Tag Archives: Book Reactions

Leavings by Wendell Berry (Book Review)

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I once heard that what’s missing from the world is beauty expressed in words. Leavings made me think of that again. It also worked alleviation to the problem.

If you read Wendell Berry (and this was a first for me) I believe you’ll pull away with a deeper breath in your chest. You’ll want to go for a walk every time his well placed words make you pause, make you put the book down. That is Berry’s gift: a poetry that helps us see the ordinary things in this world in a most extraordinary light.

The best element of the poems: being caught up in the emotions only an elder-aged man can possess and wisely handle; he describes change and loss like he’s had 40 years to dwell on it.

Thomas Merton: Twentieth-Century Wisdom for Twenty-First-Century Living [A Book I'm Looking Forward To]

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This is a read am really excited to get into. Titled Thomas Merton: Twentieth-Century Wisdom for Twenty-First-Century Living (New Monastic Library: Resources for Radical Discipleship) I’m excited to explore more on what this blurb writes:

This book explores Merton’s prophetic writings and experience as they offer guidance for spiritual seekers in their search to experience God, to simplify their lives, to live more humanly, and to shape Christian community in the face of alienation, consumerism, noise, and technology. (Lutterworth Press 2012)

I hunger for Christian community in the face of alienation, consumerism, noise, and technology. Noise and distractions chip away at me; entire weeks go by in a flash and I wonder if I can remember anything from them.

Some will say, “That’s how life is, get used to it!” I respond within, “That is an unfortunate way to live; there must be a better way.”

There is. His name is Jesus. I want to pay attention and follow. Merton’s voice has helped in the past and I anticipate his wisdom continuing to be one that helps me pay attention to Jesus.

The Kingdom and the Cross (by James Bryan Smith) | A Book Review

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 How can something so central seem so overlooked? How can a moment of redemption feel so undefined, so forgotten, so underappreciated?

For those who rely on Jesus, what do you believe about atonement and justification? What have people taught you about the purpose of the cross?

As I have wrestled with those questions, I have discovered a very open, very loose feeling story – a story that seems to have so many answers, so many perspectives out there. This story of “The Cross” and redemption is also something I’ve heard many of us struggle to spell out and re-tell.

Really, if someone were to ask you, “What’s the point of the cross?” how would you respond? Do you feel comfortable with your reply?

In The Kingdom and the Cross, James Bryan Smith writes a short devotional piece that helps us pause and wonder. His work is designed to inspire contemplation rather than meditation (that is, a state of wonder in the face of beauty). It is a little book that helped me pause. It doesn’t have endless lists of Scripture verses, but aims for simple statements and stories; it doesn’t take us through the trenches of historical development of atonement theories, but rather invites us to pause in front of art and icons, seeing through artistic windows the depth and grace of redemption.

…perhaps that’s just what we need these days – a few less arguements and pride-inspired correctness, and more dwelling with the Father because of Jesus, which seems to be the point of the cross anyway.

…

I decided to read The Kingdom and the Cross because our church will be spending the coming season of Lent exploring God’s love for us in the cross. I have been spending time with other authors, like John Stott, on the topic of the cross, and was delighted to read Smith’s writing. I trust and appreciate Smith’s articulation and simplicity and found his devotional book fitting for the coming season. As I’ve been exploring atonement, justification, and the cross, Smith’s simplicity was refreshing – as though he was breathing the kind of life that the cross intended to bring.

For future readers of The Kingdom and the Cross, I recommend pairing Smith’s book with a good study of the four Gospel endings. Get into Scripture and let Smith’s work expound on what’s going on there. I think that would be an enriching experience for any group.

 

The Seven Best Books of 2011

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Friends,

I’ve loved the adventure of reading. In 2011, I came across a pile of books and have enjoyed the rich conversations in nearly each cover I open. I wanted to take a moment and share with you the books I found most vivifying from the past year. (I’ve listed them in the order I read them in 2011).

  1. The Pastor by Eugene Peterson. 
  2. Renovation of the Church by Kent Carlson and Mike Leuken. 
  3. Braided Creek by Ted Kooser and Jim Harrison. 
  4. Sanctuary of the Soul: A Journey into Meditative Prayer by Richard Foster. 
  5. Wisdom Chaser by Nathan Foster. 
  6. The Cross of Christ by John Stott. 
  7. Pilgrimage of a Soul by Phileena Heuertz. 

Wisdom Chaser (Nathan Foster) | Book Note

Posted by under Book Reactions, Contemplation, Prayer

Some people’s lives seem messier than others. It always comes as a surprise when it’s “the pastor’s kid” who goes off the deep end. That’s Nathan’s story in Wisdom Chaser.

Wisdom Chaser is a collection of short thoughts and stories from a son who is getting to know himself and his father. The setting is the collection of 14,000 foot mountains of Colorado. And, it all starts with an estranged relationship and a risky question: “Do you want to climb the 14-ers, Dad?”

With the stories of adventure and failure on the mountain, interspersed by life’s parallels in the normal places of life, Nathan and his dad Richard (of Christian spirituality fame, a la The Celebration of Discipline) explore the mystery of one another and of God. The core of the story is learning humility, and accepting oneself as a person who is low – that life is made up of this very moment and not meant to be the pursuit of being the top person on whichever ladder you’re dreaming of. We need freedom from that competition that dehumanizes. We need salvation from The Western Way. Continue reading →