Hannah Miller King
9 min read ⭑
“I’ve been amazed to find that every conversation about hope and the eucharist is unique. It’s a bottomless topic because it’s about God’s grace toward us.”
Hannah Miller King thrives on the quiet moments alone, when it’s just her and her deep thoughts on God, the Bible and life. But better still is when she gets to share the messages that come from those moments alone — whether from the pulpit or in her writing. As an Anglican priest and associate rector of The Vine in North Carolina, she pours what God is teaching her into her congregation and into her debut book, Feasting on Hope: How God Sets a Table in the Wilderness.
Join us for a conversation about Hannah’s obsession with the Communion table, how she finds spiritual rest in fiction and why she’s focusing on the gift of Sabbath this year.
QUESTION #1: ACQUAINT
Food is always about more than food; it’s also about home and people and love. So how does a go-to meal at your favorite hometown restaurant reveal the true you behind your web bio?
A couple of years ago, my family moved to a small town in rural Appalachia. My husband and I are foodies (as much as we can be with three young kids), but we had not tried the little diner a quarter-mile from our new home until we were on our way back from a camping trip with our kids one spring. The kids were overtired and cranky, so we stopped at The Black Bear Cafe out of desperation. Its simple fare was a miracle meal that revived all our spirits. Now, it’s one of our favorites and a go-to for quick dinners or fun family outings. When we’re feeling cheeky, we call it “the BBC” and often walk or ride bikes there on warm evenings.
The food is nothing to write home about, but the atmosphere is friendly and relaxed (good for our unkempt young-family vibe). With its high school football newspaper clippings and religious tracts at the register, this little restaurant screams “hometown.”
Once, while at dinner, we ran into a group of men at a table who asked where we live. “Oh,” one of the men said. “I know that house. I know the family that built it.” I’ve never lived in a town this small, but I do like living a quarter-mile from its diner hub.
QUESTION #2: REVEAL
What “nonspiritual” activity have you found to be quite spiritual, after all? What quirky proclivity, out-of-the-way interest or unexpected pursuit refreshes your soul?
I have always been a lover of words and especially stories. (My first public work as a writer was the engrossing tale of a snow-unicorn who came to life at night. It won a “prestigious award” in my second-grade classroom.) But growing up in an evangelical subculture, I thought of fiction and story as strictly distinct from religion and spirituality. In other words, I thought it was more spiritually mature to read nonfiction books about overtly Christian topics. In seminary, I was challenged by my professors to think differently about the sacred/secular divide, especially when it comes to art. This meant I read, for the first time, works of fiction as a spiritual exercise. (I started with “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, which was really low-hanging fruit.) It changed my life.
Today, I am still a voracious reader of fiction and watcher of movies (mostly animated movies these days, thanks to the age of my children). In our home, books and movies are one of the primary ways we engage in conversations about faith. Goodness, truth and beauty; the power of sacrifice; the contours of love; the subtlety of evil — these are all fleshed out for us in stories, and they help me imagine a more tangible, lived faith than the one I grew up with. Recently, I read a book that was a bit disturbing and dark for my taste. However, it was a profound story about learning to love despite the cost. I’ve not stopped thinking about it.
QUESTION #3: CONFESS
Every superhero has a weakness; every human, too. We’re just good at faking it. But who are we kidding? We’re all broken and in this thing together. So what’s your kryptonite, and how do you confront its power?
I think of myself as a “yes man” in mostly a positive sense. If there’s an opportunity or experience available to me, I usually want it. I like to learn and explore. I like to make memories. This means I’ve had the chance to do a lot of random and interesting things and have made a lot of relational and intellectual connections along the way. But it also means that, at times, I am overcommitted, overwhelmed and a mess. It also means I’ve sometimes gotten in over my head on a project that is a bit past my skill level.
I am learning to work harder at channeling my enthusiasm into more patient discernment while also exploring the dark underside of my proclivity toward “yes.” Does it stem from a fear of missing out? Sometimes. Is it a fear of letting people down? Often. I honestly thought I’d be further along with this self-knowledge and self-leadership by this decade of my life, but in many ways, I am at the beginning of the journey.
QUESTION #4: FIRE UP
Tell us about your toil. How are you investing your professional time right now? What’s your current obsession? And why should it be ours?
Right now, I am in the midst of launching my first book, a theological memoir and exploration of the ancient practice of Communion — “Feasting on Hope.” It has been a little weird to leave the vortex of writing for the maelstrom of marketing, and in many ways, I miss the simplicity of sitting down at my desk every day to think deep thoughts and be alone with them. But in other ways, I have truly loved getting to share the words I spent all that alone time writing and getting to hear from others about how my story intersects with their own.
The book is about how we live as people of hope amid unanswered prayers, which was really the story of my teen years after having lost my father to cancer. My own personal theodicy led me to the Communion table, where I encountered sufficient grace for today (daily bread) and the promise of a feast to come (Jesus’ future return).
This meal has so shaped my imagination and my lived story as a child carrying unhealed loss that it has also shaped my adult ministry and been the topic of over two years of thinking and writing. In the podcast interviews, real-life encounters with readers and public messages I’ve given on the topic so far, I’ve been amazed to find that every conversation about hope and the eucharist is unique. It’s a bottomless topic because it’s about God’s grace toward us. I’m obsessed.
QUESTION #5: BOOST
Whether we’re cashiers or CEOs, contractors or customer service reps, we all need God’s love flowing into us and back out into the world. How does the Holy Spirit invigorate your work? And how do you know it’s God when it happens?
