Book Club
Scott started a book club in the fall that has been a deep source of encouragement for us this year. So far, we've read and discussed Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright,
Brenda Salter McNeil's A Credible Witness: Reflections on Power, Evangelism and Race,
My Amazon page for this book informs me that we bought in January of 2006. I've read it before, but it's meaty reading, and reading and discussing it with friends is helping me to better digest the content.
Here's a quote from our current section of the book:
"It is not uncommon among people like us to suppose that if we lived in another place or a better neighborhood with more congenial living conditions, voted in a better government, built finer schools, then we would most certainly live a more spiritual life. St. John's Gospel says, Forget it.
It is also common among people like us to look for ways to free ourselves from the humdrum, escape as often as possible into ecstasy, devise ways to live separated from the clamor of traffic and family, associate so far as possible only with people of like mind, and engage in disciplines and ways of dress and speech that set us apart from "the others." John's Gospel says, Forget it."
We're snowed in this morning, and about to go out and tackle the driveway. Today is, of course, another snow day and tomorrow may be as well. There will at least be a delay, which messes with work schedules and plans. We've been annoyed with each other, and there is in me sometimes a longing to escape, retreat. I would be so much more good if I wasn't holed up in the house trying to manage screen time and food consumption and chores and science fair projects.
But, this is where I am, this is my calling today, and Peterson's words today point me towards full engagement, not retreat.
Off to shovel some snow...
Brenda Salter McNeil's A Credible Witness: Reflections on Power, Evangelism and Race,
and we're now reading Christ Plays in 10,000 Places by Eugene Peterson.
My Amazon page for this book informs me that we bought in January of 2006. I've read it before, but it's meaty reading, and reading and discussing it with friends is helping me to better digest the content.
Here's a quote from our current section of the book:
"It is not uncommon among people like us to suppose that if we lived in another place or a better neighborhood with more congenial living conditions, voted in a better government, built finer schools, then we would most certainly live a more spiritual life. St. John's Gospel says, Forget it.
It is also common among people like us to look for ways to free ourselves from the humdrum, escape as often as possible into ecstasy, devise ways to live separated from the clamor of traffic and family, associate so far as possible only with people of like mind, and engage in disciplines and ways of dress and speech that set us apart from "the others." John's Gospel says, Forget it."
We're snowed in this morning, and about to go out and tackle the driveway. Today is, of course, another snow day and tomorrow may be as well. There will at least be a delay, which messes with work schedules and plans. We've been annoyed with each other, and there is in me sometimes a longing to escape, retreat. I would be so much more good if I wasn't holed up in the house trying to manage screen time and food consumption and chores and science fair projects.
But, this is where I am, this is my calling today, and Peterson's words today point me towards full engagement, not retreat.
Off to shovel some snow...