But I'm Not a Brother!?

When the good folks at B&H Books asked me to read and review the updated and expanded version of Brothers, We Are Not Professional: A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry, first I said, "But I'm not a brother." Then I said, "Also, I'm not a pastor." Doesn't matter, came the reply, both read your blog. And so this is how it came to be that I added BWANP to one of the twelve coveted open spots for 100 in 2013. I'm glad too, because this is less a book to brothers only or pastors only, but to all followers of Christ. Never have I read a more succinct, helpful, scripturally soaked treatise than this. Every page abounds with references to the Word and reminders of the gospel. Every suggestion is bolstered by scripture and every challenge is backed up firmly. I closed each chapter knowing with more certainty the call of Christ is one of coming and dying. It helps that the author is such an accomplished writer as well. Many can say these words, but saying them with eloquence is another matter altogether.

Much has been written on the original book already, so I'm not going to spend much time there. Instead, I'd like to just highlight a few things from some of the added chapters.

Brothers, God Does Make Much of Us: I am deeply grateful for this chapter specifically because often "Making Much of God" can shove aside the fact that we are deeply, deeply loved by God. With five points given to how God loves us and seven points given to how He makes much of us, it would be difficult for a reader to walk away feeling that they are only a puppet in a Master's play.

Brothers, God is the Gospel: Gospel has become a bit of a buzzword in recent years, and though I don't think that means we ought to find a replacement, I do think it's a great opportunity for us to relearn, or recalibrate on what is the gospel. In God is the Gospel, there are laid out very clearly the components of a correct understanding of what the gospel is. In some measure we will only see in part until we see face to face, but in the meantime we ought to clearly grasp and communicate what it is the Gospel is until that day.

Brothers, Pursue the Tone of the Text: Recently someone described a certain conversation in my church circles as "tone-deaf" and it happened to be at the same time that I read this chapter. This chapter was somehow written tonefully, to coin a word; it sounded like music and I don't think that was an accident. The message of the Gospel is hope, yet so often our pulpits are filled with cheap substitutes or pounding diatribes. Here the author reminds us that hope is full of joy, but sometimes the joy is eventual—so we ought to be mindful of our tone. Sorrow can lead to joy, but only if we sorrow according to those who have hope.

Brothers, Act the Miracle: The author confesses his most besetting sins and does not offer a four step program to defeat them, but instead illuminates the power of the cross over them. He reminds Christians that our sins have been canceled, and so therefore they may be conquered, while too often we do the latter in an attempt for God to do the former. This was my favorite chapter as this is one of my besetting sins.

There is much to be gleaned from this book and I highly, highly recommend it to anyone, pastors or new believers, mothers or children. It's a book about being a disciple who makes disciples and this is the call on us all. It would be appropriate to go through with a small group. I even think it could be tailored to be appropriate to go through in family devotions. The chapters are short enough and structured in such a way that discussion points could be simplified and filtered for differing audiences.

You can purchase a copy here: Brothers, We Are Not Professional: A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry by John Piper

100 in 2013

Some of you have asked for my 2013 reading plan and so here are a few quick thoughts, as well as the booklist. 1. I don't have time to read 100 books in 2013. I didn't have time in 2012, and I don't foresee ever having the time to commit to such a project. If you know me at all, you know the possibility of failure is rarely a reason to not try something. Mumbo-jumbo about not setting yourself up for failure has never appealed to me much and so there is a very real possibility that I will hit March or September and get plumb tuckered out. I hope that doesn't happen, but I won't feel too badly if it does. The point is, I'm going to try.

2. On the suggestion of Mathew Sims, who reads voraciously—and blogs about what he reads, I scheduled the books out for the entire year. I will be reading, on average, eight books a month, with three books being spread out through the whole year (The Love of God by DA Carson, The Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster, and Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem). The goal of this project is not to cover my bases on what's hot or not in various genres, the goal is to read and reread books that have piqued my interest. I have one or two books from each of these sections per month: fiction/novel, theology, non-fiction/essay, memoir/biography, children's lit/young adult. No book is too short, some books are too long. Some are rereads, some I've never heard of before.

