Summer Reading

Somehow, between wedding planning and traveling and keeping up with the affairs of everyday life, I've been able to do more reading this summer than I have in quite a while. In addition, it's become my habit to pass the many minutes of my daily commute by listening to sermons or audiobooks, so I am "reading" that way as well.

Another thing that has not happened in quite some time is that I have read a number of books that I enjoyed so much as to want to recommend them to others. So, here are a couple suggestions for your next trip to the library or bookstore:

The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society (Shaffer & Barrows)
Having already finished the novel I brought with me on the trip, I picked this one up in the Denver airport before heading back to Chicago. (In case you were wondering, yes, it pained me to pay full price for a book. My BN employee discount has me spoiled.) It had been on my to-read list for quite some time, ever since one of my co-workers at BN, who's on the panel that reads potential BN Recommends titles, read and raved about it. TGLPPPS is an epistolary novel, a writing style that holds a lot of promise and power when used well (see Ella Minnow Pea). It's also one of those books where you arrive at the end with both a sense of satisfaction at how it all turns out, and sadness that you must now bid the characters farewell and hear from them no more. Read this book. It has history, heart, and humor that will keep you turning the pages and thinking about who you'll recommend it to when you finish.

Peace Like a River (Enger)
This one I listened to during my commute and it held my attention without fail. Peace Like a River tells the story of the Land family - father Jeremiah, brothers Davy (age 17) and Rueben (11), and younger sister Swede. I know I'm not the first to make this comparison, but Peace Like a River reminds me a lot of To Kill a Mockingbird (which happens to be one of my all-time favorites) in several ways - the child narrator (Rueben), the sibling dynamics between Rube and Swede, and the hallowed but defatigable father. Peace Like a River is a sweeping story of family and faith, but what really endears it to me is the way Rueben tells their story. Some of his descriptions and observations of people and situations made me laugh out loud, while others are so unassuming and insightful I wanted to wrap myself up in the words and mull over them for a while. This is a book I will return to down the road.

Food for Thought

I'm currently reading Covenant Marriage by Fred Lowery. My soon-to-be-married friend Bethany recommended it to me and lent me her copy. I'm enjoying it and getting so much out of it that I decided I needed to order my own copy so that I can highlight and underline "the good stuff" for myself, pass it on to Travis when I'm done with it, and keep it around to spark conversations, serve as a reference, and inform the marriage for which we are steadily preparing. (Related aside: we have our first pre-marital counseling session tomorrow night.)

So far I'm about half-way through the book. Lowery's thesis is this: American society views marriage as a contract. God designed marriage as a covenant. Understanding the difference, and deciding how you will view and approach your marriage, makes all the difference. Basic, but pretty profound at the same time.

I look forward to finishing the book and perhaps posting a more thorough review here later, but for now I wanted to post a nugget from Chapter 5 that particularly stood out to me as I read during the train ride from Wheaton to Chicago Monday evening to meet Travis for our consultation with the DJ. It's a quote from David Jeremiah that Lowery inserts in his discussion of "where it all started" in Genesis.

The man is restless while he misses the rib that was taken out of his side. The woman is restless until she gets under man's arm from where she was taken. It is humbling to the woman to know that she was created for the man, but it is to her glory to know that she alone can complete him. Likewise it is humbling to the man to know that he is incomplete without the woman, but it is to his glory to know that the woman was created for him.

Brand New ESV Study Bible Released Today!

As some of you know, in addition to my day job and my Wednesday evening bookseller gig, I do some freelance proofreading & indexing for Crossway Books. Though I usually work on titles from the academic and theological division, back in August I had the privilege of joining the Bible crew and spent the better part of the following 9 months checking formatting on study notes from the brand new ESV Study Bible that comes out today.

Having spent so many hours reading thousands upon thousands of study notes during the proofing phase, I am excited to finally see this Bible in its finished form, complete with all the introductions, articles, maps, graphs, tables, and concordance that join the countless study notes to make for one thorough and hefty reference.

Which is to say, I spent a LOT of time at Starbucks, Caribou, and Panera, as well as on my couch and at my dining room table, pouring over the helpful, interesting and enlightening notes for the new ESV Study Bible, and believing they are an indication of the quality of the volume as a whole, I highly commend it to you if you're looking for a new study bible. But you don't have to take my word for it. Go to www.esvstudybible.org to check out all the bells and whistles for yourself.

Book Review: The Heavenly Man

It's been a while since I posted a book review (I have been reading lately, though not as much as I'd like), but since I'd written this one anyway for my office's newsletter, and since the book tells an incredible story of a remarkable man and some of the ways God is working in China, I thought I'd post it here, too. Enjoy!

