Every Christian’s Bookshelf, Part 1: Biblical Resources

As I have been doing research on my final project, and as I have been engaged in parish level teaching and preaching for a decade now, I often run across books that I wish everyone would read. Some, such as biblical resources, are not necessarily meant to be read so much as to become part of a working tool box for Christian formation. I would like to imagine that we can get folks a well-rounded collection that could fit in about three-and-a-half linear feet of shelf space.

I see this as being a multi-post project, and would love to hear feedback from both clergy and lay types.

Part 1: Biblical Resources.

Note: I am working from the assumption that the people using this list have no exposure to the original languages, and thus are working from English-only.

1. A solid study Bible.

I am loathe to pick out just one here because people prefer different English translations. I have used the Harper’s Collins Study Bible in NRSV since seminary, but also have a real fondness for other editions. I think the key is to find out the translation most used in your church and buy a good study bible based on that preferred version.

2. A good Bible for Devotional use.

Again, peoples’ preference here will vary. Many people have a “heart” version that they may have grown up with or that they simply like more than other versions. I still find myself using the King James quite a bit. My family purchased me a KJV/1928 Book of Common Prayer that was bound together in fine leather. It remains my favorite Bible. The point is to find a translation you like and that you will read.

3. The Oxford Companion to the Bible

A nice, single volume that one can turn to for answers about people, places, practices and the like.

4. The Text This Week

Ok, so this technically isn’t a book. It is, however, one of the most thorough sites alone and is available for free. Rather than take up space on a shelf or spend valuable resources, just use this site that links to almost anything you might ever want to know about a text. If you use it, however, send in a donation from time to time, as the site is a labor of love and a wonderful resource for the Christian community.

5. The Real Jesus: The Misguided Quest for the Historical Jesus and the Truth of the Traditional Gospels, by Luke Timothy Johnson. 

This is one of my favorite books that gives an overall Christ-centered approach to the study of the New Testament writings that is often not found and even discouraged by some in the academy.

What else would you add? Remember, this is for lay people with no library budget who probably also have limited space to store the books.

*Crickets*

So in case you haven’t noticed, I haven’t been around much. More than two months since my last post. Of course, I don’t want to post about not posting, so let me tell you what I have been up to.

First of all we decided that the Christmas season was a great time to do some home renovations. New flooring was put in most of the downstairs and some painting was done. NEVER do this around Christmas. It added a whole level of stress. We are at least pleased with the final outcome, however.

Secondly, I have actually been writing, but it hasn’t been for the blog. I re-wrote my final project proposal about a dozen times, and I am now waiting to hear back from the readers. I have technically started the process, working on the annotated bibliography and beginning to think about research methodology. I am hoping to have a decent first chapter to the readers by Easter-ish.

I am finding writing to be a rather mechanical process here lately. I want to use this blog as a place to prime the pump. This may mean beginning to open up a bit more like on my older blog. At least open up the topics…there is more to my life than just my studies and my work.

Finally, I’ve been hanging out a lot lately with my kids. Nothing compares to time well spent watching the Star Wars saga with my kids!

Ok, here’s to more frequent posting!

True Confessions of a Recovering Advent Nag

It is impossible for me to believe that a new church year is almost upon us. Advent is right around the corner.

Advent has long been my favorite time of the church year, and remains so today. How I observe Advent, however, has changed somewhat. There was a time when I would bemoan the fact that stores decorated for Christmas too early, or that I had to hear Christmas music everywhere I went as early as November. For a period I even refused to exchange the Merry Christmas greeting until sundown on Christmas Eve, opting to confuse many a store clerk with a greeting of “Blessed Advent.” I was, by my own admission, an Advent nag. On at least two different occasions this earned me the annual “Coal Award” from the staff of my last parish. I am sure this was in part because I would scold the office manager about playing Christmas music in her office.

I noticed something last year, a turning in the way I thought about things. I didn’t complain when Home Depot broke out the fake trees and lawn decoration section in October. I didn’t complain when I heard Christmas music playing in stores before Thanksgiving. I even caught myself responding with “Merry Christmas” weeks prior to December 24^th.

The lesson learned was this: Christmas, though undoubtedly about Christ and his birth, no longer belongs to the church. We no longer control and nor do we have the final word about how it is observed or celebrated in our culture. And this, my friends, is a good thing. If Christmas is about recognizing the gift of the Incarnation, and is observed by exchanging gifts, then we need to look at Christmas as our gift to the broader culture.

The gift we have given is not so much about shopping or twinkling lights or the ritual watching of “It’s a Wonderful Life.” It is a gift of perpetual hope. It is the hope that even in the midst of a life that can be rocky and turbulent that a little respite in joy can be found. It is a time of the year when we can see things like love, peace, faithfulness, joy, goodness, gentleness, patience, kindness and self-control (ok, may NOT self-control) practiced among people of all faiths and no faith at all. If these things are truly the manifestation of (or fruits of) the Spirit among us, then even in these premature celebrations we see God’s spirit move.

