After decades lying dormant, seeds of spiritual interest are sprouting all around us. In popular culture the success of movies like the Matrix trilogy, books like The DaVinci Code and TV programs like Buffy and Crossing Over are all signs of now established spiritual interest. Columns on spirituality are appearing in magazines, and newspapers regularly publish the new year's predictions of the psychics. Yet, by and large the majority of today's spiritual travellers are bypassing the traditional church.
For some time there's been a need to communicate the story of God in a new way to Australia's spiritually interested twenty-and-thirty- somethings. To a postmodern generation sceptical about truth claims and ecclesiastical authority, yet interested in spirituality and supernatural themes, a new story is needed"”or perhaps an old story, wrapped in new words.
A new book that attempts to tackle this need is Unseen Footprints: Encountering the Divine Along the Journey of Life. Written by Australian-based writer, speaker and broadcaster Sheridan Voysey, Unseen Footprints takes readers on a journey to discover the God that is already close to them.
The winner of this year’s Australian Christian Literature Society’s Book of the Year takes a ‘softly, softly’ approach to communicating the good news to post-modern hearts. As the ancient Hebrew community discovered, there is an unseen God who walks in and through our lives. "Your path led through the sea,' Psalm 77 poetically records, "though your footprints were not seen.' Unseen Footprints is a reflective walk through pain, yearning and doubt; a journey that highlights the way God whispers to us through creation, beauty and people; a journey that leads to an encounter with an unseen but present God who shares his dream of a new world and calls us to participate in its creation. Throughout the book, God's voice and character is gradually discovered and found to be fully expressed in the face of Jesus.
Incorporating classic and contemporary stories, vivid metaphors and compelling graphic design, Unseen Footprints has been crafted to appeal to seekers browsing bookstore shelves, or Christians wanting a reflective exploration of Jesus for their seeking friends. But it has a secondary, equally important role. Many Christians are familiar with expressing faith in biblical and church language but struggle to communicate to those unfamiliar with Christian lingo. Unseen Footprints models another way. Here is a different starting point, a new way of approaching the Jesus story that may be more appealing to those who have rejected, or felt rejected by, the church.
