5 favorite reads in January

what I read in January

-- 1 --

1  Lila by Marilynne Robinson (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, October 2014. 272 pages.)

Reading challenge category*:  a book published this year

I've followed Marilynne Robinson ever since reading Gilead with the IAM Reader's Guild back in 2010. Her understanding of the characters she writes completely charms me.  I love the people.  And I love Lila the same as all the others.  Maybe even more.  I did find myself wishing for two things as I read, though: a bit more action with a bit less eavesdropping on Lila's thoughts about things and chapters.  I really struggle settling in to a book without the ebb and flow of chapter openings and closings.  

Still, I am fond of Lila.  I am glad she exists -- even though she is, technically, a fictional character.  Oh for more Lila's in the world keeping the religious on their toes, reminding us all of the simple beauty of existence.

-- 2 --

2  On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes by Alexandra Horowitz (Scribner, 2013. 265 pages) 

Reading challenge category*:  a nonfiction book

Full disclosure: this book is not what I hoped it would be.  I'm not sure why, exactly.  I'm completely sold out on the idea of paying attention, really looking at the world we live in day in and day out.  But this was a bit tedious for even me.

-- 3 --

3  The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene (240 pages.)

Reading challenge category*:  a book at the bottom of your to-read pile

This book has been on my "to read" list for years -- basically ever since I first read Brennan Manning's description of the "whiskey priest."  For whatever reason, I had the hardest time tracking the book down until I helped myself to my friend Jeffrey's bookshelves.  It took me a while to get into the pace of the novel but about two chapters in I became engrossed in the story.  Maybe more than the story as the voice.

Here's the Amazon blurb:

In a poor, remote section of Southern Mexico, the paramilitary group, the Red Shirts have taken control. God has been outlawed, and the priests have been systematically hunted down and killed. Now, the last priest is on the run. Too human for heroism, too humble for martyrdom, the nameless little worldly “whiskey priest” is nevertheless impelled toward his squalid Calvary as much by his own compassion for humanity as by the efforts of his pursuers.

Here's one of several favorite excerpts:

"A voice said, 'You are the priest, aren't you?' 

'Yes.' It was as if they had climbed out of their opposing trenches and met in No Man's Land among the wires to fraternise. He remembered stories of the European war - how during the last years men had sometimes met on an impulse between the lines. 

'Yes.' he said again, and the mule plodded on. Sometimes, instructing children in the old days, he had been asked by some black lozenge-eyed Indian child, 'What is God like?' and he would answer facilely with references to the father and the mother, or perhaps more ambitiously he would include brother and sister and try to give some idea of all loves and relationships combined in an immense and yet personal passion...But at the centre of his own faith there always stood the convincing mystery - that we were made in God's image. God was the parent, but He was also the policeman, the criminal, the priest, the maniac and the judge. Something resembling God dangled from the gibbet or went into odd attitudes before the bullets in a prison yard or contorted itself like a camel in the attitude of sex. He would sit in the confessional and hear the complicated dirty ingenuities which God's image had thought out, and God's image shook now, up and down on the mule's back, with the yellow teeth sticking out over the lower lip, and God's image did its despairing act of rebellion with Maria in the hut among the rats. He said, 'Do you feel better now? Not so cold, eh? Or so hot?' and pressed his hand with a kind of driven tenderness upon the shoulders of God's image."

-- 4 --

4 Image Journal: Issue 83 

I'm so glad to subscribe again after missing out the last couple of years!  Especially enjoyed Wayne Roosa's contribution "The Avant-Garde and Sacred Discontent: Contemporary Performance Artists Meet Ancient Jewish Prophets"

Here's a follow-up interview:  A Conversation with Wayne Roosa

-- 5 --

5 The Art of Neighboring: Building Genuine Relationships Right Outside Your Door by Jay Pathak & Dave Runyon (Baker Books, 2012. 184 pages + study guide.)