What we do know is that this can be stressful. Dance recitals, school and church plays, parties, family dinners, and searching for gifts can suck the joy out of the season if we allow it. Not to mention those who find themselves estranged from family and friends, or those suffering from the poor economy. Here is the real opportunity for the church to step in and offer a place devoid of the noise and bustle of the season. The real trick, as I see it, is to offer this as a gift, not make it a requirement or some sort of religious law. We can create the space for silence and reflection. We forego Christmas carols during Advent inside the church. We can light candles, say prayers, hear the words of John the Baptist telling us to “stay awake” and to “repent” as we prepare our hearts and our minds for Christ’s Advent, not just for Christmas, but for the consummation of all time.We can serve those in need.

The key is to all of this is to stop being Advent Nags. Is there anything more annoying or joy-stealing than someone running around saying you are celebrating all wrong? It is little wonder the church can be so irrelevant to the world. Stop fussing about the things you can’t control in the way that our culture celebrates the holidays and embrace the fact that at some level God’s Spirit is somehow moving in all of this. We can embrace Advent and the anticipation it brings on our homes and churches. We can celebrate some of the great feast days that fill the season like St. Nicholas, Our Lady of Guadalupe (who would be a smart addition to our Lutheran calendar), or St. Mary’s Conception. We can offer all of these things as gifts as well, but let us do so in humility. Porphyrios the Elder once said,  “If the grace of God comes, everyone and everything changes; however, in order for it to come, we must humble ourselves first.” May it be so for us this Advent.

Dealing With Vocational Angst

One afternoon while I was serving my first call parish, I
had a parishioner that I loved and respected greatly sit down in my office and
say, “Pastor, I think you are talented at what you do and I am glad you serve
this church. But to be honest with you, I have a hard time imagining you doing
this for the rest of your life.”

I have to level with you, I did not really know how to
respond. It seemed to me at the time that God did not call people into
temporary positions; either you were called to ordained ministry or you weren’t.
What I do know from my own experience, however, is that about once every couple
of years or so I seem to hit a point where I feel like I am in the midst of a
vocational crisis. The funny thing about it is that every year it seems to take
a different form. I can’t really explain why, but I am certainly feeling that
sense of unrest right now.

At first I think it was a question of denominational
identity. I love the Lutheran church and have stayed here for numerous reasons,
but it isn’t quite as a high church as a like and I do think its emphasis on “tolerance”
means that there are times when we are tolerating things within the church that
I wish we did not. I have no major theological disagreements, though one would
say I am much more of an evangelical, catholic and orthodox Lutheran. I hate to
play the labels game, but I do so to try and plant me somewhere contextually.
Early on I thought I would leave to become Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox. There
is a richness and depth and beauty to their practice and theology that I really
find lacking at times in the ELCA. This hasn’t come up for me in years. I think
I just realize that there is no one certain faith group to which I can adhere
100%, so why jump for one place where I feel like an outsider to another. The
truth is I have found that there are certain doctrinal ideas that I hold that I
just leave out of my official teaching and preaching. Those of you who know me
well or in real life can figure those things out pretty easily.

I have also had those moments where I thought about blowing
off ministry altogether. I have always wanted to be a history teacher. I think
given the right school I would be really good at this. I have a love for the
subject matter. In fact, when I was in college I was originally there to become
a history teacher. I loved history so much that I decided to shoot for a PhD.
Then I wound up seminary. Long story. Teaching still holds great appeal for me,
even though I have a teacher-wife who comes home every day telling me horror
stories about her school, which really is an interesting place and one where I
probably would not do well. Anyway, this idea about teaching history stays around
because I do know that if my wife ever found an administrator position or a
tenure track faculty position somewhere, mobility ceases for me and I will need
to find something to do to make a living.

Neither of these really fit this current funk that I am
feeling. This is something different. This is almost obsessive. This has far
less to do with leaving the parish and more about how I see myself as a pastor
and practical theologian. I feel like even though I have over a decade of
higher education behind me, and can see the light at the end of the doctoral
tunnel, I still feel like my education is both incomplete and subpar. Even
though I am very busy right now with the program I am in, as well as with both
parish and home responsibilities, I find myself looking at other degree programs.
I have checked out programs in counseling psychology, adult education, social
foundations/history of education, history and religious studies. This desire
for a PhD doesn’t quite seem to want to go away. I can’t shake it.

The issue is that I cannot discern for certain if I am being
“called” to take this path or if this isn’t just my giant ego and deep desire
to have people think me an intellectual that is behind this current discontent.
I know for certain that my ego plays a partial role here. The thing is that it
almost seems illogical to go to school again after this D.Min. I am coming out
of the D.Min. program without a penny of debt. Because all of the programs I
have looked at are part time, I would have to pay out of pocket, and I am not
so sure it is a wise investment, especially considering I have a kid who starts
college next year.

Some of this is fueled by the fact that I am required to
take continuing education every year. The D.Min. was a perfect fit for that.
These other degree programs – while interesting – may not be as good a fit. The
two that seem to fit best are the counseling psych programs and the adult
education programs, but of which would apply directly to what I do in the
parish. Plus, both would qualify me to do other things should the need ever occur.

