What does my soul need? This was the guiding question in my choice of books, plunging me into art, poetry, dreams, even juggling (which became one of my spiritual practices this year!). Here are some of those memorable books in the order I read them:
Leap by Terry Tempest Williams
The House of Belonging by David Whyte
Unopened Letters from God: Using Biblical Dreams to Unlock Nightly Dreams by Rev. Robert L. Hayden, Jr.
The Soul's Religion: Cultivating a Profoundly Spiritual Way of Life by Thomas Moore
The Great Themes of Scripture: Old Testament and New Testament by Richard Rohr
Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi
Although I've loved the above books, time after time I've returned to and drank deeply from these four:
Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West
Translated by Daniel Ladinsky
Poetry from mystics and saints such as Rumi, St. Thomas Aquinas, Rabia, St. Teresa of Avila, Hafiz, Meister Eckhart and others have offered me a well-spring of deep, playful wisdom. I have found myself laughing and crying within seconds of each other, speechless in holy awe of the living water found in their ordinary words.
Water, Wind, Earth & Fire: The Christian Practice of Praying with the Elements
Christine Valters Paintner
Observing and prayerfully interacting with the elements and rhythms of Creation has opened up a deeper wisdom which was well-known by ancient Christians. While most of us are now blind to the spiritual significance of things like wind or rain, this book invites us to go beyond weather. I am spending a lot of time meditating on water and wind, especially the gift of breathing deeply, which has become for me a prayer of trust.
Wonder, Fear and Longing: A Book of Prayers
Mark Yaconelli
Going deeper into one's own soul can be an intimidating experience which is why it is so easy to stay on the surface, going from book to book gathering good information about God, riding the wave of feelings or circumstances, and avoiding silence. Yaconelli is a wise and gentle guide offering simple practices and words (his own and the historical faith community's), that give courage to explore the dark, deep places of our own hearts and discover the love of God.
Psalms for Praying: An Invitation to Wholeness
Nan C. Merrill
If the Psalms were written without a patriarchal or superstition-based lens or needing to focus sin and blame on external enemies, what kind of words would be given to the same age-old desires and emotions? This fresh reading of the Psalms continues to invite me into a deeper transparency and intimacy with God and an ever-growing kindness toward myself and others.
If you couldn't tell, my soul has been thirsty for depth! These books have offered me ways of doing just that—beckoning me to set them and all other books down, to look around and within, to spend time with and experience the created world, myself and God right where I am in the ordinary routine and stuff of life. Another way to say it is, these books have and continue to draw me deeper into prayer.
This was a good reading year in that I found a couple of books that greatly helped with two issues I’ve been exploring (church and culture; prayer).
I don’t read much fiction (only two titles this year). And in case you’re interested, about one-third of my “reading” was in audio format with another 10 percent in e-book format. (I prefer the Kindle app on my phone or iPad.)
10. Spy the Lie: Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Detect Deception
Philip Houston, Michael Flayed, and Susan Carniceo with Don Tennant
This is fun, practical help for anyone who either manages employees or parents teenagers. The authors describe a simple technique for identifying indications of deception while interviewing anyone. And it really works. Don’t lie to me. Seriously. I can tell.
9. Does Jesus Really Love Me? A Gay Christian’s Search for God in America
Jeff Chu
Pastor, if you’re not thinking about the your response to homosexual people and their presence in the church, you’re just not doing your job. Chu writes as a gay Evangelical who visited a number of churches in various Christian traditions to discover their responses to the gay question. His experiences are fascinating and revealing, and pretty well written. Bottom line, you need a pastoral response to this issue, and this book can help you form one.
8. The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles
Steven Pressfield
I’ve enjoyed some of Pressfield’s historical fiction, notably Gates of Fire, so I was intrigued by this nonfiction book on the life of a creative. His thesis is simple: there’s a devil inside you and you must defeat it every day in order to survive, let alone create anything of artistic value. He’s right. The value of this book is that it provides a clearer understanding of and language for the phenomenon of sloth, procrastination, idleness, or whatever you call that thing that keeps you from achieving your goals.
7. A New Religious America: How a “Christian Country” Has Become the World’s Most Religiously Diverse Nation
Diana L. Eck
Eck presents a survey of the religious diversity that currently exists in the United States and traces its development, particularly over the last 4o years. The value of this book is that it helps you see beyond your subculture and comprehend the breadth of religious change we’ve experienced as a nation. Warning: the book is a little like going to a movie thriller. It makes you uncomfortable, but that’s why you pay the money. This is an eye-opener, for sure.
