When Chris John Amorosino was in church one Sunday, the pastor gave him something that sparked his spiritual journey and also made him something of a tour guide for others. It was an opportunity.
“About 25 years ago, the minister at our church came to me and said ‘Would you be willing to edit the church newsletter?’” Amorosino, a business writer and Farmington resident, explained. “The only reason I said yes was that I made a promise to myself to use that to write every month about something important to me about God and spirituality.”
The result of those weekly newsletter musings was revelation and spiritual insight, a record of how Amorosino found God and where. He has recently compiled the short writings into a collection of 85 essays, entitled “God & Odd: Something Weird's Happening on My Way to Spirituality.”
Amorosino self-published the book through Amazon, for himself and also for others – the reception he got at his church, Memorial United Methodist Church in Avon – told him others were also benefitting.
“I started getting stopped after church and people would say ‘Who wrote that article in the newsletter? And I said well it did have my name on it. But I started thinking it came through me and I thought I wrote this - kind of sort of – but it felt like God was speaking through me.”
Amorosino thinks God is still speaking to others through the book.
“I think they’ll get a smile or two [from the book] and some ideas that I hope will stick in their mind and will grow, maybe make them think in different ways,” he said.
Readers commenting on the book’s Amazon page agreed.
“This book made me think, hope, and smile. Most importantly it brought me closer to my Father, Savior, and Guide. Each of us can learn so much from this well written set of reflections,” wrote Bob McLaughlin.
And John Silliman wrote, “Chris sees God in the most common of places.... both inside and outside of the church. Through his keen insight, Chris is able to see God at work in every imaginable place thus challenging the reader to consider where God is hiding out in their lives… The reading of this book raised hope in my heart for the future of the church.”
Amorosino hopes, too that the book will empower others to realize they can see, know and hear God where they are.
“I always thought spiritual writing - that priests, ministers, people with PhDs do that - I can’t do that. But we all can. We all have spiritual lives opening that up to us…
“I am certainly not an expert on these matters. I think we all need to jump in and some of the essays are about my struggles. I think the struggles are just as important as the success. I talk a lot about that depression …and how we only get 24 hours a day. How do we spend that time? Hopefully on the deeper and richer aspects of life.”
Amorosino said he also wrote the book to share with his three sons, now grown.
“I’m in my early 60s; I need to share this stuff. It’s so important to me.”
Read an excerpt and view Amorosino's page on Amazon.com here.