Reading challenge category*:  a book you own but have never read

I've had this book on my nightstand for a while and love that our church is reading it together this winter.  The book was born out of a gathering of 20 Denver pastors in 2009.  They invited the local mayor to join them and asked him this simple question:  "How can we as churches best work together to serve our city?" At the end of a conversation including all the usual suspects of social problems cities face, the mayor surprised them with this summary:

"The majority of the issues that our community is facing would be eliminated or drastically reduced if we could just figure out a way to become a community of great neighbors."

The authors confessed a bit of embarrassment that the mayor was basically asking them to follow the second half of the Great Commandment.  "In a word, the mayor invited a roomful of pastors to get their people to actually obey Jesus."

Online resources:
The Art of Neighboring website (includes resources and map of participating churches across the U.S.)

Download a Block Map (if you read nothing else, complete this exercise!)

Download the Block Party Kit

*This year, I'm using a fun challenge checklist with a Facebook group of friends (and sisters!).  You can find the checklist here:  Take Our Ultimate Reading Challenge  If you'd like to join our Reading Challenge 2015 group on Facebook, let me know and I'll send you an invite! 

*Go to my Book Pile page to see my reading lists from 2014 and previous years.*

What are you reading right now?

*Linking up with Jenna today

WALKING EPIPHANY in Holland, MI: neighborhood notes from Bruce Benedict

Welcome to a special Epiphany series of guest posts.  I've asked a few friends who live (literally) around the world to take a walk through their neighborhoods and share some of what they see through photos, videos and words.  Each one has selected from a variety of thoughtful prompts to consider the ways the Light has moved into their neighborhoods.  Will you join us?

----------------------------------- Bruce Benedict Holland, Michigan Prompt: Local ground The likeliest path to the ultimate ground leads through my local ground. I mean the land itself, with its creeks and rivers, its weather, seasons, stone outcroppings, and all the plants and animals that share it. I cannot have a spiritual center without having a geographical one; I cannot live a grounded life without being grounded in a place. Scott Russell Sanders Staying Put Lake Michigan, 15 minutes from our house - January 16, 5:02pm

O Thou, far off and here, whole and broken,
Who in necessity and in bounty wait,
Whose truth is both light and dark, mute though spoken,
By Thy wide Grace show me Thy narrow gate

- Wendell Berry

This week my wife and I are waiting to meet our 41week old daughter. We are full of expectation and life and longing…longing to see the light reflect in her eyes…and I suppose to see our own life and light reflected in hers (all light emanating from the one true source). As new members of the west Michigan enclave we realize that light is a precious thing. But amidst the lake effect snow and eternal cloud blanket we’ve enjoyed the winter so far.  

Time spent walking the beach has been particularly effective at lifting our countenances and dusting off the dreariness of short days. The beach’s wildness in winter is exhilarating as you remember the soft waves of summer. It is a stark reminder that journey’s are always exciting and dangerous. How I wish the three magi had published a travel guide for their journey to meet Jesus. Some strange literary alchemy of Gulliver’s Travels, Bill Bryson, and the Travels of Egeria. I'm thankful for this season of Epiphany with the constant hum of ’Star in the East’ pulsing through my mind.

Bruce Benedict – Cardiphonia
Bruce Benedict is currently the Chaplain of Worship and Arts at Hope College, Holland, Michigan.   Previously he was the Worship and Community Life Director at Christ the King Presbyterian in Raleigh, NC.  His wife PJ is a performance/theatre artist and foster care advocate.

About one day after Bruce sent me this blog post, his daughter arrived. Welcome, baby girl!

...

What is Epiphany?

In Living the Christian Year: Time to Inhabit the Story of God, author Bobby Gross reminds us that the liturgical season of Epiphany brings the themes of light to a culmination.  In Advent we cry out with Isaiah for the pople who walk in darkenss to see the promised light.  In Christmas we celebrate the coming of that Light in the birth of Jesus.  In Epiphany we recognize that the gift of Light is for the whole world as illustrated by the arrival of Magi from the East to the Jewish home of Mary and Joseph.  

