Christian Meditation: My Favorite Books To Guide Us

Salvador Dali-From Above

Prayer includes reading but reading isn't prayer. For a long I tried to read about prayer and meditation rather than actually praying and finally woke up to the precious gift of meditation.   I am not talking about navel gazing or self help but uniquely Christ centered meditation that is a part of the work day.   These books helped to guide me.  Maybe they can help you awaken too.

The Psalms-really all you need
A Guide to Prayer (For Ministers...)  Job and Shawchuck
Contemplative Prayer, Thomas Merton
My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers
Prayer and also The Celebration of Discipline,  Both by Richard J. Foster
The Sacrament of the Present Moment, by Jean Pierre DeCassade
Paths to Prayer, Patricia Brown
The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, St. John
Soul Feast, by Marjorie Thompson
Centering Prayer, by M. Basil Pennington
The Interior Castle, by St Teresa of Avila
The Book of Romans and the Book of Ephesians, Holy Bible
The Good and Beautiful God, by James Bryan Smith

As I have written, this topic gets more hits than any other.

These Three things are important for the journey but all you really need to a heart open for God:  1- a good study Bible, 2-A Group or person to share the journey, and 3-access to good prayer literature.

Google Books has many of the classics as a free download or excerpts.  My guys are welcome to stop by the office and borrow rather than buy.  God has already given you everything you need by His grace.  Jump in the deep end of the prayer pool.  The risen Christ is waiting to catch you.


 

Atlas Shrugged: Discovering John Galt For the Next Century *updated 8-27*

 I was watching Book TV on CSPAN, in between books and wringing my hands over some future planning and along comes a man who used Ayn Rand's novels as a sort of apocalypse.  I believe it was Tom Bowden (see  http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=media_ThomasABowden ) but can't find the video to verify that.  He asked the question, "Who in John Galt" and applied modern political situations and players to "Atlas Shrugged".  I was intrigued enough to get a copy from the library.  Really though, should I invest the time to read 1000 pages of microscopic type?  Apparently these are among those books that every hip 50 something should have read but that isn't enough to pursuade me.  After 120 pages my answer is yes and I am going to invite you to journey with me.  Why?

First, it addresses the world of the 1950's, a world overwhelmed with post WWII change.  Like the transportation business in the '50's, our time honored industries are not guaranteed to be the same as always or even exist.  Second, our creativity in music, film and the arts are shown to be in full retreat.  Everything from cigarettes to music are celebrating mediocrity and sneering at excellence.This cuts me to the heart as I read that "Dirty Dancing" and "Charlie's Angels" are being remade while the arts, the seeds of creative thought, are being cut from public schools.     Third, the free market was challenged seriously then.  In our day it is  on the edge of extinction.  Finally, it is well written. I read about 20 books a year and the thought of a aging "social novel", leaves me cold.  I have enough hidden agendas in my life.  Rand is a poet more than novelist.  The wordsmithing is intoxicating. It is still a best seller after 47 years.  

Join me on this Journey.  I am taking it on vacation and reading it while the others are asleep.  Maybe this book has a germ of truth and maybe it is heresy. It is certainly not a Christian book.  Christ is hidden in here somewhere.  There is no way to know without plowing through.  It is going to take a while but I want to know, "Who is John Galt?" I have no interest in video walls, the movie or Fox News's opinion and will update this regularly as we go.  Share where you care.

8-20-11:  I am not quite to the half way point.  This book has a real resonance with me.  Rand draws me into the uncertainty of the times just as the 24 hour news channels draw me into the uncertainty of today.  The stock market drops and rises along with fuel prices while the good guys seem to fade while the greedy and manipulative "Dagney is finding herself without losing her competitive edge by aligning herself with a small but courageous competitor, which she admires, and helping his small railroad to defeat the evil empire of the "National Alliance of Railroads".  It is like an Olympian helping a fallen runner up before continuing the race.  Integrity is hard to find in tense times and I am left to wonder what back-room deals are really driving my career, fuel prices and retirement investments.

The Lesson for Life?  Competition is good, even in the church, but there is no need to kill.  It takes us all and creativity is not the enemy.  Obviously, every one would be better by being just like me, (insert laughter here) but it takes all shapes and sized.  Who is John Galt?  The answer in here and in the present to those who seek.

8-27-11  "Who is John Galt", is a cry for answers to the unanswerable.  The more I read the longer it gets, wow.  Whether medical things, economic things or state of society things, we are swimming in a see of either unanswered or unanswerable questions.  Massive change and the few people of courage to make necessary change happen is the main exploration of Rand.  The characters keep developing and fleshing out but the questions remain.

The lesson for life...now and then read a 1000 page book.  The 500 word bits that everything seems to come in will ruin you for deeper thought.  This is a pounding but is worth the investment.  The trick is to keep from being one of those who are warming themselves around Merton's campfire of answers to questions we are too cowardly to ask. 

