The Sacred Echo (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The Sacred Echo challenges readers not to listen for the seemingly distant voice of God as much as to listen for the echo. When God really wants to get your attention, he doesn’t just say something once, he echoes. He speaks through a Sunday sermon, a chance conversation with a friend the next day, and even a random email. The same theme, idea, impression, or lesson will repeat itself in surprising and unexpected ways until you realize that maybe, just maybe, God is at work. As God’s voice echoes to us, we are invited to echo back to him in prayer. We are invited to be persistent and tenacious not only in the things we ask but also in our desire for a relationship with him.

From the Back Cover

“Don’t Listen For the Voice of God. Listen for His Echo.”

When God really wants to get your attention, he doesn’t just say something once.

He echoes.

He speaks through a Sunday sermon, a chance conversation with a friend the next day, even a random email. The same theme, idea, impression, or lesson will repeat itself in surprising and unexpected ways until you realize that maybe, just maybe, God is at work.

According to author Margaret Feinberg, the repetitive nature of a sacred echo gives us confidence that God really is prompting, guiding, or leading. The sacred echo reminds us to pay close attention – something important may be going on here. The sacred echo challenges us to prayerfully consider how God is at work in our life as well as in the lives of those around us. The sacred echo is an invitation to spiritual awakening.

Margaret writes, “I want a relationship with God where prayer is as natural as breathing. If God is the one in whom we are to live and move and have our being, then I want my every inhale infused with his presence, my every exhale an extension of his love.”

If that’s your desire too, let Sacred Echo be your guide to a deeper, more rewarding relationship with the God of the universe.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan (July 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310274176
• ISBN-13: 978-0310274179
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #131,550 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book!, September 17, 2008

By	Jonathan Cliff "JC" (Lubbock, TX USA) - See all my reviews

When I read non-fiction Christian books they usually fall into one of two categories. The first, and most popular kind are the books birthed out of a successful sermon series the author has done. I'm NOT knocking this approach, I'm just labeling them as mostly teaching in nature. The teaching can be challenging, but mostly it's educational in design. The other category would be a book that is challenging to the reader through and through. The kind of book that makes me feel like the author has been impressed by God to write what is on their heart. I would put The Sacred Echo in the latter category.

Reading The Sacred Echo felt like reading a letter from a friend. Sure, it was teaching me things and bringing some insight to my life; but mostly it was speaking to parts of my own soul that only a dear friend would know about. Margaret has a fantastic communication style that disarmed me even when she was talking about some sticky topics. For example, Why doesn't God always seem to answer our prayers? Does God care about my pain? Why doesn't God answer my questions like I want him to? are some of the thoughts she speaks to. She consistently brings her points back to scripture and real-life experiences. It's a rare author willing to expose her own doubts, fears, and mistakes in a book; and at times it made me uncomfortable (in a good way) to read about her own struggles in learning to hear God's voice.

The Sacred Echo is a book that I highly recommend; more specifically it would be a wonderful small group study book or accountability partner study book. This might be my highest honor, but it could potentially show up in some Christmas presents I give this year!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Honest Look at the Topic of Prayer, September 1, 2008

By	Mike Tatu (Michigan) - See all my reviews

For the last couple of weeks I've been reading a book called the Sacred Echo by Margaret Feinberg. Reading isn't really the full verb I should be using here. More than reading I've been identifying, feeling, relating and experiencing the ideas about the voice of God expressed in this book. Margaret gives a very vulnerable look into what it really means to hear God's voice calling out to us and reverberating in our lives. As I picked this book up, I quietly wondered where my thoughts were on the topic. I was once again grimly reminded of the distance I have in my heart to listening for God's voice. I feel like for myself, and most of my surrounding immediate community, the topic of God's voice and how he is speaking to us is dormant in our everyday language. It's just not talked about very much.

As I got into the book, I felt like a lot of good things were said and then I got really excited. I realized she wasn't spouting theories, she was telling stories. I LOVE stories. I love hearing about moments in time where a person becomes aware of something God was trying to speak to them. Nothing is more powerful. I don't care who the speaker or writer is, no three point sermon or seven step book can ever compare to the stories that exist in the world around us of how God is on the move in the hearts of his children. Reading on, I found that not all of the stories were of the EPIC, "how is that possible!?" sort. There were stories of clarity and also stories of confusion. It was definitely a book to identify with. There are times when I feel like the Sacred Echo of God's voice is booming and other times when the cavern of life is frighteningly silent. In the midst of all of that we have an opportunity to learn about and draw near to our Creator. We also learn a lot about ourselves. As Margaret continued to unpack her thoughts about the Sacred Echo coupled with her stories, she reached a great balance of starting a dialogue about God's voice and allowing God's voice to speak through the stories she was writing. I felt some significant moments in this book where I wasn't just reading about God's voice...I was hearing it.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An authentic look at prayer, September 8, 2008

By	Jay Winters "jwinterscom" (Saint Louis, MO USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Margaret Feinberg has been described recently by Leonard Sweet as one of the "authentics" of Christianity today. I have to agree. Her speaking as well as writing style communicates not only her point - but an authentic wrestling with the issues at hand. Henri Nouwen wrote in "the Wounded Healer" that it is in authentically wrestling with one's own life that a person is able to help others. In "The Sacred Echo", Margaret let us into her authentic wrestling with something that most Christians find themselves wrestling with from time to time - prayer.

Instead of a treatise or how-to book, Margaret simply shares her story of prayer. She shares her confusion with the way that some people talk about the messages which flow back and forth between God and mankind. She shares her frustration with those who give up on prayer as well as the frustration that has made her almost give up on it. Yet all the while, the refrain of the book is that there is a "Sacred Echo" which draws us closer to the heart of God.

This would be a book that I would hand to either an individual seeking to deepen (or just figure out) their prayer life, or to a small group that was seeking the same thing. Written with plenty of room for reflection and prayer (imagine that), Margaret's book is a quick read that will lead you to a long time of introspection.

Pick this book up if you're seeking help in your prayer life or trying to help people who are seeking that help. The authentic voice in which it is written is hard to deny, the authentic Voice that it speaks about, God, calls you through these pages to return to His book with renewed fervor.