Throughout the daily readings in the Epiphany lectionary, we follow the early life and ministry of Jesus as He is revealed as the Son of God, appearing as light to a dark world.  He is the very God shining forth, manifesting the glory of God. Oftentimes the accounts are private affairs (Transfiguration), other times public (Wedding at Cana, Baptism).  All of them take place, though, in the places Jesus lived and worked, within the context of his relationships of family, friends, and followers -- the sick, possessed, poor, celebrating, drinking, seeking, religious, fearful, apathetic, discouraged neighbors.  

Jesus often follows these revelations (or “epiphanies”) with the command to “Go and tell”.  

“The one who shows himself to us asks us to make him known to others. The one who declaires, ‘I am the light o fhte world,’ says to us, ‘You are the light of the world.’ (Bobby Gross)

Lastly, two cultural practices are percolating in my imagination as I'm thinking about Epiphany:  the Blessing of the Home and the Beating of the Bounds. They are not universally practiced, but intrigue me in our attempts to live the visible life of Jesus-followers in our own neighborhoods.

Each of my guest posters selected a few prompts from a big ol' list I sent them (inspired by an overflowing folder of quotes I've saved from the Daily Asterisk).  They combined those prompts with photos and videos and observations from their own neighborhood.  I'm excited for you to follow along and please let me know if you'd like to contribute your own Walking Epiphany travel diary.

...

What about your neighborhood?

• If I walked around the block in your neighborhood, what would we see (hear, smell, etc.)? 

• What are some of the "creeks and rivers, weather, seasons, stone outcroppings, plants and animals" that share your neighborhood. 

• Put another way:  If you were asked to coordinate a walking or biking tour of your neighborhood, what would you include in the tour?  Also, how would the season of the year affect your itinerary?

Epiphany daybook, week 4: Get up, go / Come, follow

My Epiphany daybook for these weeks of witness. Join me, won't you? (see all of the Epiphany daybook posts from 2015 here)

.....

look

Deadliest Catch Northwestern (captain and crew)

Discovery Channel

source

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read

Jonah 3:1-5, 10 & Mark 1:14-20: 

Get up, go / Come, follow

{all readings for the day: Jonah 3:1-5, 10  Psalm 62:5-12  1 Corinthians 7:29-31  Mark 1:14-20 }

.....

pray 

Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen. (source)

.....

listen

I made us a playlist of 29 songs about going and following. 

Hope it brightens the week for you and your neighbors!

.....

do

Walk your neighborhood this week, thoughtfully and prayerfully.  Consider using a few of the prompts we've been talking about in the WALKING EPIPHANY blog series. Spend time also praying for those who have gone away from home to bless neighborhoods across the globe. 

.....

A mini-mag of Sarah Day's neighborhood notes from Southwest China

Having fun with the Steller app to create digital mini-magazines of each of our Epiphany series guest posters.  Here's Sarah Day's Steller story.

Loving this special Epiphany series of guest posts.  I've asked a few friends who live (literally) around the world to take a walk through their neighborhoods and share some of what they see through photos, videos and words.  Each one has selected from a variety of thoughtful prompts to consider the ways the Light has moved into their neighborhoods.  Will you join us?

WALKING EPIPHANY in Southwest China: neighborhood notes from Sarah

Welcome to a special Epiphany series of guest posts.  I've asked a few friends who live (literally) around the world to take a walk through their neighborhoods and share some of what they see through photos, videos and words.  Each one has selected from a variety of thoughtful prompts to consider the ways the Light has moved into their neighborhoods.  Will you join us?