Photo Essay: Fishing as a Means of Grace (Click on the Photos to Enlarge)

I got up to fish this morning but the prayer was better than the fishing.  The reality of Jesus Christ in my life is what got me out of bed. The work of a Pastor is a life and not a job and for this I am most grateful.  This living reality drives me to pray and to want more-more into and out of prayer.  I have little control over the outcome of prayer but I can control the environment of prayer.  There are times and places that open me up.  Being outdoors, especially at the daily transitions of sunrise and sunset, provide the most spiritual of moments. This is why I am here

The sunrise is a mystical thing.  It comes gradually as does the life in Christ.  Slowly things are revealed and the more you look the more you see.  The birth of this day shows nothing but possibility.  The temperature  never went down overnight.  The lake is low and the hot smell is more like a porta-potty than the great outdoors.  The shore is 20 feet further out than usual and a the day yields a hint of natures undergarments.  The shore slimes around abandoned fishing line and weed tangled boards.  I feel the spiritual neglect of the past few weeks. The sun comforts and quiets me.






The drought has beached the cattails.  They are struggling to stay alive in the high and dry.  The water's edge has an uncomfortable collection of sewer tiles and toilet parts.  Along with the foul smell, this makes me reluctant to get my hands in it.  This life gets beached and foul sometimes.  Some of my junk gets revealed and people get to see things that only God is privy.  Junk that I can usually keep hidden under the placid waters.

The pond lilies are in varying stages of bloom today.  With the lake down I can walk up to them.  My mind wander to  a conversation overheard in a restaurant once.  A Vietnamese lady was explaining the importance of water Lillis to a Buddhist.  These Lillis thrive when the mud is the most foul.  Out of the stench rises a beautiful blossom.  They filter the yuck and make it clean.  The water clears around the pads and the frogs, bugs and fish gravitate toward them.  These Lillis remind me of days in the past that how precious time is.  In Christ is a cleaner and more attractive life today than I had yesterday.  As I connect better with Him, I provide a place for people to grow.

The revelation of the day, the process of transition alive in everything, remind and comfort me.  I am a work in process.  Like Thomas Merton wrote, we should always strive to be beginners in the spiritual life, especially with prayer.  As a beginner I'm less likely to miss the presence of God this morning.  Experts often do.




Maybe someday I will come into full spiritual bloom.  The more I look, the more I see.  It is God who gives the capacity to look, to desire to see.  This is one of those precious mornings that it is more evident.







This would be a great place to put in the picture of my stringer of fish. I have no evidence of fish in the lake today.  I'll leave you with the ruins of an outhouse that has a beautiful view of the lake out its window instead.  We ought to be able to make something meaningful out of that..

Perhaps on the next trip there will be more catching than fishing.  As you know, what you don't catch you don't have to clean.  I did catch a glimpse of myself though. The muck and the blooms all run together.  With the day is a fresh sense of life's potential.

The solitude has done its job.  Time to go to work.

Book Review: "Extraordinary" by John Bevere

"Extraordinary" is a book written for the spiritually stuck. Bevere is begging the reader to break out of the ordinary, live the life God created us for and tells how to do it. God provides everything you need for this extraordinary life and apart from God it is simply out of reach. This is a systematic Christ-ology that is written passionately and personally. Bevere is offering the reader a fellow traveller for the Christian Journey and covers the subject of living the Christian life thoroughly. The journey begins with the opening prayer on page 16 and moves toward a decision. Since this is an important message, mostly aimed at the new or almost believer, a look at the messenger is in order.

Bevere has several videos on youtube including sermons. He writes like he preaches, boldly and "from the battleground and not the playground". His ministry is called Messenger International, which includes his wife and other family members, is international, seems very successful on several levels, and isn't embroiled in any bad news that I can find.

The book is focused on the basics, Biblical and passionate. He is easy to read and reinforces topics like pleasing God, obedience, where God is in the bad times, and others with personal stories and parables. His use of the Lord's Prayer as a framework is very effective. Like his preaching, he is not afraid to address false but popular notions. I found it a bit tedious in places but overall it was interesting. This is not a book for new converts to go solo but would be good for mentoring or a small group. He offers a workbook and some recorded helps which I have not seen so please check them first. "Extraordinary" would make a good study for a new member, baptism, older youth or young adult class.

The book is solid and I am glad that I read it. I could have done without some of the agendas and rants but he is allowed. He writing style is clear, quotable, and efficient. This is important stuff but I had a hard time getting pumped up by it. Maybe it was just the moment. I am not above being challenged to be more for God.



Thanks to Multnomah Press for giving me this book free in exchange for this review and thank you for reading my blog.