The Little Friar

Jamie Martin's Give Your Child the World:  Raising Globally Minded Kinds One Book at a Time is a marvelous tool for bibliophile parents who are looking for stories to shape the moral and spiritual lives of their children.  Martin provides annotated bibliographic tools to cultivate a lifelong love of nations and cultures in their children, while at the same time developing an affinity for reading quality literature. Give Your Child the World is a readable, well-organized selection of suggested books categorized by continent, and within that, by age range (4-6, 6-8, 8-10, and 10-12).  The indexes are also a wonderful help for parents who want to place the reading selection within its historical context.   I can't recommend Give Your Child the World too highly. __________________ Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers < http://booklookbloggers.com > book review bloggers program. ...

Tony Evans' Oneness Embraced:  Reconciliation, the Kingdom, and How We are Stronger Together explores what Evans calls "the Kingdom agenda" for blacks and whites in the United States.  It's a book that is at once fresh (like the blowing of the Spirit always is) and challenging -- here, Evans addresses racism, divided worship, and numerous stereotypes.  And at every turn, there's a freshness to Evans' message that bespeaks his pastoral heart for the Body of Christ to live together, in full unity, displaying the unity that is made possible by Jesus Christ himself. Oneness Embraced is a full biblical vision for that deals with the "what" and the "so what" for unity in the Church -- a unity that can become the template for reconciling transformation in the wider world. But that vision is an informed vision.  Here, Evans tackles the tough history of the Black Church, and helps readers understand that the unique voice of the Black Church ...

Chris Nye's Distant God:  Why He Feels Far Away ... and What We Can Do about It is a book filled with honest spiritual reflection on Nye's own spiritual life, and the lessons we can take from it.  So many Christians -- myself included -- have those moments when God feels so far from us.  There's a distance that no prayer seems able to cross, that every devotion seems to fall flat and empty.  It's during those experiences, though, that Nye has learned the lesson so many spiritual fathers and mothers have taught for thousands of years -- keep praying. Remaining honest and humble, talking with God and listening for God is the only way through these times of spiritual darkness.  Confession, fasting, prayer -- those are the practices that sustain the Christian spiritual life in its darkest moments. Sadly, though, Nye misses one of the most important spiritual disciplines that sustains the spiritual life in those dark moments -- corporate worship and fellowship...

Tom Sine's Live Like You Give a Damn!  Join the Changemaking Celebration captures the Spirit of a changing wind blowing in the world.  It has nothing to do with the establishment or institution, and isn't under the control of the rich and powerful.  Instead, it's the Spirit that has captured younger generations in a way that we haven't seen for half a century.  These younger folks have been dubbed by the skeptics as "the whatever generation".  As if they care about nothing or no one other than themselves.  But with those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, that characterization is really nothing more than a caricature.  Because these younger folks are empassioned about their ideals; and are already making a difference in the world at various contexts of their lives.  How are they making a difference?  That's the question Live Like You Give a Damn! is meant to answer. But Live Like You Give a Damn! is more than a factual report of ...

Jimmy & Laura Siebert's Parenting without Regret:  Raising Kids with Purpose, Not Perfection is one of the best books on Christian parenting that I've read.  Parenting without Regret helps parents to think and act intentionally to raise children who love and serve God in a world that is only too willing to tell parents to do their own thing in parenting.  It's a phenomenal book, full of wisdom and practical advice. Both authors share their own stories and struggles in parenting real children, in an effort to help parents develop and hone faithful parenting practices and imagination.  It's an encouraging read -- in which lots of parents will discover that they're already doing lots of things right , in a culture that teaches parents to question themselves and their ability to parent faithfully. Parenting without Regret is an encouraging book that Christian parents really shouldn't miss reading. ________________ I received a free copy of this book ...

Kent Annan's Slow Kingdom Coming:  Practices for Doing Justice, Loving Mercy and Walking Humbly in the World explores the spiritual practice of justice for those who want to make a real difference in the world.  In a world with so much injustice, those who work for peace and justice often find themselves overwhelmed and hopeless.  Annan's vision helps us take a deep breath and practice that justice with the intention and hopefulness that name the Christian spiritual life. So the five practices that compose the Christian spiritual life of justice -- Attention, Confession, Respect, Partnering, and Truthing -- focus Christian living.  Each is given its own chapter, filled with personal accounts sprinkled with theological insight, and each is an absolute joy to read. This is an amazing book for all those facing burnout in their work for the Kingdom of God's Peace with Justice.  That work is the work of ministry, so this is a book every pastor particularly sho...

Ted Kluck and Ronnie Martin's The Bride(zilla) of Christ:  What to Do when God's People Hurt God's People explores the reality of one of the most beautiful images of the New Testament describes the Church as "the Bride of Christ".  That image, for Christians especially, is of the Church, adorned in bridal white, accompanying her Beloved to the bridal feast that is the eucharist of the Church.  But what if that image becomes tainted by the reality, a Church that sometimes hurts one of its own?  This is a question with which many of us pastors struggle, and which so many local congregations often ignore. But Kluck and Martin aren't interested in exploring that reality with simple solutions.  Instead, what we find in Bride(zilla) of Christ is a thorough narrative of both the wounded and the wounder, accounts that are at once personal and faith-full.  And most importantly, they offer practical steps to take for those unfortunate times when the Bride of C...