What is Epiphany? In Living the Christian Year: Time to Inhabit the Story of God, author Bobby Gross reminds us that the liturgical season of Epiphany brings the themes of light to a culmination.  In Advent we cry out with Isaiah for the pople who walk in darkenss to see the promised light.  In Christmas we celebrate the coming of that Light in the birth of Jesus.  In Epiphany we recognize that the gift of Light is for the whole world as illustrated by the arrival of Magi from the East to the Jewish home of Mary and Joseph.   Throughout the daily readings in the Epiphany lectionary, we follow the early life and ministry of Jesus as He is revealed as the Son of God, appearing as light to a dark world.  He is the very God shining forth, manifesting the glory of God. Oftentimes the accounts are private affairs (Transfiguration), other times public (Wedding at Cana, Baptism).  All of them take place, though, in the places Jesus lived and worked, within the context of his relationships of family, friends, and followers -- the sick, possessed, poor, celebrating, drinking, seeking, religious, fearful, apathetic, discouraged neighbors.   Jesus often follows these revelations (or “epiphanies”) with the command to “Go and tell”.   “The one who shows himself to us asks us to make him known to others. The one who declaires, ‘I am the light o fhte world,’ says to us, ‘You are the light of the world.’ (Bobby Gross) Lastly, two cultural practices are percolating in my imagination as I'm thinking about Epiphany:  the Blessing of the Home and the Beating of the Bounds. They are not universally practiced, but intrigue me in our own attempts to live the visible life of Jesus-followers in our own neighborhoods. Each of my guest posters selected a few prompts from a big ol' list I sent them (inspired by an overflowing folder of quotes I've saved from the Daily Asterisk).  They combined those prompts with photos and videos and observations from their own neighborhood.  I'm excited for you to follow along and please let me know if you'd like to contribute your own Walking Epiphany travel diary. ----------------------------------- Sarah a city in Southwest China Prompt: To suffer with To be an American is to move on, as if we could outrun change. To attach oneself to place is to surrender to it, and to suffer with it. Kathleen Norris The Cloister Walk

Checking the AQI (Air Quality Index) is part of daily life here in China. The air quality determines if I walk or ride the bus to school or if my students get to go out and play at recess. Fresh air is not something I will ever take for granted. When we do get blessed with a clear day and get a glimpse of the sun, it never fails to lift my spirits.  The physical heaviness and darkness that we experience so often here is a constant reminder of the spiritual darkness that goes so much deeper. When I find myself falling into negativity, I am reminded to look up to the One who brings light into the darkness. 

This is the view (on an unusually clear day in the summer) from my 32nd floor apartment. 

This is the same view on a day with a high AQI. (most days in the winter).

“I believe in the sun even when it’s not shining.” (Barlow Girl)  

When it does shine through, it’s glorious. This was taken on a pristine day last fall.

Prompt: Salt and light

The way of being salt and light is a role (a part and position) that Christians are called to in the world.  It is a role that requires us to take up a place in our world, at work, at school, and in the neighborhood.  Christians are called to imagine another world, and to do so by living amid the divisiveness, alienation, suffering, and violence, as well as the good things, the loves and hopes of where we live now.... However, we are called to make a home that is not established on our own authority and perfection, but instead is set on the foundation of repentance, forgiveness, mutual care and correction, and reconciliation.

David Matzko McCarthy

The Good Life

My primary purpose for being here is to pour into the lives of my students who come from several different countries around the world. Many of them are from families who have significant influence in their spheres of life. I have the freedom to speak truth into their lives on a daily basis, and many of them are hearing these things for the very first time. This year, I have been able to attend a Chinese 3-Self church. New people come every week in search of the truth. 

Self-portraits created by my students

Church

Worship

Prompt: Dim light and shadow

How much more mysterious and inviting is the street of an old town with its alternating realms of darkness and light than are the brightly and evenly lit streets of today! The imagination and daydreaming are stimulated by dim light and shadow. In order to think clearly, the sharpness of vision has to be suppressed, for thoughts travel with an absent-minded and unfocused gaze. Homogenous bright light paralyses the imagination in the same way that homogenisation of space weakens the experience of being, and wipes away the sense of place. The human eye is most perfectly tuned for twilight rather than bright daylight. Mist and twilight awaken the imagination by making visual images unclear and ambiguous.

