Book #6 in my self-imposed reading challenge this year was Tribal Church. I have been reading Carol's blog for some time, and have had her book on my list. I found her discussions of young adults and their spirituality clear and compelling: it's the kind of book I would like to read and discuss with my leadership board. Especially, I found her description of fostering intergenerational connections compelling. Carol, can you come to my congregation?
I just finished Barbara Brown Taylor's new book, An Altar in the World. She describes and endorses spiritual practices "for the rest of us": all you need is your Self in order to practice things like "getting lost", "waking up", "feeling pain", "wearing skin," and "pronouncing blessings." Every chapter could be read over and over again. In fact, this is the kind of book that is not meant to be read quickly, but slowly, throughout the year. The final chapter, where Taylor describes blessing all of the rooms in a house, made me want to go out and get the Occasional Services book of the Episcopal Church, and bless all the rooms in my house.
And finally, I am wondering how it is that I got through my childhood without reading Eleanor Estes' lovely book, The Hundred Dresses. I took a couple of hours to read it Monday afternoon in the bookstore. At the end, there were tears in my eyes. I hadn't meant to, but I had to buy a copy of the book.
My friend Auntie Knickers recommended a children's book for every day of Advent last December. It would be more difficult, but an intriguing task to recommend a children's book for every day of Lent. If I were to take on such a task, I would certainly include these two books: The Hundred Dresses, and Elizabeth Coatesworth's book The Cat Who Went to Heaven. Both of them tell stories of forgiveness.
Maybe March will be children's book month for me.
6 comments:
thank God i didn't give up purchasing books for Lent! :)
Diane, I read this post and I missed you, and then I felt ridiculous because we haven't met.
I read Tribal Church last week, and while I wasn't sure I felt like she offered solutions, I was so grateful that someone was validating this experience.
And I've been thinking about An Altar in the World, so now it's a definite to add to my list, too.
well, Diana, maybe she didn't offer solutions, but I got some ideas from what she wrote. That made me think that a group reading the book might come up with our own solutions.
And it made me hopeful that the mainline churches might have something to offer, which is not something I hear very often.
Oh! What a great prost, chock-full of great thoughts and suggestions, (as usual.)
I just got "Altar in the World", so you'll nudge me into reading it.
Yep, I'm going to have to check these out!
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