Tag: Religion

Reading For Wisdom & Redemption In 2020

What books did you read in 2020 that you’d recommend? Here’s my Top 10 (& 20, &30, and more) for books that helped me make more sense of 2020, for redeeming it, and enjoying it.

The year 2020, for me started off in wonder, anticipation and joy. The first eight weeks included preparation for and the experience of the visiting Y’s and sacred sites in the Holy Land with the YMCA OnPrinciple cohort.

Upon returning, the rumblings of the COVID pandemic could no longer be ignored, and within weeks we were in lockdown, quarantined at home, facing unprecedented uncertainties.

My vocation, my work with the YMCA, and my family situation gave me strategic time to read. Three themes intersected: how to strengthen the Christian presence of the YMCA, how to do this in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) reality with the pandemic and economic disruption, amidst resurgence of overdue racial inequity protests across the country. All this hardship exacerbated by the outrageous, slanderous, inflammatory politic rhetoric by irresponsible power-mongers.

How did we get here, what is next? Christianly? Racially? Politically? Morally? Economically? Religious & Spiritually? For the YMCA? For the Church?

Based on material I had been reading for years, and shaped by timely recommendations of trusted friends, here is my reading list for 2020, in my striving to gain wisdom and nurture redemption in our chaotic, dangerous, yet beautiful world.

I’d be glad for more recommendations of what to read in 2021.

Tim’s 2020 Top Ten Books


( * = unfinished / + = reread portions annually)

God’s Gamble, by Gil Bailie

Revolutionary theology integrating Christian reflections of Rene Girard for our culture and mimetic realities.

Jesus and the Disinherited, by Howard Thurman

Raw, candid, wise, hopeful meditations by a black preacher for his black congregation, a world leader writing out how to survive as a black Christian in early 20th century America.

The Protestant Era, by Paul Tillich

What’s going on with the withering of Protestant Christianity in America? Tillich asks tough questions, he digs deep into the beliefs and practices which are shaping our seeming decline.

New Creation As Metropolis, by Gibson Winter

A hopeful and grounded vision of how Christians in the church can be participants in the flourishing of their community.

A Better Hope, by Stanley Hauerwas

Provocative; a unique, refreshing yet disturbing take on how Christians can embody our Lord Jesus in the dark realities of this American culture.

Christianity and Power Politics, by Reinhold Niebuhr

Brilliant insights of the early 20th century that still resonate today for how Christians leverage their power for the gospel and their community. Shaped by the horrors of the Great War and emerging Nazism, this is crucial content that needs to be re-engaged and adapted for us now.

The Fire Next Time, by James Baldwin

Poetic, empathetic, brutally honest, searching, yearning, wounded; a hard look at reality for a talented black man in a Christian country.

Go Set A Watchman, by Harper Lee

It’s connected with the storyline of To Kill A Mockingbird, but it stands on its own. A fascinating yet rough read, if you let it be, for upending assumptions and opening up disturbing realities about oneself.

Roots, by Alex Haley

I’ll never be the same. Literal tears stain the pages of my book.

The Lemon Tree, by Sandy Tolan

A history for which I know to little, and from what I do think I know, I now know reality is much more complex, painful, and yet hopeful. A genuinely unique story, and a very good one.

Bonus (& reread): The Source, James Michener

My third time reading it, this time to prepare for my trip to the Holy Land again, this tine with the YMCA. The storyline, the scope of the ages, the humanity, the cultures – while there is much to critique, it does provide a humbling yet awe inspiring take on our humanity, our faith, and our future.

Out of the 60+ books I read this year (or reread, or started, finished, or read partially) here’s the second half of the top twenty:

Strategic Doing, by Ed Morrison – practical system for community collaboration, especially in a VUCA world; rich, thoughtful, humane, successful content.

Letters from the Desert, by Carlos Caretto – spiritual reflections from a real man in the real world, with a European perspective in the north African wilderness.

*A Palestinian Cry for Reconciliation, by Naim Stifan Ateek – passionate liberation theology of Christian leaders striving against impossible odds to do God’s will with love towards their enemies and justice for all.

The Death of Race, by Brian Bantum – the personal and probing theologizing opens up for me ways that race and Christianity are intimately intertwined in America, of ways forward, in Christ.

*The Kingdom of God in America, by Reinhold Niebuhr – a step back into time, when American Christian theologians work with the Church Fathers, Greek philosophers, European theologians, to address our pragmatic US political and religious culture, shaped deeply by the Great War, the Great Depression, and the aftershocks of the Enlightenment- which is still the case in 2020, just more complicated.

*Christianity and Civilisation, by Emil Brunner – a fresh, rejuvenating European take on ways Christendom has shaped our world, and how to move forward; a fan of the YMCA and one who eloquently writes out the implicit beliefs of the Y.