As a parish priest, I preach regularly. Fifteen years into ministry, sermon-writing could become a sort of open-and-shut experience now that I have done it enough to get into a rhythm. But almost every time I write a sermon, I find myself praying, “Lord, help me.” It’s a kind of stuck-ness that I never want to outgrow because it’s the kind that forces me to ask for God’s mercy, power and inspiration. And most weeks, as I near the end of my sermon prep, I find myself crying over the words that come — not because they are particularly profound or beautiful, but because they are God’s words to me and for me, for his people.
I feel that sermon writing is a kind of work that uniquely “depends on God” (or should), but the spiritual practice I am learning here has translated into all of my creative work and really all of my callings: in parenting, in neighboring, in finding enough energy to do the dishes at the end of the day, I pray, “Lord, help me.”
QUESTION #6: inspire
Scripture and tradition beckon us into the rich and varied habits that open our hearts to the presence of God. So let us in. Which spiritual practice is working best for you in this season?
God has been challenging me to embrace the gift of Sabbath more fully this year. Since starting out in ministry, Sabbath-keeping has been a lifeline: a day off has reminded me that I am not God (and the work will go on without me) and also that I need a devotional life that exists apart from my public ministry (I am a Christian before I am anything else).
But in the last year or so, I have started practicing other rhythms of resting and ceasing — taking regular times away from social media and my smartphone, for example — that have made my day off richer and have made my regular weekdays more restful. It is easy to fill a “day off” with mindless technology, anxious toil of a different kind than one’s weekday job and other non-restful noise; and it is easy to fill every square inch of space during the week with the same. Practices like phone-free times (and spaces), social media fasts, reading timers (e.g., 15 minutes to read without distraction), and walks outside with my kids have really helped me receive the gift of God’s presence in my real life right now.
QUESTION #7: FOCUS
Looking backward, considering the full sweep of your unique faith journey and all you encountered along the way, what top three resources stand out to you? What changed reality and changed your heart?
Gosh, it is hard to limit my recommended resources to three, but I will do my best. First would have to be the Lord’s Supper/regular Communion at church because this has changed my life so profoundly. It is free, it is local and it is holistic: the Lord’s table makes a family where we get to practice living as renewed people in a real time and place.
My second most life-changing resource might be N.T. Wright’s “Surprised by Hope,” which reframed my understanding of our Christian destiny and the meaning of Christian mission. Jesus didn’t just come to save our souls for heaven; he came to renew the earth and everything in it.
The third one is a bit more niche and a bit more recent, but I did some EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) trauma therapy with a Christian counselor in the last few years, and it helped me with a breakthrough in healing from a painful experience of church hurt. I had talked, prayed, journaled and read about this issue in my life, but EMDR helped me finally crack the case.
I share this with people who might be missing this component of bodywork in their discipleship as it relates to recovery or healing from really difficult losses or violations against us. I am grateful for the Christian leaders who encouraged me to give this a try, and I’ve truly come to believe in God’s ability to bring healing through somatic modalities.
Certain things can be godsends, helping us survive, even thrive, in our fast-paced world. Does technology ever help you this way? Has an app ever boosted your spiritual growth? If so, how?
I tend to find technology to distract me from the spiritual life insofar as it pulls me out of the present moment and the room I’m actually in so that I can try to be somewhere else. Short-form media and quick dopamine hits have also hurt my attention and focus. One way I have attempted to get some of that back that does involve my smartphone is through listening to more audiobooks. Long-form media and content is a good discipline and a more formative way to absorb information, and I’ve begun listening to books while I read, go on long drives or even lie awake at night (again, listening replaces mindless scrolling here, a previous insomnia trap).
One other way I’m putting my phone to use is by setting focus timers. For my daily reading time, I set a 15- to 20-minute timer and turn off my ringtone. This time is protected by the all-powerful smartphone. I know it will end, so I’m not anxious about how much time I’m spending. Nor am I watching the clock and trying to make judgment calls at the moment. This has really helped me get through more actual books and set some limits for my attention in a digital world!
QUESTION #8: dream
God’s continually stirring new things in each of us. So give us the scoop! What’s beginning to stir in you but not yet fully awakened? What can we expect from you in the future?
I don’t know if I’ll write a second book or not, but I have begun to be curious about the theology of home. My first book ended with a chapter about an unwanted and unexpected move to a new state and how that dredged up pain about childhood transitions and my desire to be rooted in a place.
I think in our current culture of upward mobility, digital-over-physical connection, and even climate and sociopolitical upheaval (nobody wants to be a refugee, for example, or have their town flood like ours did during Hurricane Helene), we are simultaneously losing touch with our sense of home and place while also growing hungrier for it. Or maybe I’m projecting. But this will likely be my next big thought and prayer project, wherever it leads.
Since the beginning, God designed the simple act of sharing a meal as a way to build connection. Whether it’s over an elaborate spread at the dining room table, two cups of coffee at a cafe or a loaf of bread and wine during Communion — hearts, minds and spirits connect when we eat together.
In the same way, Jesus longs to eat with us. After rebuking the lukewarm church of Laodicea, he said, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Rev. 3:20, ESV).
Our Lord wants to connect with us. But we must first open the door.
Hannah Miller King is a priest and author in the Anglican tradition. She is the associate rector of The Vine Anglican Church in Clyde, North Carolina, and the author of Feasting On Hope: How God Sets A Table in the Wilderness. When she’s not writing, she’s probably chasing her kids on a playground or in the backyard.