Dancing in the darkness Spiritual lessons for thriving in turbulent times

Moss, a second-generation Black preacher and the pastor of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, offers spiritual guidance with musings firmly rooted in Christian theology and the non-violent practices of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Moss' parents met while working alongside Dr. King, who officiated at their wedding.) In brief chapters, Moss addresses difficult topics, such as beating bias, redirecting rage, and facing fears, and includes stories, relatable scenarios, pop-culture references, and suggestions to dig deeper, look further, and try to see things from different perspectives. He encourages readers to choose to fight with their heads and their hearts and not to become overwhelmed by spiritual darkness. His carefully developed messages build logically, and his words of inspiration seem fresh and attuned to present realities. The book's title comes from an incident when Moss fearfully went to confront what he assumed was an intruder; it turned out to be his six-year-old daughter joyfully flinging herself around her bedroom at 3:00 a.m. Moss' advice to "dance in the dark" is timely and hints at a brighter tomorrow.

Fighting injustice with the power of love. Moss, whose parents worked alongside Martin Luther King Jr., presents a kind yet less-than-clear call to action for the progressive community. The pastoral heir to Jeremiah Wright, Moss is theologically astute and immersed in the world of activism, and his message harkens back to a thoroughly Scripture-centered remedy for confronting challenges, from tense daily interactions with strangers to encounters with evil itself. Eschewing violence and anger, the author invites readers to approach others with kindness, understanding, and forgiveness. He asks readers to emulate the broadly humane tactics of King in both activism and daily life. Moss suggests "consecrating chaos"--i.e., find ways to constructively build on the chaos of brutality and injustice in order to combat it. The author highlights activists who have used cellphone video to widely distribute instances of racial violence and then drive people toward demonstrating peacefully against it. He also suggests that people "redirect their rage" into positive actions that effectively combat injustice. "While there is frustration in restraining your impulses," he writes, "tolerating that frustration is our one chance to redirect our power to achieve our greatest goals….Our impulsive anger may feel justified, even righteous, for a while. But then those unconsidered impulses ravage our world like demons." Moss uses several illustrations to demonstrate his ideals of love and hope amid unjust times. For instance, he finds deeper meaning in a simple vignette about discovering his young daughter dancing in her room in the dark in the middle of the nigh. Overall, the book is positive, hopeful, and affirming, yet Moss might have done well to dig deeper into the King tradition he hopes to uphold. Serious readers will be left seeking more context. Michael Eric Dyson provides the foreword. Good as a lengthy sermon, somewhat lacking as a short book. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.