Wanted: A Spiritual Pursuit Through Jail, Among Outlaws, and Across Borders - Hardcover

Hoke, Chris

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0062321366 ISBN 13: 9780062321367

Publisher: HarperOne, 2015

Synopsis

Interweaving his own story with moving vignettes and gritty experiences in hidden places, a jail chaplain and minister to Mexican gang and migrant worker communities chronicles his spiritual journey to the margins of society and reveals a subversive God who’s on the loose beyond the walls of the church, pursuing those who are unwanted by the world.

Wanted follows a restless young man from the sunny suburbs of his youth to the darker side of society in the rainy Northwest, where he finds the direct spiritual experience he’s been seeking while volunteering as a “night shift” chaplain at a men’s correctional facility. The jail becomes his portal to a mysterious world on the margins of society, where a growing network of Mexican gang members soon dub him their “pastor.” As he comes to terms with this uncomfortable title—and embraces the role of a shepherd of black sheep—his adventures truly begin.

Hoke shares comic, heartbreaking and sublime tales of sacred moments in unlikely situations: singing with an attempted-suicide in the jail’s isolation cell, dodging immigration and airport security with migrant farm workers, and fly-fishing with tattooed gangsters. Set against the misty Washington landscape, this unconventional congregation at times mirrors the Skagit Valley’s fleeting migratory swans and unseen salmon. But Hoke takes us with him into riskier terrain as he gains and loses friends to the prison system, and even faces his own despair—as well as belovedness—on the back of a motorcycle racing through Guatemalan slums.

In these stories of “mystical portraiture,” like the old WANTED posters of outlaws, Hoke bears witness to an elusive Presence that is still alive and defiant of official custody. Such portraits offer a new vision of the forgotten souls who have been cast into society’s dumpsters, helping us see beneath even the hardest criminal a fragile desire to be wanted.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Wanted follows a restless young man from the sunny suburbs of his youth to the darker side of society in the rainy Northwest, where he finds the direct spiritual experience he's been seeking while volunteering as a night-shift chap-lain at a men's correctional facility. The jail becomes his portal to a mysterious world where gang members soon dub him their "pastor." As he comes to terms with this uncomfortable title—and embraces the role of a shepherd of black sheep—his adventures truly begin.

Hoke shares sublime tales—sometimes comic, other times heartbreaking—of sacred moments in unlikely situations: singing with someone who attempted suicide in the jail's isolation cell, dodging immigration and airport security with migrant farmworkers, and fly-fishing with tattooed gangsters. Set against the misty Washington landscape, Hoke's writing takes us with him as he gains and loses friends within the prison system, and even faces his own despair—as well as belovedness—on the back of a motorcycle racing through Guatemalan slums.

In these stories of "mystical portraiture," Hoke offers a new vision of the forgotten souls who have been cast into society's dumpsters, helping us see that beneath even the hardest criminal is a fragile de-sire to be wanted.

About the Author:

Chris Hoke is a jail chaplain and pastor to gangs and violent offenders in Washington's Skagit Valley. Through his work with the organization Tierra Nueva he cofounded a coffee-roasting business, Underground Coffee, which employs men coming out of prison and addiction, and connects them to agricultural partners in Honduras. Hoke received his B.A. from U.C. Berkeley and his M.F.A. in creative nonfiction from Seattle Pacific University. Hoke's work has been featured on NPR and in The Sun, Sojourners, and Christian Century.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperOne
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0062321366
• ISBN 13: 9780062321367
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 384