Jim Burklo is aUnited Church of Christ minister who is the Associate Dean of Religious Life at the University of Southern California. He has served churches in Sausalito, San Mateo, and Palo Alto, California. He is on the board of The Center for Progressive Christianity. Visit him at his professional website www.openchristianity.com and read his weekly "musings" on www.tcpc.blogs.com/musings.

In Open Christianity, Jim Burklo gave us hints of his creativity in his poetry and innovative ways of approaching worn-out subjects. In this collection of meditations, prayers, poems, songs, and stories; he lets his imagination run wild. Ministry and writing are his "heartwork," and it shows as he regales us with a lively mix of materials that stretch our minds and stir up our souls.

Among the most appealing pieces were the ones on Jim Corbett, the Quaker who co-founded the Sanctuary Movement; the author's own progressive Christian elevator speech; his rejoinder to a fellow he meets when he says, "I don't believe in God, I just experience God"; a prayer about making a place in his heart for the Holy One; a poem titled "Sight Unseen"; a deluge of ways to feast and to fast; how he's inspired by "awe-wareness"; his desire to do for Christians what the Beatniks did for Buddhism; the spiritual messages in the music of Bob Marley; lists of Ten Things in the Bible That Make Sense and ten that don't; and a tribute to the Quakers who have diligently sought to make the world a better place.

The last sections of Birdlike and Barnless contain Burklo's creative contributions to our understanding and appreciation of the sacred seasons, rites and sacraments, prayers, psalms, and words for worship.