1.  Christian faith is a vision of spiritual pilgrimage:  The pilgrimage through time of a holy community, and the pilgrimage of the person toward participation in the Divine life (θέωσις). 2.  These are not two pilgrimages, but one. 3.   This pilgrimage is motivated by desire.  Human beings have an innate yearning for the beauty of God.  Through that yearning we reach out beyond ourselves, beyond all time and space, towards our hidden source and destiny in eternal Love. 4.  All human beings are on a continuum of love and lovelessness.  We are always either inching towards God in love or drifting away as our love grows cold.  Nobody can love so much as to have already arrived; nobody can love so little as to be finally and irreparably lost. 5.  Our innate yearning for God is both our best feature and the source of all our woe.  We cannot move towards God through an effort of will, since will itself is subject to t...

Scotty McCreery's Go Big or Go Home:  The Journey Toward the Dream tells the story of McCreery's journey, faith and life that lead him to become the next American Idol.  He begins with telling the story of his grandmother's fascination with Elvis, and how that fascination was passed on to him.  Thus begins the story of faith and music so intertwined in the life story of one singer. Growing up in Garner, NC, McCreery was kept grounded by his community -- and shaped him into the man he has become.  In the struggles of a singer, McCreery learns lessons about faith -- and about music -- that make this autobiography an entertaining and enlightening read. __________________ Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers < http://booklookbloggers.com > book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in ac...

If I'm right -- that a catholic imagination is essential for Christian revitalizing and re-enchanting the world with the Divine Presence -- then the paradox here is learning to set aside particular places, times, activities and things as uniquely sacred, hallowed and sacramental.  Re-enchanting our days involves adding a sacred texture to our lives. Part of my vows include "living the sacramental life" and "promoting the sacramental and liturgical life of the Church".  For me, that mean re-enchanting time by embracing the liturgical calendar and fixed hour prayers.  That sounds rather lofty, so let me use an example: Over the last few years Kendra and I have been very intentional to celebrate all twelve days of Christmas, from December 25 to Epiphany on January 6.  We keep the tree up through the 6th and keep playing Christmas music.  We keep our house enchanted -- with music, lights and the like -- for the entire liturgical season.  We don't tea...

A few days ago , I said that reclaiming an incarnational theology -- that God is with us -- that a theology of immanence is really the only way to go forward in refuting a disenchanted world.  A disenchanted world, I think, is really the source of what ails Christian faith and its credibility in the modern world.  Without a sense of the "grandeur of God" (Manley) in the world, Christians really don't have much grounding on which to stand, or much to say that's Christianly in the world. The question that's left as soon as I make a claim like that, though, is:  How do we get there?  How do we modern people recover that sense of divine immanence in the world? In college, I read what has been one of the most important historical account of how we got here by Philip Lee .  Sadly, Lee's work has gone unappreciated by most folks.  Lee (and Andrew Greeley after him) made an important argument:  Protestants live in a gnostic world.  Gnostics believed...

Blessed are the merciful, because they shall obtain mercy, says the Scripture. Mercy is not the least of the beatitudes. Again: Blessed is he who is considerate to the needy and the poor. Once more: Generous is the man who is merciful and lends. In another place: All day the just man is merciful and lends. Let us lay hold of this blessing, let us earn the name of being considerate, let us be generous. Not even night should interrupt you in your duty of mercy. Do not say: Come back and I will give you something tomorrow. There should be no delay between your intention and your good deed. Generosity is the one thing that cannot admit of delay. Share your bread with the hungry, and bring the needy and the homeless into your house, with a joyful and eager heart. He who does acts of mercy should do so with cheerfulness. The grace of a good deed is doubled when it is done with promptness and speed. What is given with a bad grace or against one’s will is distasteful and far f...

The Holy Meal. This is that time in which I see the church of Jesus Christ most clearly. The breaking of bread at holy communion always breaks me open to see. It's like the gates to your heart have opened         and everything you have ever loved comes tum bling out                 to be missed and praised and mourned and loved some more. It's like being known all the way down.         It's like being in the presence of God. One moment you see him the next you do not. One moment your eyes are opened and you recognize the risen Christ,          and the next he vanishes from your sight. Take heart. This is no ghost. Do not fear,         You cannot lose him for good. This is the place he has promised to be, and this is the place he returns to meet u...

