Join the Spirited Book Club: Discover The Serviceberry and the Power of Reciprocity
The Spirited Book Club at Spirit in the Desert Retreat Center invites you to a meaningful conversation about The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Join the discussion on Thursday, September 25 from 3:00–4:00 pm AZ (PDT). Book club facilitator Sheri Brown will lead participants in exploring the book’s central theme: how gratitude and gift economies might help us reimagine our relationships—with each other and with creation.
📚 Register and learn more at: https://spiritinthedesert.org/events/spirited-book-club-the-serviceberry
Robin Wall Kimmerer, celebrated author of Braiding Sweetgrass, offers a lyrical and thought-provoking meditation on the role of reciprocity in shaping a more just and sustainable world. In this short but rich work, she uses the serviceberry tree as a metaphor for abundance, generosity, and interconnection—challenging the scarcity-driven mindset of our current economic systems. As she writes, “Serviceberries show us another model, one based upon reciprocity, where wealth comes from the quality of your relationships, not from the illusion of self-sufficiency.”
Facilitator Sheri Brown ties the book into this year’s Season of Creation theme: Peace with Creation, inviting readers to consider the spiritual and ecological implications of cultivating gratitude. “Climate catastrophe and biodiversity loss are the consequences of unrestrained taking by humans,” Kimmerer writes. “Might cultivation of gratitude be part of the solution?”
Book club members will reflect on the “gift economies” in their own lives—where generosity, mutual care, and relationships take precedence over transaction—and how such practices might deepen our faith, promote environmental justice, and embody peace with creation.
Named a Best Book of the Year by Scientific American and Library Journal, The Serviceberry has been widely praised by figures like Anthony Doerr, Elizabeth Gilbert, and outlets from The Guardian to Oprah Daily and TIME. It offers a compelling, hopeful path forward—rooted in Indigenous wisdom and the simple, radical idea that “all flourishing is mutual.”
Whether you’re already a fan of Kimmerer’s work or discovering her voice for the first time, this discussion offers an opportunity to connect faith, ecology, and community in powerful ways. All are welcome.