Coming Soon
View from an Adirondack
Written during a three-week hospital stay in the spring of 2020, this book is a deeply personal meditation on faith, loss, and renewal set against one of the most disorienting moments in modern history. Drawing on the spiritual journey from Purim to Passover to Easter, the author weaves theology, lived experience, and cultural reflection into a narrative shaped by grief, survival, and resilience.
Moving fluidly between personal memory and collective upheaval, the book invites readers into a shared journey of reflection—one that confronts suffering honestly while pointing toward forgiveness, renewal, and new life.
Advance Praise for View from an Adirondack
“This is a book about paths and journeys, unsparing in its honesty but also filled with compassion. It’s about the author’s “meandering” path to the Ministry, “predestined” now, in retrospect; and into a life of Service, at home and on an international scale.
It’s about his own journey through the Valley of the Shadow of grief and loss; about Faith and the testing of Faith. View From an Adirondack Chair might sound leisurely and comfortable, but this book confronts the some of the hardest questions human beings face: questions about God and His (or Her) whereabouts in times of pain and doubt; about the nature of forgiveness—and of sin; about the will to dominate Nature and where that inclination comes from, and about the real and ever-present possibility of finding joy in the midst of suffering.
Finally, this is a book about the search for meaning; of words like Prayer, Hope, Remembrance, Gratitude, Resilience and Renewal, Resurrection, and discovering God’s grace in unlikely places. In the end, this is a book about human connections; in the end it’s a book about Love.”
—David Bearinger
Co-author, Dreams and Shadows: An Immigrant’s Journey; editor, The Bill of Rights, The Courts, and The Law
“Written from the stillness of an ICU bed during a world in crisis, this memoir is a searching meditation on love, loss, and the long work of becoming whole, and living as a flawed human being. Moving fluidly between personal grief, spiritual questioning, and a life devoted to religion, justice, and service, the author invites readers into an unflinching yet tender reckoning with suffering and grace.
Anchored by the devastating loss of a beloved daughter and the courage required to keep living, these reflections ask what it means to forgive, to belong, and to remain open to love after heartbreak. This is not a story of easy answers, but of resilience born through vulnerability—and a faith reshaped by compassion, doubt, and hope.”
—Tracy Robertson
“Beautifully written and deeply moving, it is more than a memoir is a roadmap from grief to gratitude. Barton weaves personal tragedy and global upheaval into a powerful testament to the human spirit. As a former colleague in international humanitarian aid, I know his words are rooted in a lifetime of genuine leadership. This is a masterful guide for anyone seeking hope in uncertain times.”
—Joyce Turner, Former NGO Colleague
Foreword
View From an Adirondack Chair: Reflections and Thoughts of a Life Journey
I first met Jon Barton in September 2006 in Montreal at an event entitled “World’s Religions after September 11: A Global Congress,” sponsored by the Interfaith Commission of National Council of Churches. Having just returned from a visit to Beirut, Lebanon, where I was privileged to see the world’s first Garden of Forgiveness, in my talk I shared how deeply I was moved by peace activist Alexandra Asseily and her work in advocating for a Garden of Forgiveness there following the Lebanese Civil War. Following my talk, Jon introduced himself to me and surprisingly shared a photo of his own Garden of Forgiveness. I came to discover the great sorrow, the great wound of Jon’s life: the tragic death of his beloved teenaged daughter Katie in an automobile accident. Jon and his beloved late wife Betsy created a touching memorial garden and fountain in their backyard as reminder of Katie’s beautiful but brief life.
That day, Jon and I began a conversation about life’s fragile blessings that continues to this day. I am honored to write this foreword for his book. Jon is a man of great character and courage whose public leadership in ecumenical and social justice ministries is inspiring. In his role as the General Minister for the Virginia Council of Churches, Jon testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in opposition to solitary confinement in prisons and, as a staunch champion of the rights of First Peoples, Jon testified before the House of Representatives in support of the Thomasina E. Jordan Indian Tribes of Virginia Federal Recognition Act of 2007.
This memoir was inspired in 2020, by a three-week sojourn in a hospital where Jon’s life hung in the balance. Diagnosed with double pneumonia, heart distress and a bleeding ulcer, Jon’s health was in a precarious place. With the rock of his existence, his beloved wife Betsy, passing a year before, Jon experienced radical vulnerability as his life depended upon the expertise of medical professionals, as well as the kindness of friends and strangers. It is from this place of radical vulnerability, that Jon shares his life’s story.
The journey he recounts - from his earliest days of privilege born the son of Revolutionary leaders, founders of Ivy League institutions, and luminaries of church leadership - is a journey of saying yes to his unique calling to ministry. Throughout this autobiographical exploration, Jon often pauses to reflect theologically on the key themes which have been the driving forces, the ongoing foci, of his ministries: food insecurity, global poverty, education - and all understood through the lens of social justice movements.
Regardless of privilege or poverty, it has been said that the quickest path to spiritual maturity is the experience of great love and great suffering. With vulnerability and tenderness, as well as a delightful sense of humor, Jon navigates the experience of both paths, and shares vital lessons learned with his readers.
Lyndon Harris,
Former Episcopal priest, Forgiveness teacher, and author of Forgiveness at Ground Zero: A Journey of Service, Loss, and Redemption after 9/11
January 2026