As part of my spiritual formation role, I plan to send out a congregational email about once a month. This month I am stealing an idea from some old Pastors’ Schools, when our Bishops would share what they had been reading in the past year. This doesn’t cover a year, but here are some books I have read recently.
Breathing Under Water: Spirituality & the Twelve Steps, Richard Rohr
Subtitled Spirituality and the Twelve Steps, Rohr goes through the twelve steps used in AA and finds parallels between the steps and the gospel message. I found the book both challenging and hopeful. Note: I am considering leading a small group on one of Rohr’s books in the Easter season. Let me know if you might be interested.
White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity, Robert P. Jones
Jones is the head of the Public Religion Research Institute. The book explores exactly what the title suggests, and it calls those of us who are white Christians to look honestly at our history and wrestle with what repair might look like.
Deadline Artists: America’s Greatest Newspaper Columns, edited by Avalon, Angelo, and Louis.
Loaned to me by a friend, I found this book fascinating. From Will Rogers to George Will, from Ernie Pyle to Nicholas Kristof - there's lots of great writing. There are chapters on topics like war, politics, sports, humor, civil rights hard times, and more. Some columns took me back to major historical events of my younger years.
In my devotional time, I am using The Rule of Benedict: A Spirituality for the 21st Century by Joan Chittister and The Methodist Book of Daily Prayer. The former breaks the rule down into daily readings with commentary by Chittister, covering four months. I read it regularly. The latter has daily morning and evening readings and prayers, and it follows the Christian year. A number of United Methodists contributed to the book, including Dalton Rushing at Decatur First and other North Georgia writers.
I've also been reading a good bit of novels recently. My friend Lee Fullerton says there’s a lot of theology in good fiction and that it gives us insight into the human condition. I simply list a few titles here. Ask me about them if you wish, or you can look them up online.
Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmas.
A Table for Two, Amor Towles. He's a great writer.
Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver. This is a retelling of David Copperfield set in southern Appalachia.
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, James McBride.
All the Sinners Bleed, S.A. Cosby. It is described as “southern noir crime fiction” I found it engaging, but it's not for the faint of heart. Fair warning.
I would love to hear about what you've been reading recently.
Blessings,
The Rev. Jimmy Moor