3. I top-loaded the second and last quarter, and made the first and third quarters a bit lighter. Because of my commitments elsewhere (work, Church, home. etc.), I knew that I would need to have lighter reading happening especially in the first quarter of this year. The quantity is still around eight a month, but the quality is a bit lighter.

4. I tried as much as possible to group like books in the same month. For example, one month I'll be reading Crooked Little Heart by Anne Lamott, Living in Fiction by Annie Dillard, Evangelical Feminism by Wayne Grudem, Practical Theology for Women by Wendy Aslup, Bossypants by Tina Fey (this was my roommate's suggestion when I told her I wanted to read a few pop-culture books...), West With the Night by Beryl Markham, and The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. This will be a month that I'll be focusing on the role of women in the church, the world, the culture, and in literature.

5. I made a spreadsheet of all the books, color coded them by books I already owned, planned to buy, would need to borrow from a friend or the library, or were work related. This way I could begin to budget my finances and my time in order to have the books on hand at the beginning of each month.

6. I read best when I read straight through a book. I'm a fast reader so this works for me. However, there are some books here that I want to read more slowly and so I'll have two piles each month: one pile will be the books I read over the course of the month and one pile will be the books I'll read in one or two sittings. Think of this like snowballing your debt, get the little ones done first so you can give the bigger ones their due time.

7. When I was in high-school reading 100 books a year was the norm. I've always been a voracious reader, but it's only been in recent years that my book reading has lessened and my online article reading has increased. Part of the reason I'm doing this is because 2012 was a beating in the online blogosphere. Controversy abounded and I was wiped out. I began to see places in my mind that weren't bearing much fruit because of what occurred online and the speed at which opinions were bandied. So this is my small attempt to step back, do what I love (read in quiet), and reap a different reward.

Pray for me if you think about it. I'll be writing a blog at the end of each month with a short blurb about each book completed that month so you can follow along with me!

Letters to Me: Conversations With a Younger Self

At the beginning of the year Dan Schmidt approached me about contributing an essay to his upcoming compilation: Letters to Me. Dan has been an encouraging cheer-bringer to me for the past few years concerning my writing projects and I was excited about joining the stellar lineup of writers and thinkers he compiled. The letters in this book will make you want to shake the shoulders of the writers, hug the writers, chastise the writers, and simply Love God More. But don't take my word for it:

There is something maddeningly compelling about this book. You want to leap into its pages and shake some sense into the characters just like you’re reading a page-turning novel, except that it’s real life and if you could somehow grab them by their shoulders, you would realize you were staring yourself in the face. The talent of these storytellers is revealed in how universal their personal stories are. In their stories you will experience agony and joy, pain and healing, fall and redemption. –Adam S. McHugh, author Introverts in the Church: Finding Our Place in an Extroverted Culture

Reading them will make you think and imagine a better life — maybe even give you the courage to live one. —Jeff Goins, author, Wrecked: When a Broken World Slams into Your Comfortable Life

I sat down to read this book and found myself so encouraged and strengthen through the community built around life in these stories that I only stopped when I reached the end of the book. These stories are my story. And they're probably your stories. Dan Schmidt talks about "evidence of grace weaves through many of these letters" and it's these threads that strengthen you. Matthew Sims, blogger

Its wisdom does not shame; its humility inspires because these lessons are from real people. Allison

Some of the most beautiful stories I've ever read. Dorea Luther

If you'd like to purchase a copy, you can by clicking on this link. And I'd be so grateful if you did! 

(Some of you have asked about some of the names I'm listed alongside, feel free to email me if you have questions about that—I'd love to actually dialogue with you about my reasons instead of any assumptions getting in the way here. God's glory, our joy!)

I STACKED UP TEN BOOKS

A fellow blogger has taken on the mammoth task of blogging through her bookshelves all this week—and I admire her for it! I wish I was able to do the same, but alas, most of my books have found themselves on the bookshelves of others and so I'm left with my measly top ten.

(Full disclosure: in writing this down tonight, I'm mostly procrastinating on the other writing I'm supposed to be doing. But I'm hoping that this small exercise will get my fingers moving in the right direction. Also, if you buy one of these books after clicking off my site, I might make a penny or two of that sale. So if enough of you buy, I might be able to get a snow-cone next week.)

