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Summer 2005: Reading Recommendations
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“What shall I read?”
Wondering what books would most inspire and inform you—and other leaders—as you enjoy the summer while planning initiatives for the fall? Congregational Resource Guide staff offer you our "top pics" of the season. (Click on the book's title to access the publisher's Web site and ordering information.)
We at the Alban Institute and the Indianapolis Center for Congregations wish you and yours a summer of rest and renewal.
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Awakened to a Calling: Reflections on the Vocation of Ministry
Ann M. Svennungsen, Melissa Wiginton, Authors. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2005.
How does one determine whether one is called to vocational ministry? What should motivate one to act on such a calling? These and other questions are considered in this collection of sermons offered on the retirement of James Waits as president of The Fund for Theological Education. Fred Craddock, Thomas Long, Walter Brueggemann, and Barbara Brown Taylor (among others) draw from both scripture and personal experience to help readers grapple with the issues concerning a call to ministry. Each sermon offers a sense of what it means to be called and how this sense of calling is lived out in service to God.
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Being Dead is No Excuse: The Official Southern Ladies Guide to Hosting the Perfect Funeral
Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hays, Authors. New York, NY: Hyperion, 2005.
Natives of the Mississippi Delta, Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hays offer a guide to Southern-style funerals—including recipes for such comfort foods as stuffed eggs, tomato aspic, "Can't-Die-Without-It Caramel Cake," and "Methodist Party Potatoes." They report on the culinary competition between Episcopalians and Methodists—with Episcopalians shunning the cake mixes that Methodists enjoy, and Methodists avoiding the strong cocktails that Episcopalians require. They also advise on appropriate hymns (go with "O God Our Help in Ages Past" and other tunes that don't have lots of high notes) and warn against inappropriate flowers (such as carnations or gladioli). A light—but useful—read.
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Do You Hear What I Hear?: Religious Calling, the Priesthood, and My Father
Minna Proctor, Author. New York, NY: Viking Adult, 2005.
This is a fascinating look at spiritual discernment by a secular Jew whose father (a divorced university professor in his sixties) senses a call to the Episcopal priesthood. In addition to a rich dialogue with her father, Minna Proctor offers clear-eyed research and interviews with participants in the processes used by Episcopalians and other faith traditions as they discern whether candidates are called to ordained ministry. She examines the idea of "calling": What does a "calling" mean? Why do some—and not others—have a "calling"? And who gets to say whether a person is "called" or not? Tightly written and unsentimental, Proctor's book deserves a wide readership.
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Finding Our Way Home: Turning Back to What Matters Most
Mark R. McMinn, Author. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass, 2005.
A psychologist and director of the Center for Church-Psychology Collaboration, Mark McMinn taps into powerful narratives as he explores the human longing for "home." He notes that "longing for home" encompasses three dimensions: past (pointing to our home in Eden), present (pointing to our home in God's continuing love), and future (pointing to our home in heaven). If, as McMinn suggests, we are living in a "three-act play" (creation, fall, and redemption), then we progress from "full life to compromised life and back again to full life." God redeems what is broken within and around us—and life, not death, is the final word.
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Holy Silence: The Gift of Quaker Spirituality
J. Brent Bill, Author. Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2005.
If any book is true to its title, it is Holy Silence. Brent Bill beckons us to enter into silence so that we might find the holiness awaiting us there. More than that, he invites us into understanding the Quaker perspective on silence. And he examines the interior and exterior barriers to silence that confront us daily, sometimes drawing (with a droll sense of humor) on situations from his own life. With a glossary of "Quaker Words and Phrases" and an annotated list of selections for further reading, this book is a gently simple (but not simplistic) source of education and reflection.
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Joining Hands: Politics and Religion Together for Social Change
Roger S. Gottlieb, Author. Boulder, CO: Perseus Books, 2002.
During the 2004 election, there was much discussion of the role of religion in politics. Although written well before that election, Roger Gottlieb’s book sheds light on this discussion and pushes it further by asking the questions, "What can religion offer politics; what can politics teach religion; and how can they work together for justice and social change?" For Gottlieb, politics and religion need each other if each is to be true to its deepest calling—which is to transform both individual lives and the life of the world community. This book will be helpful and hopeful for those who want to work for social change.
