Amazon #1 Bestseller, 2020 Illumination Book Awards Winner, 2019 Foreword INDIES Finalist, 2019 International Book Awards Finalist, Best New Non-Fiction

 

 

Praise for Praying on Empty

“What compels a young woman to enter the emotional minefield that is professional Christian ministry and keep working, despite despair that robs her of personal faith in God? With characteristic grace, brutal honesty and detailed personal reflection, Marjorie Weiss describes what it was like to be leading congregations, encountering chronic loneliness, and dealing with systemic sexism while struggling with the mental and physical illnesses that engulfed her family for decades. It's a wonder she gets to the other side. Congratulations to Pastor Weiss for telling the truth about what private life can be like for women who seek to publicly serve the Church."
—Lynne Silva-Breen, MDiv, MA, LMFT, Marriage and Family Therapist and former ELCA Pastor, Burnsville, Minnesota

"A very human illustration of one seeking an authentic faith relationship with God, not just in joy but in struggle and heartache as well. Lutherans love to talk about the 'real presence' of Christ in ways that we can see and taste and touch. Pastor Weiss takes us on a journey that chronicles working through the 'real absence' of Christ, at times in her life. Seminarians, clergy and anyone who daily searches for a genuine faith relationship will find benefit from this work."
—Bruce G. Trethaway, MDiv

"Pastor Marjorie Weiss's history reveals that she is a risk-taker: one of the first female Lutheran pastors, an adoptive parent of an older child, a champion of her marginalized colleagues, and now an author divulging her innermost thoughts, fears and triumphs before the world. This honest and exposing memoir shows us a pastor who, in the depths of isolation, loneliness and pain, wonders if God does not exist. I wholeheartedly recommend this compelling journey of faith through the written word."
—Rev. John Hagedorn, PhD

"Upsetting, passionate and lyrical seem like strange bedfellows, but in Marjorie Weiss's memoir they are natural companions. And let's not forget brave, for she has opened up areas of pain and revelation long buried in most human beings. This writer should be welcomed into the fold."
—Julie Gilbert, Author & Pulitzer Prize-nominated Biographer

 

Synopsis

"What are you?" the curious man asked Pastor Marjorie Weiss when he saw her walk by him in the church corridor while she was wearing her clerical collar. That question is indeed the heartbeat of her story. Until the 1970s, "pastor" had been a male-only profession.

"What am I?" she asks throughout her journey. "What am I as I stand before a congregation weekly to deliver a sermon that will inspire and guide listeners to better understand themselves and God?" And what is she when that faith, so necessary to do her job, suddenly seems to vanish? What is she when her emotional life crumbles and anger rules her landscape? Can she be a pastor without God in her life?

Weiss's deeply vulnerable, often humorous, memoir speaks to universal issues experienced by the religious and nonreligious alike. Many of her experiences may seem familiar while others border on the truly toxic.

Can the pastor recover her faith? Or is it God from whom she needs to recover?

 

Title Release

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