In The Heavenly Man, Chinese house church pastor Brother Yun (with Pal Hattaway) tells the story of how God called him at the age of 16 when he brought revival to Yun's family and healing to his father's cancer-ridden body. Yun then gives an account of the Lord's faithfulness and mighty power displayed in his own life, that of his wife and family, and in the Chinese house church movement as a whole from his conversion in 1974 up until 2001. Brother Yun has endured the worst brutality imaginable from the hands of men, and has also experienced amazing healings and miracles from the sustaining hands of God. Yun narrates his compelling journey with humility and grace; while it would be easy to tell his story in a way that would bring glory and honor to himself, among the accounts of strong faith and incredible feats Yun includes his weaknesses, mistakes, and acts of disobedience as well. He emphasizes that God is the hero of this story, and Yun simply a flawed but willing servant.

If you love the Lord Jesus (and perhaps, even if you don't), I think it would be impossible to read this book without experiencing a breadth of emotions. While reading I felt shock, anger, awe, shame, admiration, excitement, and wonder, to name a few. This book took God out of the "Western box" I'd placed Him in and reminded me that He is so much bigger than my own experience of Him. In China today God is working miracles, giving dreams and visions, answering prayers that seem outrageous, providing for needs when resources don't seem to exist, and adding to the Church daily thousands who are being saved.

Brother Yun's account will cause you to consider what it really means to "know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings." He writes, "How we mature as a Christian largely depends on the attitude we have when we're faced with suffering. Some try to avoid it or imagine it doesn't exist, but that will only make the situation worse. Others try to endure it grimly, hoping for relief. This is better, but falls short of the full victory God wants to give each of his children. The Lord wants us to embrace suffering as a friend. We need a deep realization that when we're persecuted for Jesus' sake it is an act of God's blessing to us."

As the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (Nov 11th) draws near, I encourage you to pick up a copy of this book. It will open your eyes to the persecution Christians are facing today and may change the way you pray. I know it has for me. Brother Yun writes, "Once I spoke in the West and a Christian told me, 'I've been praying for years that the Communist government in China will collapse, so Christians can live in freedom.' This is not what we pray! We never pray against our government or call down cursed on them. Instead, we have learned that God is in control of both our own lives and the government we live under. .Instead of focusing our prayers against any political system, we pray that regardless of what happens to us, we will be pleasing to God. Don't pray for the persecution to stop! We shouldn't pray for a lighter load to carry, but a stronger back to endure! Then the world will see that God is with us, empowering us to live in a way that reflects his love and power. This is true freedom!"

Book Review: Mudhouse Sabbath

Each month I write and edit for two newsletters put out by my office. Since my boss is out of the country, this month's book review was up to me. Thought I'd post it here, too.

“Practicing the spiritual disciplines does not make us Christians. Instead, the practicing teaches us what it means to live as Christians. …The ancient disciplines form us to respond to God, over and over always, in gratitude, in obedience, and in faith.”

– Winner, in Mudhouse Sabbath

Though we are nearly a quarter of the way through 2007, the year still has an air of “fresh start” about it for me. Perhaps because today is the official First Day of Spring, and the year does not seem fully underway until the earth comes alive again. Whatever the reason for this lingering sense of new beginnings, with that mentality I’ve recently found myself drawn to treatments on the spiritual disciplines, and increasingly desirous to see more of these rhythms and practices of spiritual devotion have a place in my walk with Christ.

One of these books is Mudhouse Sabbath: An Invitation to a Life of Spiritual Discipline by Lauren F. Winner. In her earlier spiritual memoir, Girl Meets God, Winner tells the story of her conversion from Orthodox Judaism to Christianity. In Mudhouse Sabbath, she brings her knowledge and experience with Jewish traditions to bear on the Christian faith she has now embraced, suggesting that there are “Christian practices that would be enriched, that would be thicker and more vibrant, if we took a few lessons from Judaism” (from the introduction).

The titular “Mudhouse” is a coffee shop in the author’s hometown of Charlottesville, NC and indeed, one could read this short tome (a mere 160 pages) in an afternoon spent with a latte at a coffeehouse or a picnic in the park. The subtitle describes this book as an invitation, and it is just that; you will not find detailed prescriptions and techniques for practice or lengthy passages on the theology of the spiritual disciplines. In the author’s own words, this is “a small book of musings on and explorations in those practices.” With other excellent books out there that include the former (I am also delving into Foster’s Celebration of Discipline at present) I appreciate this book for its admittedly modest scope and the author’s conversational tone even as she provides an informative treatment of each area of spiritual practice. Winner’s “musings and explorations” on 11 topics—Sabbath, fitting food, mourning, hospitality, prayer, body, fasting, aging, candle lighting, weddings, and doorposts—are thoughts to which I will return as I reflect on my own attempts (and failures) at building these practices into my own walk with Christ.

Lauren F. Winner is the author of Girl Meets God, Real Sex: The Naked Truth about Chastity, and a contributing writer to Christianity Today.