Lament for a Son by Nicholas Wolterstorff

I truly enjoyed reading this book. It is a honest expression of Nicholas' mourning his 25 year old son's death. This book helps one understand more of what a person is going through who has lost such a close person to them. His grief is raw as he writes what life is like, the whole Eric left in his life, lamenting what could have been. I do recommend this book because we all grieve, we all lose people to death, so we all mourn together. Here are some good quotes from this book:

"I shall look through the world through tears. Perhaps I shall see things that dry-eyed I could not see."

"It means not forgetting him. It means speaking of him. It means remembering him. Remembering: one of this profoundest features of the Christian and Jewish way of being-in-the-world and being-in-history is remembering. "Remembering," "do not forget," "do this in remembrance." We are to hold the past in remembrance and not let it slide away. For in history we find God."

"To comfort me, you have t come close. Come sit beside me on my mourning bench."

"God is not only the God of the sufferers but the God who suffers."

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabth Gilbert

Many of my friends had told me about this book, so normally if I hear that much about a book, I try and read it. I must confess that this is the longest (333 pages) book I've read that was not for grad school. I am getting older and loving to read--it's crazy because I used to hate it as a kid.

Anyways, this book was a great biography of one year of Liz Gilbert's life in Italy, India, and Indonesia (4 months in each place)---after reading this, these are all places I'd love to visit.

She is very honest about life's heart aches, how we recover with the help of our friends & family and also by God's grace. Her prayer life is amazing throughout, she learns how to meditate and rid herself of the things in this life that plague us--like doubt, self loathing, bitterness, jealousy, discontent, etc. I really enjoyed this book, it made me think a lot about God, healing, prayer, meditation, and love. It was a page turner for me, I found myself looking forward to my head hitting the pillow so I could read a while.

The Shack by William Young

Well, my friend Erin (thanks Erin!) mailed me a copy of this book as a gift, and I was excited because so many people have read it & loved it. I've had a few friends not like it also.

I really enjoyed it and each night as I was going to bed, I was excited to read & find out what was going to happen next. I was a very refreshing way to think about God, it broke some molds that I have in my head--to make me think, why couldn't God come in the form of a funny African American woman? --God can do anything. It was very relational, loving, forgiving, & merciful look at how God is.

My heart was warmed and it really made me think that I want to suggest it to people who are grieving or need a new look at God because the one they see not they don't like/agree with.

The Call To Converstion by Jim Wallis

This book was years in the making for me reading it. When we first got married (2003), Todd really wanted me to read this book, but I just wasn't there in my understanding or caring about these things.

So I picked it back up again a few months ago and have finished it. I really enjoyed. It certainly did a great job messing with me and what I have always found to be true about what it means to be a Christian.

After reading different books by Shane Claiborne, Rob Bell, & others, I was interested and eager to learn what Jim Wallis had to say. Wallis is a pretty great leader, he's been doing this for 30 some years, and helped found the community Sojourners. He's written many books like God's Politics, Waging Peace and Peacemakers, and The Ministers Manual. He is all about social equality, ending poverty, living in community, and ending war.

Here is a foretaste of this awesome, life changing book:
"Jesus talked more about wealth and poverty than almost any other subject, including heaven and hell, sexual morality, the law, or violence. One out of every ten verses in the Synoptic Gospels is about the rich and the poor; in Luke, the ratio is one our of seven. Thus , the subject of money, possessions, and the poor is hardly a casual concern or passing interest to the biblical writers. The Bible is literally filled with it. In the midst of our study, we began to wonder why the topic had been so completely ignored in all of our church upbringings."

The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama

I just finished listening to this, so technically I didn't read it. I really enjoyed it, learning more about who Obama is, what he believes, where he's come from, and his ideas about where the US should move towards.

I don't agree necessarily on the
"American Dream," but I do think that our children should all get a good education, all should have health care, civil rights, and we should take better care of creation.

I know many of my family & friends don't so much like him, but I encourage you to read his books (or listen) and give him a chance. I did. You might be surprised that you have more in common than dissimilar.

Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers - Shane Claiborne & Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

This is Shane Claiborne's third book that he's written and I've read. It was my first of Jonathon's that I've read, I would like to read his other two books. It was very challenging in it's content. Here are some of my favorite quotes:

"People argue a lot about the differences between these two camps. We're not sure who's right, but we have notices that the debate doesn't seem to do much for people in our neighborhoods. What it does , unfortunately, is divide the church. Christians seem to feel more allegiance to the positions of the left or the right than we feel to God's people. Rather than share what we have in common so that on one has a need, we self-segregate into conservative and liberal congregations or black and white or upper and lower-class congregations. The powers and principalities think themselves wise. And the wisdom of God seems like foolishness."

