Her exploration of the complex terrain of a long and loving marriage provides a model for anyone who loves someone with different life goals. In Skipping Church, Suzanne Kelsey eloquently and honestly describes the challenges of being a minister’s spouse and the struggles and rewards of her own search for truth. ISBN: 978-1-95 (print softcover perfect bound)Ī recent transplant from the Midwest to northern California, Suzanne Kelsey is a writer, artist, university instructor, and a lover of family, friends, nature, contemplation, and creative pursuits. These musings, laced with humor and infused with honesty, are accompanied by scenes from Kelsey’s life as she gradually made peace with her husband’s career decision while forging her own path.īIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs

In Skipping Church: Notes from an Accidental Minister’s Wife, Kelsey explores what callings are and who gets to claim them, whether a life right for one is right for two, how to live authentically despite pressures to be different, how nature and art can ground us spiritually even if we’re not religious, and where home is for those who move frequently. Kelsey wanted no part of that strange world. She felt her husband was choosing an itinerant, public life of commitment to doctrine for both of them. An independent free-thinker who believes in a divine something-or-other but not organized religion, Kelsey values her privacy and likes to settle in and nest. They were thirty-four and had two young sons. That’s how Suzanne Kelsey felt three decades ago after her husband of fourteen years announced his decision to become a Methodist minister.

Chameleon Days by Tim Bascom