Archive - Nov 15, 2015
The Journey Reading List (As of Nov 2015)
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 11/15/2015 - 22:26In a recent Facebook post, a friend also seeking discernment asked, “What books have you been suggested to read as part of your discernment?”
It seems like the list of books that I’m reading or have had recommended to me, grows faster than I can read. So, I thought I’d share some of the books I’m reading here, and the impact some of them are having on my journey.
I mark the start of the most recent phase of my journey as starting at a poetry conference at Yale Divinity School last May. One of the speakers was Christian Wiman and I picked up his book, “My Bright Abyss”. This has turned out to be a really important book to me, and I’m slowly reading it, along with several other books. I also picked up Denise Levertov’s “The Stream and the Sapphire” and
“Sands of the Well”. I’ve loved Levertov’s writing since I stumbled across her back in college. I also picked up Mary Oliver’s “A Thousand Mornings” as well as the Poems and Prose of Gerard Manley Hopkins and The Complete English Poems of George Herbert. Poetry is an important part of my journey.
Also at that conference, I picked up Spiritual Direction Beyond the Beginnings by Janet K Ruffing. I’ve read a few chapters of this and set it aside for later.
My priest recommended The Wounding and Healing of Desire by Wendy Farley. There is a lot in this book, but it has also slipped further down my stack of books I’m currently reading, and I hope to get back to it soon.
At our church, there is a faith study group that has been reading Reflections on the Psalms by C.S. Lewis. I joined the faith study group part way through and have only read portions of this book. Meeting with others to discuss books about faith is really important to me and I greatly appreciate the faith study group.
Meanwhile, a group formed at a church in a different part of the state. They posted information about what they were doing online. They were reading Searching for Sunday by Rachel Held Evans. I participated as much as I could reading the book and sharing thoughts on my blog. This is a great book, and an important influence on my current thoughts about where God is calling me.
I’ve spoken with the Dean of Formation, and gotten many great recommendations for books to read. Two that jumped out at me are Joining God, Remaking Church, Changing the World by Alan Roxburgh. Another is People of the Way by Dwight J. Zscheile. I was just starting to read Zscheile’s book when I got interrupted by another book, so I don’t have much for thoughts on it yet.
The book that interrupted me was An Altar in the World by Barbara Brown Taylor. Our church used one of the chapters from this book for our recent retreat. It caught my attention, so I picked it up and started reading it from the beginning. I’m only part way through, but I’m likely to add it to Wiman’s and Evan’s books as ones that are shaping my current thinking. Barbara Brown Taylor also wrote Leaving Church, which I am going to have to read.
I’m still very early in the discernment process, so I have lots of time to read more. What books are important to you?
Responses to Terrorism
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 11/15/2015 - 18:18It seems like everyone is talking about the attacks in Paris to push their own agendas, and instead of resisting the trend, I’ve decided to go with the flow.
Many people are changing the background of their pictures on Facebook to the French flag. At church today, the organist played “We shall overcome” in the background at one part of the service and played the La Marseillaise as the postlude. Others are expressing concern over the recurring drumbeats of war and pointing out that there were also attacks in Lebanon which aren’t getting the same attention. I’m thinking about changing my Facebook picture to the Lebanese flag.
This has brought about various reactions on Facebook:
“I really wish people would stop trying to delegitimize my feels by suggesting that I should be just as heartbroken about places I don't have a personal connection to or where I have friends living”
“Stop it with the #PrayForParis thing. Just stop. If you want to help people, donate to a charity. Donate time. Donate blood. Don't pray - if we've learned anything from this, it should be that the last thing the world needs is more religion.”
In response to one of these, a friend shared, The Empathic Civilisation which is a wonderful video worth commentary on its own.
My thoughts, as they often do at times like this, went to John Donne’s No Man Is An Island
No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend's
Or of thine own were:
Any man's death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.
Some people may be only able to have empathy for one group of people, for the French, but not the Lebanese, for people who donate to charities, but not for people that pray. Others may have no empathy at all, or all they can do is change their Facebook avatar.
Yet another friend put it in another frame that I think is really useful.
Applying the French tricolor scheme to your drunk selfie isn't the most effective response to terrorism. But compared to launching a bloody, expensive, and counterproductive eight-year occupation of an irrelevant country, it's a master stroke of geopolitical strategy.
Meanwhile, other friends have shared the statement from the Bishop Pierre Whalon of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, In Paris, do we have to love our enemies? Bishop Whalon statement
My agenda? With apologies to those who have no empathy for those of us that pray, I pray that we might all take a moment to become a little more empathetic to those that are different from us, whether it is differences around nationalism, religion, or anything else that separates us.
What we need is not less religion, but less intolerance of those different from ourselves