" What we're really looking for in our life together and in the church is what the apostle Paul calls the "life that is truly life" (1 timothy 6:19). We have to stop promising people life after death when what we are all really asking for is if there is life before death. And the good news is-there is. Eternal life begins now. It is living in the presence of God."

Take a read and be challenged to be the people of God and being the answer to the problems of our day with God's help of course.

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

I just finished reading The Four Agreements and I really enjoyed it. My friend, Marsha, raved about it for a year to me, so I felt like, if she loved it that much I should read it.

If you have read any of Anthony DeMello's books, to me, Don Miguel Ruiz is similar. The four agreements are simple, and common sense, but really appear to me that in life if we follow them, we would be more content, peaceful people. Here they are:

1. Be impeccable with your word
2. Don't take anything personally
3. Don't make assumptions
4. Always do your best

It's worth the read if you are looking for something. Now, the hard part is to follow them.

Jesus Wants to Save Christians ~ Rob Bell & Don Golden

This is the third book that Rob Bell book has written and I've read all three. This one was wonderful, as were his other 2. This one has a lot of Old Testament and church history that I didn't really know, so he really helps to piece it all together. I'll just give you some good quotes from the book, and you decide if you'd like to read it.

"Jesus wants to save us from making the good news about another world and not this one. Jesus wants to save us from preaching a gospel that is only about individuals and not about the systems that enslave them. Jesus wants to save us from shrinking the gospel down to a transaction about the removal of sin and not about every single particle of creation being reconciled to its maker."

"A church is an organization that exists for the benefit of nonmembers. This blessing extends even to our enemies. This truth about the Eucharist raises profound questions that a church must ask itself. If our church was taken away--from our city, our neighborhood, our region--who would protest? Only the people who are members? Single mothers? Refugees? Atheists?"

"It's as if God is saying, "The thing that has happened to you-go make it happen for others. The freedom from oppression that you are now experiencing-help others experience that same freedom. The grace that has been extended to you when you were at your lowest--extend it to others. In the same way that I heard your cry, go and hear the cry of others and act on their behalf."

The Better World Shopping Guide

I just bought The Better World Shopping Guide from my favorite store One World Market (not to be confused with World Market). One World Market is a fair trade store on Ninth Street in Durham. Anyways you can buy this book here on their website, it's only 10 bucks.

The books tells you how to better shop for everything you can possible buy-gas, computers, soap, chocolate, etc. It tells you the companies to stay away from because they have child slave labor, they are environmentally negligent, don't treat their employees fair, etc. You'll be shocked which companies are really bad.

The whole premise of the book is that every dollar we spend we vote for good or for bad, so why not spend our money to help workers, children, environment, and the world a better place?

Girl Meets God by Lauren Winner

I finished Girl Meets God by Lauren Winner last weekend. It was a good book, but it wasn't my favorite out of her 3 books. This is her first book she wrote about her faith story from Orthodox Judaism to Christianity. One of the things that I didn't like is because I am very linear in my thinking, and she tended to jump around when telling the story of her life. I sometimes found it hard to follow.

Some great things that I liked about the book is that she speaks of her journey to God, as just that a journey, God in search of her. She says she doesn't have a specific day that she was saved. Which I think is a lot of our stories; either we were really young and don't remember a moment or it was just that a copulation of moments to a place where we believed. She is a great writer and I love her work. Check out my other reviews of her other 2 books, Mudhouse Sabbath & Real Sex.

Mudhouse Sabbath by Lauren Winner

So I've started checking books out from the library, which I might say I haven't done since high school when I had to do research projects and I would check books out so I could work on the papers at home. Todd & I are trying to not keep spending mucho dinero on books like we have our whole marriage (partly due to grad school).

Mudhouse Sabbath is my first book and I truly couldn't put this book down, I read it in 3 days which is lighting fast speed for me. Anyways, I found it really interesting because Lauren grew up Jewish and in college became a Christian, but now feels like she misses some Jewish ways--the routines that draw the sacred into the everyday. I found that many of these traditions I didn't know very much about. After reading about them, I found myself really wanting to integrate more of these practices into my own life like--sabbath (resting), certain prayers to say, fasting, candle lighting, putting a mezuzah which is the Shema (Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one) on your doorpost, and being better at mourning--they have really good traditions around grieving. The list goes on and if you are so interested, you should just read the book it's only 143 pages . . . now I'm off to try and request her last book that I haven't read-- Girl Meets God.

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

This book The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion was given to me to read by a client. I really enjoyed it, I hadn't ever read anything from Didion before. She is a great author, but this book is actually about her own life, the year she lost her husband of 40 years and then shortly there after her daughter.

She really helps you understand what it's like to live in grief and loss. How your mind works, how you thinking everyone knows whats wrong with you because you think it's written all over you and how you know when others are in grief because you know the look. If you are suffering from grief, this book might be for you, to read someone who understands how you feel is usually helpful. Her book is honest, authentic, and very helpful.