6. Crossing the Ethnic Divide: The Multiethnic Church on a Mission
Kathleen Garces-Foley
This book is a case study of one congregation and its journey to become multiethnic church. Two things recommend it. First, the congregation began as a minority (pan-Asian) dominated church so it’s interesting to see how similar their change dynamics are to a majority congregation. Second, the author nicely exposes the theological, sociological, and practical issues surrounding multiethnic ministry. I’m on a Christ and culture jag, so this book really hit the spot.
5. Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home
Richard Foster
Foster’s writing is always enriching, and this book is certainly no exception. The beauty here is that Foster presents not prayer techniques but types of prayers. You’ll come to a deeper understanding of what you are doing when you prayer, and how various prayers serve your growth in holiness. I’d like to re-read this book every year or two for the next little while.
4. Serving with Eyes Wide Open: Doing Short-Term Missions with Cultural Intelligence
David A. Livermore
I read this book to further my thinking on Christianity and culture and to prepare for a mission to Haiti. It was good help on bout counts. You won’t believe (1) how culturally bound your own practice of Christianity is, and (2) how fun it is to explore life and faith through the lens of other cultures. This book is a horizon widener.
3. Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers
Anne Lamott
This is the first book I’ve read by Anne Lamott. I know. I haven’t read The Hobbit yet either. The beauty of this work is its simplicity. You’ll find yourself saying these three simple prayers dozens of times a day. Really.
2. The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business
Patrick Lencioni
Every organization (church) must have absolute clarity about its mission, vision, and strategy. Who doesn’t agree, right? But Lencioni’s genius is identifying six questions, the answers to which provide that clarity for leaders and members. If you can’t seem to “get it together” in putting your church on mission, this book is a must.
1. Deep & Wide: Creating Churches Unchurched People Love to Attend
Andy Stanley
Stanley makes a compelling case for our need to turn the church from outward, toward the world. This goes well beyond what we’ve come to know as “seeker sensitive” tactics; it is a new conception for what the church is and how it accomplishes its mission. The book has two great values. One is the conceptual foundation for what I now call Church 2.0—an outward-facing church. The other is practical help in creating that kind of congregation. If you only read one book this year other than the Bible, make it this one.
"Bob Hostetler's approach to what some consider a cynical book of the Bible is seasoned with humor, shot through with honesty, and potentially life-changing” (Josh McDowell, author of More Than a Carpenter).It can be purchased at your local Christian bookstore, on Amazon, at Christianbook.com, or by contacting me.
"Bob Hostetler only gets better with every book. In Life Stinks, he shows how the world’s reeking unfairness and brimstone breaths can be confronted by a holy halitosis, and the stenches of a daily grind sanctified into the very eau de Jesus" (Leonard Sweet, author of What Matters Most and the E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at Drew Theological School at Drew University.
"Strangely, Ecclesiastes is one of my favorite books of the Bible. It is honest. True to life. So down-to-earth, you feel the mud on your shoes as you walk through its pages. At times it sounds downright cynical. But while bluntly unmasking the futility of life, it also points to the source of hope. With customary insight and wit, Bob Hostetler helps us delve into the strange but wonderful wisdom of Ecclesiastes as it asks the questions the rest of the Bible was written to answer" (Dr. David Faust, president of Cincinnati Christian University).
“Yeah, sure, Bob Hostetler has degrees hanging on the wall, a shelf filled with books he has written, and literally decades of experience as a preacher. But, he's still just a down-to-earth guy. He shares, rather than lectures. He teaches, rather than criticizes. He loves, rather than admonishes. Pick up this book, get a cup of coffee, and enjoy an up-lifting visit with this wise but humble man” (Dr. Dennis E. Hensley, author of Jesus in the 9 to 5).
"Life Stinks...and Then You Die (Living Well in a Sick World) is the intriguing title of Bob Hostetler's engaging exposition of the book of Ecclesiastes. With equally clever titles for each chapter such as "Life Is Like a Box of Chocolates: It Can Be Sweet, but It Can Make You Sick, Too," Hostetler introduces each chapter with challenging situations to which the biblical author, whom he felicitously names "Solomon's alter ego," can provide insightful lessons so that life "under the sun" is not just an evanescent vapor, but is a life well lived before the Creator. Each chapter is accompanied by a prayer, and also a guide for discussion, which makes the book suitable both for private edification, and for group discussions. I recommend it most highly to all (Edwin Yamauchi, Professor of History, Miami University).
"Bob Hostetler has a knack for presenting life-changing truth in an entertaining and compelling way. He does it again with this book" (Mike Erre, Senior Pastor of the First Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton, CA, and author of Why the Bible Matters).