This is a question I keep asking myself.  Not least because my wife Kendra and I haven't regularly attended together for some time.  And that bothers me. She doesn't want to go for all the hypocrisy, gossiping and judgmentalism associated with "church".  Whenever others talk to us about going to church, they use language that seems odd to me.  One woman recently talked about going to church "to get fed" or having our "spiritual needs" met.  That language seems odd to me because it promotes an egotism that is antithetical to the reasons I long to go to church. If God is the Good itself, then worshiping God is self-evidently good.  The answer to the question, "Why go to church?" is the same as for "Who go hiking?"  Because the trail is there.  Still, my question is more introspective.  It is not why I should  go to church.  It is more practical, more human:  Why do  I keep going? I suppose if I'm honest I go to c...

Kate Bolick's Spinster:  Making a Life of One's Own tells her own life's story in one of the most unique ways I've ever seen.  Here, she recounts her life by focusing on her five "awakeners":  Great women of the past whose work and experiences inspire her to build the life she wants.  Bolick learns from the example of essayist Maeve Brennan, columnist Neith Boyce, poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, novelist Edith Wharton, and social visionary Charlotte Perkins Gilman.  As an essayist and cultural critic, Bolick is most known for her work as contributing editor for The Atlantic .  But in Spinster Bolick delves into the history of her awakeners while rounding out each of their individual narratives with her own personal experiences.  She also reflects on current expectations of women and marital status, backing up her musings with a handful of statistics and facts. This unique blend of history, personal narrative and cultural criticism will ser...

Sarah Withrow King's Vegangelical: How Caring for Animals Can Shape Your Faith draws upon the biblical vision of peacefulness in creation in order to develop a consistent Christian ethic of creation care -- which includes care for the animals. Isaiah 11 has been an important part of that vision for King, and captured my moral imagination in college.  In it, the Kingdom is depicted as that time and place in which nations -- including the animal kingdom -- rally with Yahweh.  And then there's the most-overlooked text of Jesus' own temptation narrative from Mark 1:  "He was with the wild animals".  King walks us through those texts and the biblical vision of a Good News that extends even to creation, while telling her own story of coming the spiritual realization of how precious life -- all life -- is. But King avoids the platitudes that often pervade in books that speak of creation care.  Instead, what we have here is a witty and provocative (in the best s...

Memorial Day in America is Monday, May 30th -- the day we remember those who have died in our wars.  And as you expect on days like Memorial Day there's lots on social media expressing gratitude for those who gave their lives in service to America, making the "ultimate sacrifice" as we say.  Many of these expressions of gratitude are very personal, people sharing pictures of parents or grandparents.  On days like Memorial Day I think of all my ancestors who fought in various and sundry wars -- from Korea all the way back to the English Civil War. One of the things I wonder about every year is why the Church doesn't make more of its "memorial day" -- also known as "All Saints' Day". Thing is, I'd love something more interdenominational.  Because, let's be honest, Protestants are lack here.  (Catholic friends will be quick to jump in and shout, "Of course you're lacking.  You've cut off yourself and schismed the...

To a three year old, my maternal great-grandfather, Julius -- after whom I was named -- was a towering man.  Standing about 6'3", he certainly towered over my small stature.  Even now, his memory towers over me. I have no personal memory of this story, but it was one my great-grandmother Sarah, his wife, loved to tell.  Apparently, when I was three years old, standing next to my "papaw" (as I called him when I started to talk), I would mimic his every behavior.  That was significant because my papaw was a lay minister and preacher in the Church.  As we stood on the porch of that small, white clapboard church house, one of the matrons of that congregation was said to remark, "Keep your eyes on that one, he's sickly, but he'll make a preacher".  So my life's identity has been shaped -- probably in ways I have never known how to articulate -- by pastors.  Papaw was one, but there have been so many others who have shaped who I am and whose memor...

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been thinking about how fellow Christians -- and sadly, sometimes, this even includes myself -- make God's Love so incredible/unbelievable. If you ask Christians to succinctly define God's agape , my guess is that the most common definition would be "unconditional love".  Consequently, Christians feel called to live out this unconditional love for the world.  As the Bible says, "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us".  We didn't have to get it all right before Christ, the Incarnation of God's Love, would embrace us and forgive us.  As Jesus prayed on the cross for those who killed him:  "Father, forgive them". In general, we think love is deep and wide.  So kindness/liking is superficial.  And yet, Christians say they love people while acting unkind to them.  That is to say, we Christians too easily turn love into a lie.  It's probably more accurate to say that God's agape ...

In light of some conversations over the weekend about preaching, I'm thinking this morning about my preaching. I want to begin with where we "are", with the reality that confronts the Church:  Nearly 10% fewer people identify as "Christian" now than did only a decade ago.  That makes me worry about the nature of our preaching in the Church.  Preaching, after all, is the most public act of the Church that proclaims the Gospel.  So what are folks learning -- or more accurately, not learning -- from preaching? Nearly every advertisement I read for churches in search of a senior pastor speak of the ability to preach sermons that "connect" with people "where they are".  So if that's the goal of preaching, it's hardly a surprise that folks just aren't all that interested ... I've seen and heard lots of folks -- especially former preaching students -- talk about their preaching.  "I want help in making connection with ...