Hello and welcome to Field Notes!
This is a weekly newsletter with exclusive essays about faith and spirituality, occasional devotional series, community conversations, book recommendations, and so much more. If this is your first time popping by, I hope this post answers all your questions like, “who is Sarah Bessey?” and “what does she write about?” and “what do I get with a subscription and how much does this cost?” as well the top ten posts to give you a good sense of what I write.
Who writes Field Notes?
It’s me! Sarah Bessey here, nice to “meet” you. I’m the founder of this newsletter. Field Notes has been around since 2014, but we made the move to Substack when it was a pretty fledgling new platform in 2019. Since then, Field Notes has consistently been in the top ten faith and spirituality newsletters. It also remains one of the most popular on Substack.
Please allow me the moment of earnestness to tell you how grateful I am for this work and that you are here, helping to co-create one of the kindest comment sections on Al Gore’s Internet (do kids today even know that joke??). The folks here are forever reminding me, in a sea of hot-take noise and zero-sum chaos, that a quiet, wordy, thoughtful oasis like this can exist for all of us. It means the world to me that folks trust me with their embattled inbox, their tender and resilient hearts in this difficult age, and their precious time. I never take any of that for granted. It is always one of the great honours of my life to be alongside folks in this small way every single week and I hope you know that I’m grateful.
Books
My latest book was Field Notes for the Wilderness: Practices for an Evolving Faith which was a USA Today, Globe and Mail, Publisher’s Weekly, and Indie bestseller. There is a guided journal that goes along with that one.
I’m also the author of the best-selling and critically acclaimed books Jesus Feminist (2013); Out of Sorts: Making Peace with an Evolving Faith (2015); and Miracles and Other Reasonable Things (2019).
My collaborative book, A Rhythm of Prayer: A Collection of Meditations for Renewal (2021) was a New York Times, Publisher’s Weekly, and Globe and Mail Bestseller. I also served as its editor.
And I was honoured to serve as the editor/midwife for my dear friend, the late Rachel Held Evans’ New York Times bestseller Braving the Truth: Essential Essays for Reckoning With and Reimagining Faith (2026).
Want to know more? You can get to know me a bit better by clicking here for the bio stuff like where I live and who lives with me and more about my background.
Oh, and one of my favourite things is writing Field Notes for you. What began as an “official author thing to do” all those years ago has become a community and conversation, a genuine vocation and helluva lot of fun.
What to Expect from Field Notes
Free subscribers receive occasional posts.
Paid subscribers to Field Notes usually hear from me once a week on Tuesdays - sometimes more, sometimes less but that’s the plan.
Weekly Posts. You’ll receive not-available-anywhere-else exclusive essays from me on matters of faith and spirituality, our beloved Book Corner posts where I chat about all the books I’ve been reading - and what I really think of them, the seasonal Good Things with all the lovely things I am into at the moment, our giveaways, plus the yearly deep-dive series like The Unexpected Jesus or Advent, and so much more.
The Secret Field Notes Podcast. There is a secret podcast link, only for paid subscribers, where I personally read - okay, fine, sometimes preach - my Field Notes essays for you.
Announcements. You will also be the very first ones to hear about any new books, projects, or announcements.
Access to the published Archives of Field Notes.
Community conversations and the comment section. (And don’t forget to click through the emails to the comments - we’re all commenting like we’re mommy-bloggers-from-2005.)
How much does this cost?
A paid subscription to Field Notes costs $6 CAD/month, which is just over $4/month USD or - very, very good deal alert - $40 CAD/year, which is under $30 USD/year according to my rough exchange rate calculations, for the entire year of Field Notes, which gives you about five months of content for free.
I’ve purposely kept the subscription here at more than half the price of most other newsletters in order to keep this space as accessible as possible.
But one important thing about that: if you can’t swing the subscription, please just email assistant@sarahbessey.com and we’ll get you sorted out. Promise. It’s our joy to give away subscriptions to literally everyone who asks. Subscriptions aren’t meant to be a barrier, just a way to support me and my work as well as create a quieter corner on the Internet for deeper conversations and comments.
What do your subscribers think about Field Notes?
I genuinely enjoy putting Field Notes together for you. I think it's pretty special but you don't have to believe me... here's what subscribers have to say:
“I love @sarahbessey emails because she's like "f*ck the patriarchy" and also ‘here's my favourite knitting pattern this month’.”
"My friends and I always look forward to seeing Field Notes pop up in our inbox. My favourite text message I get each month is, "Sarah Bessey. Inbox. NOW."
"Getting it in my inbox is like opening the best surprise package each month. I love that it's not just repeat blog/social media material, but is a true standalone set of word-centric goodies. I love how you merge the sublime with the silly (fun links and GIFs!) and I love your book recommendations."
"When I get your email, I save it for a free moment, grab a cup of tea, settle in and read and bookmark your suggestions and recommendations. It's the highlight of my weekend."
"This is the only email newsletter I read on the regular!"
"I appreciate your mix of deep soul-searching wisdom and funny."
"It touches my heart and makes me laugh and cry every. single. time."
"Reading Field Notes feels like we are sitting down together for a cup of coffee."
"I savour your Field Notes each month - love how it's packed with so much!"
"My only complaint is that I wish it came more often."
The 10 Most Popular Posts
To give you a good sense of what people like to read around here, here’s a list of the most popular posts for you to check out.
Are we still calling ourselves Christians?: Or are we done here?
So here is my resolution for these very days: Love out-prays, out-hustles, out-creates, outlasts.
40 Simple Practices for Lent: One practice for each day of Lent
40 Breath Prayers for When You Are Despairing: Show me who to be, and what is mine to do.
For when your heart is heavy but your resistance is steady: More than 50 new breath prayers to develop courage and resilience in us that we may walk in love and bring forth justice
Someone else’s deconversion: When we were singing songs like “Spirit, lead me where my trust is without borders” who knew that the Holy Spirit was going to call our bluff so beautifully?
An Incomplete and Highly Personal Litany of Why I Love Being Canadian: ...for no reason in particular *ahem* at this exact moment in time
The Christian Bookstore Rejects: A few messy thoughts on being a devout Christian author who writes books geared for Christians and yet almost never stocked in the Christian bookstore
Here is the full list of the Top Posts if you want to find a few others
You can also find the very latest posts right here.
It’s a joy to write for you.
Alongside you,
S.
Some housekeeping...
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Thanks again, and please tell a few friends if you feel like it.