So there you have it. Just trying to process through whatever
this strange sense of restlessness is about.

Can You Suggest a Book or Something?

A menu is a poor substitute for a porterhouse steak with all the trimmings.

When people find out that I have an interest in monastic/contemplative spirituality, I am often asked the same question, “Can you suggest a book or something about meditation/contemplative prayer/centering prayer that I can read?” I usually do, referring people to any of a number standard texts on Christian contemplation. I am sure Thomas Keating has made more than a few bucks off of my suggestions. I don’t have an issue referring people to a book. This is how my quest got started. What I have learned through the years is that a book about prayer is a poor substitute for prayer itself.

When it comes to contemplation, other than a few pointers of how to get a practice started, little else is needed than to sit. Sure, learn lectio divina.  Learn a technique like Centering Prayer or the method taught by John Main and his followers. Nothing wrong with that. But it does no good to read a book if you aren’t going to pray.

I’ve been thinking about changing my response here lately. Maybe instead of books, I need to give a handout that has a stripped down version of meditation instructions. Something that can fit on one sheet, maybe even a bookmark. “Want to know about meditation or prayer? Here, go do this every day for a week. Then call me and we can talk.”

I certainly don’t want to do anything that seems dismissive, but at the same time I find that most American Christians are all about their heads: by acquiring the right “knowledge” we can find God’s favor. We don’t need more information. We need experience. We need to open ourselves to the Divine, the lover of the soul, the one who desires us to desire him. We need to wade out into that river of the Spirit. We need to do it, not continue to read about it.

Don’t get me wrong, I love books. I love to read. I have an obnoxious amount of books on spirituality and meditation and prayer. But when it all comes down, I think I could reduce my collection to just a couple of volumes. I’ll take a breviary of some sort, a copy of Benedict’s Rule, a Bible, and maybe a Merton book or two. Truth is that may be too much. Books are there simply to buttress our practice, to help guide us through things we may experience. But they are little more.

A Word About My Research

I am in the final throes of a Doctor of Ministry degree, where I have focused most of my time and energy on the practices of Christian Spirituality. My specific interests really are contemplative practices. I fundamentally believe that if it were not for my introduction to the writings of the great Catholic mystic Thomas Merton while in college, I would not be here today. God used those writings to draw me to the church and introduce me to practices and questions that have been part of a life-long search (a search that never ends, by the way). I guess it seems natural to study what I do and to want it so desperately to have practical, parish level relevance.
So here is what I have proposed for my final project. I am curious to hear what others think. I want to see if it is possible to create a profile of the type of person who will be drawn to AND be able to sustain some basic contemplative practices The profile will really focus on two specific elements. The first will personality type as reported by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Are their personality types that we spiritual directors/confessors/pastoral counselors should be introducing to contemplative practices? The second part of this profile will be asking some basic demographic/ethnographic information that will provide some insight into issues of race, national/ethnic origin, gender, relationship status, level of education, profession etc.
So we will do this information gathering at the front, meet for four weeks where people will be introduced to lectio divina and contemplative prayer, as well as a simplified version of the daily office (drawn from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer). This four week workshop will be held at three different churches. At the end of four weeks, surveys will be taken to see how well people are adhering to a regular session of the above practices. Much of this will be qualitative in nature. Is it drudgery? Is it being done every day? Every few days? Does the silence seem to resonate with the individual or does it feel isolating? What sorts of thoughts are emerging? You kind of get the drift. The same survey will be given out at the end of sixty days as well. At that time all of the data will be compared to see if I can build a profile of what a modern “contemplative” might look like.
All of this is rooted in my desire to see churches move away from this notion of membership to one where discipleship is prized. I wish we could actually get rid of the whole membership culture, but that is another discussion/post for another time. Anyway, I see this as an opportunity to help pastors like myself to introduce people to certain practices that may sustain them in their own faith life. I have a feeling that I can pretty well put together a profile already based on some hunches and observation. I am actually hoping that this particular project will prove me wrong, as I think all people could benefit from the fruits of meditation. We shall see!

Meditation Class and Troy Davis

In about an hour I will leave my house to lead a small group of six people as they are beginning a practice of Christian Meditation, a practice I actually believe can be life changing. I will sound the first gong just after 7:00 pm. We will sit in silence for about 30 minutes or so.

As we sit there seeking to open ourselves to the presence of God, just south of us Troy Davis will be hooked up to an iv that will deliver a lethal dose of poison into his body. I am not going to recount all the facts of this man’s case. Google him, it will tell you all you need to know. Maybe he did kill that man, but there seems to be a lot of doubt going around. Even if he did, does it really make sense that we should kill him? Is Georgia any safer with Troy Davis dead than it is with Troy Davis in jail? And what if he really is innocent? That blood is on our hands.

I have to confess that for the first time in my life the idea of meditating sounds empty tonight. My heart and mind will not be there.

Here’s praying that there is some last minute reprieve.

++++++++++++

At 11:08 tonight, Troy Davis was pronounced dead. He proclaimed his innocence until the very end. This has got to stop.