Real Sex by Lauren Winner

I borrowed this book from our friend Sarah B. and Todd & I were literally fighting over reading it.  It was a very well done book by Lauren Winner, and I would really like to read her other books- Girl Meets God, and Mud House Sabbath. 

Anyways, I liked this book as much as I did Rob Bell's book Sex God, but they are pretty different just on the same topic of the link between spirituality & sexuality.  The things that I really liked about this book that she speaks of is that the church is not addressing this like it should, and the stats tell us that kids in sports are less likely to engage in sex rather than kids who go to church.  I found that to be sad.  

She looked at all the research, and also speaks of her own journey which I found to be helpful.  That's not all, she talks about the lies we are told about sex and also that truths about sex.  She portrayed Chastity as not just a singles problem but also for those who are married (needed to stay united only with their spouse--which is also not that popular to talk about though clearly it's a problem).  So we are all in this together.  

Chastity is also a lost sacrament in the church that doesn't get talked about like baptism, communion, etc.  One thing that she also addressed is that the lack of modesty which hasn't helped the cause for chastity either, for both men & woman, and she encouraged us to think of how we dress has an affects on others.  If you haven't figured out that I liked the book :-) well surprise I did, and I recommend it.  

On Eating by Susie Orbach

This book is little in size, like The Way to Love, but it is really insightful. Dr. Orbach is a therapist, and had written many books. This books talks about how many of us don't let ourselves get really hungry before we eat (like we are supposed to) or stop when we are full (again, like we are supposed to). So we have issues with food. She also talks about figuring our why we are eating what we are eating if we are not hungry, that we are trying to satisfy another hunger--sadness, loneliness, anger, etc. I highly recommend this book. It'll start you thinking about what your emotions are when you grab that bag of chips or candy, and help you listen to your bodies natural system of hunger trigger and being full sensation.

The Way To Love- Anthony DeMello

I just finished reading this little pocket book that's chuck full of wisdom and deep thoughts from Anthony DeMello. He was a Jesuit priest who was the director of the Sadhana Institute of Pastoral Counseling in Poona, India. He wrote many books (I know this from looking on amazon for this one & found many others), but this was his last before he passed away.

Anyways, this book comes highly recommended by me, if you can read one book that will challenge your thinking, feelings, attachments, cultural programming, etc this is it. He was very integrative in his theology with counseling/psychology. I was very challenged and changed by this book, the man was a genius and knows how to mess with you to the point that you really start challenging the way you are with yourself and others.

Jesus for President

This book is really great, especially if you've read Irresistible Revolution, but even if you haven't I suggest it.

Shane Claiborne is really challenging in his books, but so humble & loving at the same time.

This book compares the Roman empire in which Jesus lived to our current empires in our world. It dreams of another world in which we live challenging the way things are in our systems and dream of how they could be if we all lived a radical life of peace, love, and generosity.

AWIP- another world is possible.

Serve God, Save the Planet

So I'm trying to catch up on my blogging (since in the last 3 months I didn't blog much), we'll I've read a lot of books for me, not by Todd's standards I haven't though. I've read 3 so far this summer. This I finished at the beach Memorial Day weekend, anyways it is a fascinating review of how Christians SHOULD take care of the God's creation. It's by an MD who left the affluent lifestyle to try to fix the origination of many health problem, our environment.

How in the past we haven't, what the repercussions have been, and how our environment effects everything (our health, cancers, water, diseases, births, etc.) And what we can do now to make things better, he gives many practical solutions to being better stewards of God's earth. Basically how we take care of creation, reveals how we feel about the creator. It's a lifestyle challenging book, very humbling.

Velvet Elvis

Well since I took my comps in November, I''ve had (some) more time. So I've tried reading books that I've longed to read. Velvet Elvis was high on the list. Velvet Elvis - Repainting the Christian Faith by Rob Bell was wonderfully written. It actually is his first book, but I read it after reading his second book, Sex God. I was very enlightened after reading Sex God (which I've recommended to most everyone I talk with), so I thought that I'd get a lot out of Velvet Elvis too. And I did.

This book taps into many thoughts that have been rolling in my head the last few years. He talks about how the Church has done more bad than good in some situations (I agree), and how we need to reclaim her innocence. For those of you struggling with your faith, or thinking what is this God thing, or why are those Christians being like that-so far from what Jesus intended--this book might be for you.

Here is a great quote from the beginning of the book, "Times change. God doesn't, but times do. We learn and grow, and the world around us shifts, and the Christian faith is alive only when it is listening, morphing, innovating, letting go of whatever has gotten in the way of Jesus and embracing whatever will help us be more and more the people God wants us to be."

If you get a chance, read it, you might be surprised how he has put words to what you have been thinking, but couldn't communicate it.