*The End of History and The Last Man, by Franics Fukuyama – still relevant, still insightful, still necessary reading to make sense of 2020.

Be The Bridge, by Latasha Morrison – a crucial Christian contribution to the personal and cultural work of racial reconciliation; it is personal, practical, hopeful.

*For The Life of the World, by Alexander Schnemamm – an American Russian Orthodox priest and professor making accessible the beauty and compelling theotic reality of the Eucharist for life in American culture.

The Great Bridge, by David McCullough – gritty story of genius and corrupt New York characters building the enduring Brooklyn Bridge. A great tale of greatness in early American civilization.

Bonus: The Evening and the Morning, by Ken Follett – I love these tales of cathedrals, the loving attention to detail of the structures, the history, and the people who you grow to admire, root for, and hate. This prequel was unexpected, and a pure delight.

For the final set of the top thirty:

Wouldn’t Take Nothing For My Journey Now, by Maya Angelou

+The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective, Richard Rohr

+The Wisdom of the Enneagram, by Russ Hudson and Don Riso

+Mortal Beauty, God’s Grace, poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Mother Jones, by Judith Pinkerton Josephson

+Strength to Love, by MLKJr

+Voices, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

A Spirituality of Fundraising, by Henri Nouwen

*From Beiruit To Jerusalem, by Thomas Friedman

*Jerusalem: A Biography, by Simon Sebag Montefiore

Bonus: Faith for Living, by Lewis Mumford

Other Books I Enjoyed Reading in 2020:

*Social Ethics and the Return to Cosmology: A Study of Gibson Winter by Moni McIntyre

*From Land to Lands, by Munther Isaac

+I Saw Satan Fall Like Lightening, by Rene Girard

*Love Does, by Bob Goff

+What Are People For, by Wendell Berry

Militia Christi, by Adolf Von Harnack

*Faith on Earth, by H. Richard Niebuhr

*Hermeneutics and Criticism, by Friedrich Schleiermacher

In The Name of Sanity, by Lewis Mumford

*Reason for Being, by Jacques Ellul

The Christian Intellectual; Fools for Christ, by Jaroslav Pelikan

*Character of Community, by Stanley Hauerwas

*Social Sources of Denominations; The Irony of American History, by Reinhold Niebuhr

*Political Order and Political Decay, by Francis Fukuyama

*The Fire This Time, by Jesmyn Ward

*Gilkey on Tillich; *Naming the Whirlwind, by Langdon Gilkey

*Sacred Rhythms, by Ruth Haley Barton

+Seasons of Life; +Guilt and Grace; +The Healing of Persons, by Dr. Paul Tournier

What We Talk About When We Talk About God; Drops Like Stars, by Rob Bell

*Spirituality, a Very Short Introduction, by Philip Sheldrake

Canoeing the Mountains, by Tod Bolsinger

*Cost of Discipleship, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

*Manifesto of the Communist Party, by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

+The Divine Hours: Autumn Edition & Christmastide, by Phyllis Tickle

+Works of Love, by Soren Kierkegaard

FICTION

Troubled Blood, by Robert Galbraith

*Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett

a dozen Jack Reacher novels, by Lee Childs

a half-dozen Sherlock Holmes short stories, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

*The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco

*1984, by George Orwell

*The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Doestevsky

Pray For Peace, Then Do It

For a person of faith, prayer is at the center of life. Sometimes though it’s hard to know what to pray for, how to pray, or why to keep praying. Am I just praying to get what I want? Am I praying to avoid consequences?

Is my praying making a difference, is it worth it?

I ask those questions, maybe you do to. There’s always more to learn about prayer. These words by the Apostle Paul are instructive to me, especially in light of these politically charged and religiously polarizing times:

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. [1Timothy 2:1-4, NIV]

Here’s a couple of observations on the role prayer plays in living in peace and making a difference.

First, St. Paul urges Timothy and the Christians in Ephesus to pray “for all people.” No discrimination there! Ask God to bless, give thanks for, request help on behalf of everyone – friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, strangers and enemies.

Second, the apostle makes a special point to tell Christians to pray and give thanks “for kings and all those in authority.” This is a radical idea.

In Paul’s day, wicked Emperor Nero ruled the Roman world, and the city of Ephesus where Timothy pastored was the religious home to the influential Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Also, the church of Ephesus was being taken over by divisive, envious leaders.

Third: notice one of the reasons Paul gives for this instruction – “so that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.”

There is much to unpack here, but I’ll focus on this: in light of the grievances and anger we might have towards unjust or unholy authorities, we can be consumed by grief or also fill our hearts with gratitude.

