Books I'm Reading

From time to time I like to share books I've read or am reading and a few thoughts on each. I am generally reading about a half dozen books at any given time, so some I'm further along in some than others.

Rob Bell's Drops Like Stars is the book inspired by his recent tour. This coffee-table book is a quick read, but do not be misled: it is also a thoughtful extended meditation on the relationship between suffering, creativity and God. It made me want to see his tour.

Aubrey Malphurs' Developing a Dynamic Mission for Your Ministry is a handy little volume on the importance of a robust and concise mission statement for congregations and parachurch organizations. He helpfully distinguishes between mission statements, vision statements and core values, all the while keeping the Great Commission in the Gospel of Matthew central. It is must-read for pastors and congregations interested in more than floundering.

Niel Cole's Organic Church is a primer on the recent house church movement in the United States. What I liked: his focus on the parable of the Sower and his challenge to "be church" rather than "go to church." What was missing: a robust sacramental theology (which is not surprising given his theological tradition). Worth reading, especially for denominations like mine who struggle in the area of small group ministries.

I am just beginning Beginning to Pray by Anthony Bloom, but heard a summary of it in a recent set of podcasts by Dn. Michael Hyatt. When it comes to prayer, we are all truly beginners, and this set of reflections is filled with depth and challenge.

Andy Stanley's Choosing to Cheat is all about the tough decisions we make each day about our work-life balance. Stanley asks some provocative and thoughtful questions about whom we are cheating and why. A must-read for men especially.

Swimming Lessons and Spiritual Formation

It is the time of year when many children are taking swimming lessons. Perhaps swimming lessons have much to teach us about the path of growth in faith and spiritual formation. I was reflecting today on the connections between swimming lessons, faith formation and intentional small group / discipleship group ministries.

Here are some thoughts:

1. Coaches support the fledgling swimmers. Good coaches know more than just how to swim; they know how to support others in the right ways to enable them to swim on their own.

2. Coaches know when to let go. For new swimmers to build confidence, it is important that they begin to swim and try new things on their own. Good coaches know when to let go.

3. Coaches can discern the correct combination of 1 and 2 based on the individual swimmer. In other words, there is not a "one size fits all" way to get a swimmer from A to B.

Do you have a mentor or spiritual father that can guide you, sometimes pushing, sometimes supporting? Do you have a group of "swimmers" that you regularly meet with that are on your same level of maturity in faith?

And, perhaps most importantly: Are you ready to jump in?

Prayer Rule

Do you have a prayer rule?

Summer is a time when many of our schedules are discombobulated. Add to this the frenzy of activity that punctuates this time of year with weddings, graduations and other commitments. So it is not surprising I find that about this time in June I crave the regularity and predictability of a schedule. I am also trying to be more regularly about exercise and writing and so have had to rethink my morning routine and this includes my prayer rule.

What is your prayer rule?

1. One of the first decisions to make is when you will pray each day and where. It is easy to underestimate the importance of a fixed time and location. Regularity in schedule and location actually helps to facilitate prayer.

2. How long will you pray? Be realistic, especially if you have never subscribed to a rule of prayer before. The temptation of all of us who desire to grow in our faith is to take on too much, too quickly. The advice of physical trainers is instructive here: incremental increases over time are far more powerful than trying to run a marathon with no training. You can damage your body through physical overexertion; you can also damage yourself through spiritual overexertion. Take it slowly.

3. What will you pray? Begin with the fixed prayers handed down to the church: the Lord's prayer, the Creeds, the Jesus prayer, the Psalms. These fixed prayers, once they become part of our regular practice, become the bedrock upon which faithful "free prayer" is built.

4. How will you be accountable? Share your prayer rule with your spouse, family member or close friend. Ask them to hold you accountable.

As you seek to develop a regular rule for prayer, may the Holy Spirit guide and direct you.

Johnny Cash Reading the New Testament

A podcast I enjoying listening to recommended the audio New Testament read by Johnny Cash. This came up in a discussion during our fellowship meal after worship this evening. We were discussing audio Bibles and the importance of the Word as an aural/oral word.

It is available via CD (see link above) or by audiobook download from iTunes or audible.com.

Happy listening!