God Hides in Plain Sight: How to See the Sacred in a Chaotic World

The Christian Church has used sacraments as rites that reflect an outward symbol of the inner grace provided by Holy Spirit. And while many participate in the sacraments as observers and participants, often the underlying meaning of the rite is shadowed by the event itself. Journalist Dean Nelson, has taken the major sacraments, and through stories explained how they can not only be experienced in the traditional sense, but how they also can happen in everyday life, allowing one to feel the power of the Holy Spirit outside the limits of church services. Nelson uses the sacraments of Vocation, Communion, Confession, Confirmation, Marriage, Baptism, Last Rites and Service to show how any believer can find the Holy Spirit working in their life, and in the lives of those around them. The stories he tells range from being invited to a neighbor’s house to see the Christmas decorations but not being invited in off the porch, to a trip to India to teach creative writing and having one of his students using Nelson’s father-in-law as a subject in a class essay.

God Hides in Plain Sight is both a guide to the sacraments in a conversational style and a memoir of important personal events in Nelson’s life. Nelson is a strong writer, and his firm grasp of not only the importance of the sacraments, but also his insight into their meaning, created a book not only worth reading, but re-reading to continue to remind oneself about how to slow down and see the works of the Spirit as one goes about their life.