Learning all the Way...

Before we dream again, Samuel Wells in his new book calls us to learn to love again, to live again, to think, read, feel again, and finally, we may be ready to learn to dream again. Learning to Dream Again is published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. at (www.eerdmans.com).

Wells is now vicar of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London, and Visiting Professor of Christian Ethics at King’s College, London. Before that, for seven years he was dean of the chapel at Duke University and a professor at Duke Divinity School, North Carolina. And if these essays and meditations sound like chapel talks, some probably were. I can hear the students chuckling as they follow his lead, sometimes hiding a tear or two.

Chapel time is brief. But in a book you can have a whole chapter or more on one point, and Wells uses the space to his advantage. And he sounds like what he is, an excellent teacher and preacher, with three points here and nine points under the third point—almost too much, except it’s all interesting, even captivating.

In the beginning of each chapter, Wells tells us what he is going to tell us. And then he begins, casting his line in elusive spots, patiently drawing us in to think along with him. He tells memorable stories, relates incidents in our own history and earlier times. He applies Old and New Testament stories to our concerns and I think readers’ hearts will be quick to settle in, thinking and applying those Scripture stories to our current situations and concerns, including abortion, taxation, torture, the arts, science, hunger, sports, marriage, work and leisure, politics, justice, forgiveness, and eventually, death. Wells asks how did Moses and Isaiah and other OT leaders do it? How did Jesus advise and conclude in the situations he faced?

There is so much “good stuff” in this book, it will take readers a long time to take it all in, listen, reflect, apply to their lives. So, you better begin soon.

—Lois Sibley

Hildegard's Spiritual Reader

Hildegard was born in 1098, the tenth child in a noble family in Bermersheim, near Mainz, Germany. Her family gave her as a tithe to the church, not uncommon then. In 1112, at age 14 she entered a hermitage attached to a monastery and Benedictine convent at St. Disibod Abbey in Disibodenberg. In her late 30s, Hildegard was elected by the nuns as their abbess. Some years later, in 1150, Hildegard and 20 nuns left St. Disibod and started another convent at Rupertsberg, 19 miles northeast, near Bingen on the Rhine River. In 1165, Hildegard again founded a new convent, at Eibingen, just across the Rhine River, so she could visit there often. 

From an early age, Hildegard had visions and prophecies that she believed God commanded her to write down and share. She chose to write in Latin, and Hildegard’s own Latin style created “memorable challenges,” says author and translator Carmen Acevedo Butcher. A prolific author, Hildegard produced three volumes of theology, her own musical compositions, poetry, and a morality play called The Play of the Virtues.  In  her 60s, she wrote an encyclopedia on plants, elements, trees, stones, fish, birds, animals, reptiles, and metals. And between 1158–1170, she went on four preaching tours (we might say missions) to nearby towns, preaching in both monasteries and public places. All of this from a woman who often had health problems, such as exhaustions, fevers, breathing difficulties and perhaps migraine headaches.

Because she was “well-connected,” and well-known through her writings, Hildegard had many opportunities for correspondence with both secular and religious leaders and she never hesitated to tell these leaders what she believed God wanted them to do. In Hildegard of Bingen, author Butcher provides the life story of Hildegard along with excerpts from her songs, poetry, books and correspondence, thus the subtitle “A Spiritual Reader.” This book is available from www.paracletepress.com. There is a good map at the beginning and a helpful time-line near the end. A DVD is available at www.Hildegardthemovie.com. 

Many years after Hildegard’s death at 81 in 1179, Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday, October 7, 2012, proclaimed St. Hildegard of Bingen, Doctor of the Church—the fourth woman to be so honored. It’s easy to see that St. Hildegard was a multi-tasking person, and a Benedictine follower of the Rule, who spent her life serving the Triune God where he had placed her.

—Lois Sibley

The journey goes on and on...

