Now that we have finished reading and discussing “God Loves
Justice” I thought I would share the books I have been reading during the
pandemic. God Loves Justice is an important book and if you haven’t had the
chance to read it I hope you will once you can get a copy. This year I set a
goal of reading 30 books. For me that is
a goal that is doable but takes some effort to accomplish. So far, I have read
11 books and with the baseball season delayed, I have a good shot at making my
goal. Here is a look at what I have been reading during the pandemic.
I checked out two books from the Herndon Library right
before the pandemic closed everything down. I keep a list of books people suggest.
Both books came off that list. Lucky for
me the library suspended returns. It took me a while to get through them. It’s not that the books were bad but my
schedule was turned upside down with meetings the first few weeks of Covid19.
One of the books from the library was “The Newcomers” by
Helen Thorpe. This book was recommended to me by Exodus World Service, the
refugee resettlement organization the youth and I worked with in Chicago last
summer. In “The Newcomers”, Thorpe tells of her experience spending a year and
a half in a high school English as a Second Language Class. The class was made up of teenage refugees who
had recently resettled in the United States. She shares powerful stories of the
struggles and challenges refugee’s face once they resettle in their new
country. I strongly believe these are stories that need to be heard!
I also checked out “The Blue Sweater” by Jaqueline
Novograte. Novograte lives in Northern Virginia and is the founder and CEO of
Acumen. In High School she donated a blue sweater to a local clothing ministry
and years later saw the sweater on a young child in Africa. She uses this story
to share her experiences of trying to help empower the poor around the world. Her experience with working with the poor offers
a lot to teach us about how to properly end poverty. She makes a very compelling
case that we should all pay attention to.
After finishing my library books, I started looking around
my office and home for books I never finished.
Right on my office desk was Adam Hamilton’s latest book, “The Walk” so I
started with it. In “The Walk”, Hamilton shares five spiritual practices
Christians should follow and easy steps to make them a part of your everyday
life. As a church we read Hamilton’s “The Way” a few years back. I might rate
“The Way” as a better book but I think “The Walk” is a practical and helpful read
I would recommend to everyone.
Currently, I am reading “The Divine Dance”, by Ricard Rohr and
“Reading Romans Backwards” by Scot McKnight. Both are preacher type books but
if you are up for a challenge you might enjoy them. My stack of unfinished books is embarrassingly
high so I have a lot to read during the pandemic. This should help me reach my goal.
Now, please share! What are you reading?
Our book group will be reading The Library Book, but I haven't started it. I am reading Hallelujah Anyway - Rediscovering Mercy by Anne Lamott. When I first read one of Anne's books I found her style challenging in a good way. Literally one minute I would read something that stopped me in my tracks. I had to ponder it. The next minute I was so confused. I have read most of her "spiritual" books and I still have that same problem. This book keeps me turning the pages because I can wait to see what she will write next. Full disclosure - her language is not what you always find in inspirational / spiritual / religious type books. But if you keep in mind what she has gone through in life, and where she is now, it just doesn't seem like such a big deal. This book is no different. I try to respect my books, but my Anne Lamott books are full of dog ears and underlines. Two quotes I found in this book which I had to ponder. "Mercy is radical kindness" and the other is "The good news is that God has such low standards, and reaches out to those of us who are often not lovable and offers us a chance to come back in from the storm of drama and toxic thoughts." Yes, both of those took some time to ponder!
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