If we want a godly peace to prevail in our spirit, when we pray it can’t just be for revenge, it also must be for blessing our enemies. That’s what God the Savior does.

All that God created is good, and is to be used for good. God wants to save people from their ungood sins, from their pride and greed, their anger and envy.

And God wants truth to prevail, for lies to be exposed, for communities to be attuned to ultimate reality and live with a courage that furthers the good flourishing for all.

When you live in a place where injustice seems to prevail, where violence is constant, where the powerful enslave or crush the weak and ill, and you try to resist it, to pray and make a difference, to not be consumed by the culture of death – what can you do?

This is what marked the struggles of the early church, as they strove to set themselves apart.

Like us, they had to keep their eyes on Christ Jesus, who grew up a day laborer in oppressed Galilee, who offered up his life as a ransom for sinners and was resurrected on the third day, commanding God’s people to proclaim forgiveness of sins for all people.

That’s a remarkable God and an inspiring calling.

When you pray for the kings of the world, presidents of countries and companies, senators and city mayors, and anyone else who wields power and influence in your community – pray for their salvation from sin and give thanks for their spirit.

Keep your eyes on the Lord who has immense patience with everyone, who wants all the world to be healed from violence more than we do.

Pray and give thanks for all, even for kings and authorities that further injustice.

Keep your eyes on the Lord who strives to make peace with all, who wants all to be saved and know the truth.

Don’t give up on peace, on living in godliness and holiness.

Pray for peace, then do it.

Blessed Are The Religious Rule Breakers!

Religion gets a bad rap these days. Religion has a long track record of legalism, hypocrisy, and violence. Religion gets used to justify oppression of women, marginalization of minority populations, and prejudice towards outsiders. With all this going against religion, it’s no wonder that more and more people in the United States are identifying themselves as n0n-religious.

But I find it interesting that for all that is reviling about religion, more and more people around the world are becoming more religious, not less. It seems to me, upon closer inspection, that what we hate most about religion is really about humanity: people can be jerks. One could make a strong argument that all people are religious – so the problem is not religion, but how humanity embodies that religion.

Weat Field below Mount Tabor (from area of Endor)For example, in the Gospel of Mark, there is a story of Jesus “going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain.” So what, you ask? The problem here is that they did this on the Sabbath! Gasp! I know, terrible right? The Pharisees see this transgression and grill Jesus: “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

It’s this kind of picky, mean-spirited, legalistic condemnation that we all despise about people. Maybe the Pharisees meant well: the Sabbath is a beautiful idea! It ensures that people get at least one day of rest each week, a way to protect them from unjust labor practices by employers, and a way to provide space for communities to relax together. But the Pharisees turn this religious day into a rule-keeping day, which sucks the life and purpose out of it.

Jesus the religious rule-breaker resists their attempts to ruin his day and condemn his disciples. He uses a story from the Old Testament about a time when King David violated the Sabbath when he was “hungry and in need.” Jesus then goes on to remind the religious rule-keepers what has always been true about the Sabbath and religion: “The Sabbath was made for humanity, not humanity for the Sabbath.” He then declares: “the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” Sabbath is about rest that connects us to God and each other, not about keeping a list of do’s and don’t’s.

Think about this: rules at their best protect the weakest among us, give direction to us, and seek to intertwine freedom and responsibility for all. But like most human rules, when religious rules become more important than flourishing, when religious rule-keeping becomes more important than justice and mercy, then it’s time to be a religious rule-breaker.

the-golden-rule-1-638

What is it about religion that really causes a negative reaction in you?  For me, growing up as a kid, I was really bothered by hypocrisy in the adults. (Confession, now that I’m adult, I see how easy it is to be a hypocrite…). As a college student I reacted against religious people that talked a lot about right beliefs and right moral actions, but did little to relieve the suffering of the poor and abused in our communities. As an adult, I am disturbed by the religious justification of violence towards those who are feared or despised.

For all that I resist about religion, I’m still admittedly religious. Though I’ve been wounded by religious people and their rule-keeping, I’ve not given up on religion. Instead, I see what’s best in people and seek to draw that out for their flourishing and ours. And since I believe all people are religious in some way, I’m committed to being a religious-rule breaker, if that’s what it takes, to break open new realities for religion to work for our good again.

So let’s not give up on Sabbath keeping (go ahead, enjoy those weekends of rest, take the vacations, get a full night of sleep – it’s God’s will for you)! Let’s not give up on helping the hungry and needy (most non-profits that do this are religious based).

Lets reconsider the ways our church-going, praying, Bible reading, charity, serving our neighbors, work of reconciliation, being patiently present can reflect the religious rule breaking of Jesus – for the flourishing of all!