In 1985, Word Publishers offered a new book called Evangelicals on the Canterbury Trail by Robert Webber, a professor of theology at Wheaton College, Illinois. The subtitle is "Why Evangelicals Are Attracted to the Liturgical Church," and Webber, who had been watching his own, his students’, friends’, families’ experiences with worship, began with his story of changes. This was followed by six stories from other evangelicals who found themselves no longer comfortable in whatever church or denomination or worship experience they were in, and who were eager to learn more. Looking for liturgy as the early church practiced it, was a challenge and these particular evangelicals were each drawn into the Episcopal Church in the 1980s.
　
Webber pointed out that there were many other churches looking for and using these early liturgies that contain the Scriptures, the Creeds, early prayers and the use of God’s gifts to his people: the sacraments. Today, five years after Webber’s death, one may find the use of these liturgies among Anglicans, Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, Pentecostals, Presbyterians, Orthodox, Roman Catholics, independent churches and others—not just Episcopalians. Editor Lester Ruth, who is an ordained Methodist pastor and research professor of Christian worship at Duke Divinity School, as well as worship history teacher at Webber’s Instititue for Worship Studies, reminds us that it was often an article or book by Webber that "opened believers to the possibility that paying careful attention to history’s treasures is a valid path toward faithfulness and renewal in worship."
　
Webber’s book is " testimony to his own journey" writes Ruth in this revised edition as he offers Webber’s ideas as a guide for those looking for help with their spiritual journeys. This time it is published with Morehouse Press, www.churchpublishing.org and
with Webber’s preface and introduction as well as his first six chapters. Then, a new group of six describe their recent pilgrimages. The book concludes with brief chapters by four friends of Webber’s who were there, and who assess his contributions and influences on the church as it is today.
 　
—Lois Sibley

"If you're happy and you know it...

Clap your hands." Or stamp your feet. And, read Joan Chittister’s book called Happiness, now in paperback and published by Eerdmans. Click on www.eerdmans.com for more information. A Benedictine sister and  author of more than 40 books, Chittister’s plan here is to "dig," as archeologists dug, down through the ages. She thinks of it as "a great happiness dig" and she hopes readers will follow, as she discovers how happiness has been defined in earlier times. She calls Happiness "a work in progress" and she hopes that readers, after having read her ideas, will each "form a kind of philosophy of happiness" for themselves.
　
Chittister writes that "life is about developing the skills for living...about discovering what it really takes to be happy. And that takes a long, long time." She quotes from a world values survey and some social surveys as well as from Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Gandhi, Immanuel Kant, and many others. She reports that happiness is a universal concept, one for "serious reflection." We know if we are happy or not, or we think we do, she says. And happiness, or the lack of it, often forms our day-to-day choices.
　
Her section on religion is especially interesting as she gives a brief but helpful overview of what those in Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam believe about happiness and how their beliefs affect their lives in practical ways. Putting together their similarities feels like looking at a huge inter-faith stew getting ready for the taste test. All the herbs and spices are carefully mixed and added for the best possible taste and soon we may be allowed to try a tiny sip. The chef will be eager to hear our reactions.
　
But I was disappointed in the ways Chittister defined Christianity. Our God is a Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We often think of him as Creator, Redeemer, and Friend. And Jesus is much more than a model of good behavior for those seeking happiness. So some of my early enthusiasm fell away near the end of this otherwise fascinating book. No doubt, Happiness was planned as a "popular" book, and it is. Chittister’s fans will appreciate it and will turn to it more than once.
　
—Lois Sibley

Finding Joy in the Triune God

Author Michael Reeves offers his book as an opportunity for readers to "taste and see that the Lord is good," as Scripture says in Psalm 34:8. Delighting in the Trinity, An Introduction to the Christian Faith is published by IVP Academic. Click on www.ivpacademic.com to see more.
　
Reeves reminds us that "Christianity is about knowing God." We may think of God as a mystery, which he is, but this triune God has also revealed himself to us, and we can learn to know him and how he affects everything we see and hear and do.
　
Reeves is theological adviser for the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship (UCCF) in the United Kingdom. He oversees Theology Network, a theological resources website. That means that he spends a lot of time talking with students, answering questions, sharing his knowledge of Scripture, providing quotes and ideas of many Christians over the centuries of church history, and what they have written and said about our Triune God. He includes in his book a list of Image Credits for the many photos and images spread throughout his text, and an index of the Scripture references he uses.
　
Those whose work he quotes and explains include Gregory of Nyssa, St. Hilarius, Aristotle, Karl Barth, C. S. Lewis, Jonathan Edwards, J. S. Bach, Richard Sibbes, Gerard Manley Hopkins, John Owen, John Milton, Augustine, Martin Luther, Charles Spurgeon, William Tyndale, Thomas Goodwin, John Calvin, R. A. Torrey, Thomas Chalmers and more.

