Colleges can do it. Hospitals can do it. Workplaces can do it. Why does the church in the United States still find it so difficult to integrate across racial and ethnic divides? In Blessed and Beautiful Lisa Lamb trains her sights on one often overlooked facet of forging life together: the magnetic power of shared memories. Those common narratives bind ethnic groups together and keep them apart. This book explores the sociological and theological dimensions of social memory and considers the particularly powerful tool preaching could be for shaping individuals who are willing to risk remembering their people's past in church and for shaping churches capable of hearing those stories. While keenly aware of the complex dynamics involved, Lamb ultimately gives pastors and other church leaders a glimmer of hope as they seek to build reconciled communities of faith.