Juhani Pallasmaa

The Eyes of the Skin

In a city of several million people, there are many lights throughout the day and night. Materialism is alive and well here. While people are accumulating staggering wealth, many are searching for the one who will light up the dark.  

These lanterns are set off during the New Year celebration and other festivals throughout the year. They are a symbol of prayers being lifted to heaven. May more and more of those prayers be directed to the maker of all things. 

There is an old saying that the dogs in this city bark at the sun when it comes out. When the sun is out there are many people outside enjoying the beauty. This picture was taken on a university campus that is famous for its gingko trees in the fall.

The lights never go out in this city

Prompt: Place

Place is space that has historical meanings, where some things have happened that are now remembered and that provide continuity and identity across generations. Place is space in which important words have been spoken that have established identity, defined vocation, and envisioned destiny. Place is space in which vows have been exchanged, promises have been made, and demands have been issued. Place is indeed a protest against the unpromising pursuit of space. It is a declaration that our humanness cannot be found in escape, detachment, absence of commitment, and undefined freedom.

Walter Brueggemann

The Land

I once saw a blog that instead of showing pictures of a place shared its sounds. When I thought of what sounds were part of my city, the sound of construction came to mind. It. is. EVERYWHERE. New high rise buildings appear seemingly out of nowhere and are built at an astonishing rate. In the midst of this development there are snippets of people’s pursuit of beauty. One example is the urban gardens that are often planted in piles of rubble left from the construction or on the rooftops of the high rise buildings, creating new life and beauty. 

Construction

Old vs. New

A vine growing in my rooftop garden

Prompt:  Subversive Christianity

Build houses in a culture of homelessness. Plant gardens in polluted and contested soil. Get married in a culture of sexual consumerism. Make commitments in a world where we want to always keep our options open. Multiply in a world of debt. Have children at the end of history. Seek shalom in a violent world of geo-political conflict and economic disparity. This is Jeremiah's word to the exiles. This is Jeremiah's subversive word to us. And in this vision we just might see, with Jeremiah, "a future with hope" (Jer. 29:11). This is what it means to work and wait for a miracle. This remains at the heart of a subversive Christianity.

Brian Walsh

Subversive Christianity

As an international school teacher and a wai guo ren (literal translation is “outside person”), I feel in many ways like an outsider. Even if I become completely fluent in Mandarin (wouldn’t that be nice!), there will always be some degree of separation. This can tend to wear on a person, but if you look there are ways to make meaningful connections. One of my favorite things about living and working here is the friendships I have made with my Chinese friends. They have encouraged and challenged me in so many ways. It is a privilege to be a part of their lives. When the weather is nice (and even when it isn’t), it’s hard to find a park that isn’t full of people dancing, singing, doing tai qi, playing, etc.. There are quiet (and not so quiet) neighborhoods tucked away within the city blocks. One of my favorite places to go is the market where many local farmers sell their produce and meat. It is also common spot for congregating and doing life together.

Meals at home are always a good way to connect.

Dancing in a park

Afternoon meal at the market

Sarah lives in Southwest China and works as an elementary teacher in an international school. When she's not traveling during breakds, she enjoys cooking, reading, and spending time with friends.

Thank you for sharing your neighborhood with us, Sarah!

...

What about your neighborhood?

• What are some common things you and your neighbors suffer because of where you live?

• In what ways have you been or do you hope to be salt and light in your neighborhood?

• What does the light look like at different times of the day in your neighborhood?

• What sort of declarations are made in your neighborhood as a "protest against the unpromising pursuit of space"?

• Where do your neighbors hang out when they are not inside their homes?  Front porches?  Backyards?  Town parks?