom this is clearly not possible (ahem, the aforementioned former President), the book deserves a wide audience. I appreciate that Pavlovitz’s words are reaching more and more people, and I only hope we can turn the corner on what the country has been moving toward and regain some of the compassion for which we USED to be known around the world. 

My only issue with this book is that I could only seem to read it using the NetGalley shelf app, rather than having it on my handy little Kindle, which made it less than ideal – for ME. A small issue, for sure. Five stars.