These are not in any sort of order, except the order in which I thought they looked the prettiest all stacked on top of one another. Call me OCD or call me an artist, I think they're interchangeable.

A Circle of Quiet by Madeleine L'Engle
This was the first piece of creative memoir I ever read, back in high-school. It set the stage for every single thing I have written since. Every sentence of mine has been crafted through the sieve of Madeleine's books, fiction and non-fiction. Her Crosswicks Journals are my favorite four of her books, of which this is one.

Mudhouse Sabbath by Lauren Winner
I read this book in about two sittings, a rarity for a Winner book (Girl Meets God, Real Sex, etc.). It was probably the first book I ever read on theology and perhaps the one which tempers me back, draws me in, and helps me to find some medium of faithfulness to the small things when my nature is to shout Grace! more loudly than anything else.

Mere Churchianity by Michael Spencer
This book was recommended to me by Jared Wilson (who wrote one of the books further down) as the closest book he could recommend for a memoir[ish] about someone who'd experienced what his book called Gospel Wakefulness. I only just recently read it, but Spencer's story and thoughts on being in church for decades and only fully understanding the gospel recently resonated very strongly in me. It's not memoir, but it could be.

The Valley of Vision, a book of puritan prayers
For several years, while my mind was teetering on the edge of dangerous thoughts and my soul was tempered with a form of the gospel, and not the fullness of it, my wise mentor and friend would have me take these prayers and rewrite them in my own words. There has been no discipline better for my fingers or my soul than this. So often my spiritual problem is that I cannot say the words that are simmering deeply in me, these prayers unlocked those words.

The Sacred Journey by Frederick Buechner
This book is more yellowed, written in, and falling apart than any of my books. I have read and reread it numerous times, each time more captured by his fluid sentences and depth of story. Buechner is one of my favorite authors, but this book stands apart from all the rest as he tells the story of his life and faith.

Desiring God by John Piper
I have not so much read this book as absorbed it. I have "been reading"  it for years, still unfinished. The concept that God is most glorified when we are most joy-filled, and that our fullness of God comes from seeing the glory of God has absolutely, unequivocally changed my life. And it changes it yearly, weekly, daily, moment by moment. At every moment when my joy lacks, it is easily found in Him. At every moment when my joy is found, it is easily found in more fullness of Him.

Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me by Ian Morgan Cron
This book, to me, is so much like The Sacred Journey in so many ways. I saw it on a bookshelf at Barnes and Noble and stood there reading it for over an hour. I could not put it down until I inched nearer and near to the end, which is when I began reading it as slowly as I could to make it last. The last several chapters of this book have profoundly affected me recently.

Somewhere More Holy by Tony Woodlief
I would like to tell you that I love this book because Tony is a friend or because I know what this book meant to his family, but the truth is that I loved this book, wept through this book, healed from this book long before I knew Tony at all. When we finally did become friends, I had to confess that a year after I bought the book, it was still sitting on my side table, teaching me things, reading me as much as I have read it.

Gospel Wakefulness by Jared Wilson
If there is only one book on this list that I recommend to every person, it is this one. I say that because of these words by D.A. Carson, "The first generation loved the gospel, the second generation assumed the gospel, and the third generation hated the gospel." Whoever we are, we are one of those people, and every one of us needs the gospel more and more every day. I do not know of a better book to commend for that purpose but this one.

The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor
You didn't think I'd forget this one, did you? I don't care who you are, you ought to have read Flannery O'Connor. In one of these stories we find ourselves, a putrid, filthy mirrored reflection or a stark, staggering realization, it's there. I do not know of a better communicator of the state of the heart than dear Flannery.

Bonus:
A Two-Part Invention by Madeleine L'Engle
Here's another one of her Crosswick's Journals and my second favorite of all her books. This one is about her marriage and family. Beautiful.

Okay, what about you? What are your top ten books? Blog them or comment below! I'd love some new recommendations (even though, I confess, I read the same books over and over and over again...). 

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