I think Jonathan Edwards has the most quotes, but it is a verbal feast from Reeves and other wise men who knew and know the right words and beliefs to share with those who are just learning and finding joy in the majesty and love of our Triune God.
　
—Lois Sibley

　

Pilgrimage to the Holy Land

When Ruth Everhart was invited to participate in a ten-day pilgrimage to the Holy Land, she thought about it for awhile. As Presbyterian minister of a church in the Washington, D.C. suburbs, busy with both family and church, she realized that even after college, seminary, and 20 years of ministry, she still had some spiritual questions of her own.

　
The plan was for a group of seven clergy to be part of a documentary, called "Pilgrimage Project." The group was somewhat ecumenical, consisting of one Episcopalian, one Lutheran, two Presbyterians, one Southern Baptist, one from a nondenominational church, and one who had never been to seminary but was involved in prison ministry.
　
Film maker Brian Ide wanted the clergy to each take a turn leading one of their worship services during the trip, as "a way of sharing faith traditions," and he encouraged their discussing differences as well. In Jerusalem, they would join a group of 30 people, also on pilgrimage, sharing with them the facilities at St. George’s College. Stephen Need, dean of the college, would serve as their host and provide lectures and information for both groups. They would follow Jesus' life from Bethlehem to Galilee, then back to Jerusalem for the final days of his story.
　
It sounded good. So one morning in September 2005, Brian, two cameramen and the seven clergy met at St. Bart’s Episcopal Church in New York City and began their pilgrimage. One of the results is Chasing the Divine in the Holy Land by Ruth Everhart, one of the two Presbyterian clergy members in the group. It is published by Eerdmans, click on www.eerdmans.com for more.
　
Ruth discovered that the pilgrimage was demanding but rewarding. She wrote that "she came to follow the Spirit, to encounter Jesus in his land, amid his stories." She kept two records: one, a journal of talks by Dean Need, and also, her notebook of personal prayers as she saw with her own eyes where Jesus walked and talked.
　

There was a lot to cover in those ten days and sometimes Ruth felt that "everything was too hurried, with no time to just stop and think about it." She said "the pilgrim’s journey is hard to process, let alone share, we all need space to think." She concludes her book with sections on Themes for Pilgrims, and on Questions for Pilgrims—both of which may help readers think through all they have learned as Ruth shared her pilgrimage with us. Note: the documentary was never completed but some footage is in the book trailer. Click on Eerdmans’ web page. 

　

—Lois Sibley

Learning to say "Enough"

Enough, Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity, www.abingdonpress.com is not a new book, but it has been recently revised and updated by author Adam Hamilton, who is eager that each of us learn how the Bible’s wisdom will help us to find and use "prudent financial practices" for a life filled with joy and contentment.

In the ongoing financial crises we, our nation, and the world, seem to be caught in, that sounds impossible, doesn’t it? But Hamilton has some excellent ideas and suggestions that should help each one who reads his book and applies his ideas to their own situations.
　
Hamilton, who is senior pastor of a United Methodist church in Kansas, suggests that, with God’s help, we can simplify our lives. We can change our longings for "more" and "better," and we can learn to be content with what God gives us. Many pages include a quote from a well-known person or from the Scriptures, meant to encourage us as we think through Hamilton's ideas.
　
The Shakers are remembered as those who pointed out the importance of "simple gifts," in one of their hymns and Hamilton uses it to focus on how we might "simplify our lives, enjoy what we have, give more generously, and use our money and possessions" in the ways God intends. A challenge, yes, but the results may bring much joy into the lives of those who do it.
　
Hamilton means his book to be a guide and a source of inspiration and encouragement. He calls for readers to set goals and make plans. He offers lists, such as "six financial planning principles," "four keys to cultivating contentment," "five steps for simplifying your life." And he provides a closing page for each chapter that includes Scripture references, asking readers to apply each to his/her own situation. He discusses the importance of tithing on one’s income and how to do it, and the results that will come as we learn to give: contentment and joy.
　
His last chapter is on overcoming fear. We all experience fears of one kind or another and he offers "three keys to overcoming fear." And finally, Hamilton provides tools and tips on financial management, including ideas for credit card pay-off strategies. Highly recommended.
　
—Lois Sibley