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Listening for God: Contemporary Literature and the Life of Faith
Paula J. Carlson, Peter S. Hawkins, Editors. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress Press, 1994.
Maintaining that contemporary American literature may be one of the most rewarding—if not predictable—places to listen for God, Paula Carlson and Peter Hawkins introduce eight authors who are not necessarily "religious," but whose writings edge the reader toward a new awareness of God. In a brief introduction at the beginning of each chapter, Carlson or Hawkins discusses the faith background, literary history and a selected writing of one author (among them Flannery O’Connor, Annie Dillard, Alice Walker, and Frederick Buechner). Each selection is followed by a "Guide to Reflection," a list of stimulating and provocative questions designed for group discussion.
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Multicultural Ministry: Finding Your Church's Unique Rhythm
David A. Anderson, Author. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2004.
David Anderson, pastor of Bridgeway Community Church in Columbia, Maryland, invites us to consider multicultural ministry as a dance—one to which all are welcomed and in which all can participate. He firmly believes that the racial separation characteristic of so many churches need not be an ongoing reality. Drawing on his experience as both an African-American who has faced ugly examples of racism and a pastor who has witnessed the power of reconciliation, Anderson shows how leaders can move their congregations toward what he calls "gracism"—a state of multicultural, multiracial reconciliation. Particularly useful are the Racial Reconciliation Survey and six-session Racial Reconciliation curriculum.
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A New and Right Spirit: Creating an Authentic Church in a Consumer Culture
Rick Barger, Author. Herndon, VA: The Alban Institute, 2005.
A New and Right Spirit argues for creating an authentic church in a culture dominated by consumerism. For Rick Barger, an authentic church is one that seriously engages the ancient story of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. From the hopefulness that arises in such engagement, transformation is inevitable. Barger also addresses leadership qualities that embody a "right spirit" (such as accountability, integrity, humility, and courage). Throughout the book, the focus is on authentic church organization rather than on the broader dimensions of discipleship. This work is useful for leaders reflecting on their own concepts regarding an authentic church and its implications for their congregations.
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The Way of the Prisoner:
Breaking the Chains of Self through Centering Prayer and Centering Practice
Jens Soering, Author. New York, NY: Lantern Books, 2003.
Recommended by Sister Helen Prejean, Tilden Edwards, and others, The Way of the Prisoner is a beautifully crafted teaching on centering prayer and a vivid illustration of its outworking in the author, Jens Soering—a 38-year-old German national who has been incarcerated in the United States since 1986. This special, densely written tome—produced in the fire of suffering—conveys a transcendent message of hope that deeply penetrates the reader's heart. Included in the midsection of the book is a detailed description of the events leading up to Soering's incarceration, which provide additional testimony to the depth and authenticity of his conversion.
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When God Speaks through Change: Preaching in Times of Congregational Transition
Craig A. Satterlee, Author. Herndon, VA: The Alban Institute, 2005.
Anyone who has preached at a wedding and a funeral in the same week can attest to the power of the occasion to impact the preaching event. At times, a congregational transition looms so large in a sermon that it becomes the lens through which scripture is interpreted, the congregation is addressed, the preacher is heard, and God is experienced. Homiletics professor and parish pastor Craig Satterlee reflects on how to integrate such significant events into the preaching ministry of the church. Examples of issues considered: the benefits and risks of using preaching to address the transition, and how scripture and the transition interpret one another.
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Working with Emotional Intelligence
Daniel Goleman, Author. New York, NY: Bantam, 1998.
While technical skills and cognitive ability have been the primary measures of employee performance in years past, soft skills or emotional competencies are now clearer indicators. This book provides a "hard case for soft skills" (such as "recognizing our own feelings and those of others, motivating ourselves, and managing emotions well in ourselves and our relationships") and identifies the effect of emotional intelligence on organizations. Daniel Goleman notes that emotional competencies may be learned. He also gives some attention to the emotionally intelligent organization, where the organization itself exhibits emotional competencies in its communication and decision-making. Here is a good resource for pastors, staff, and personnel committees.
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