“Sorry I’ve Been Busy!” How to Bring Your Life Back Into Focus

March 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment
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(Arthur Boers, Living Into Focus: Choosing What Matters in an Age of Distractions, Brazos Press, 2012, 226 pages) "I'm sorry it's taken us so long to get in touch. I've just been so busy recently." I hear myself and my friends make apologies along these lines far too frequently. But "busyness" is rarely an idle excuse. Most of us are overwhelmed with responsibilities much of the time. And it can be easy to slip into the trap of wearing our busyness as a badge of honor or of trying to prove … [Read more...]

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Sermon Series Retrospective: “Holy Adventure”

March 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment
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For Lent 2011, we studied Bruce Epperly's book Holy Adventure: 41 Days of Audacious Living. The following are the sermon titles and a brief excerpt of the content: “Life Is a Holy Adventure” Being fully present — even to the most mundane tasks — can allow you to experience the sacred and cultivate gratitude for the simple joy of being alive. “Transforming God” What does it look like to read the Bible for “formation” instead of “information?” Why would you want to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Book Reviews, Lent, Mysticism, Process Theology, Sermon Series Retrospective, Spiritual Direction, Spiritual Practices, Uncategorized Leave a Comment

Confessions of a Western Universalist

March 5, 2012 By
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(Rajiv Malhotra, Being Different: An Indian Challenge to Western Universalism, HarperCollins, 2011, 474 pages) Rajiv Malhotra's latest book challenges many Western assumptions. He invites his Western readers to see their worldview through the eyes of India. Having read a fair amount of postmodern philosophy, I was sympathetically inclined to his general perspective, but I am willing to confess that at the end of the book I remain, for better or worse, a fairly unreconstructed Western … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Book Reviews, Pluralism

How to Decide If You Should Read Diana Butler Bass’ New Book

February 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment
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The latest book from my fellow Patheos blogger Diana Butler Bass arrived on my doorstep last night. I've enjoyed her previous books, and am looking forward to this most recent offering in particular after hearing her lecture a few months ago on some of the book's main themes. In celebration of yesterday's publication date, I'm posting the three links to the blog posts I wrote about those lectures. You may find these posts helpful in discerning if you want to read the whole … [Read more...]

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Cultivating Contentment: Enough Is as Good as a Feast

February 7, 2012 By 1 Comment
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(Adam Hamilton, Enough, Revised and Updated: Discovering Joy through Simplicity and Generosity, Abingdon Press, 2009/2012, 165 pages.) "Enough is as good as a feast," according to proverbial wisdom. Indeed a feast (or an all-you-can-eat buffet) can leave us stuffed, bloated, and miserable. And in this book Adam Hamilton, senior pastor of the well-known and fast-growing United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, invites us to make analogous insights into how we approach … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Book Reviews, Lent 1 Comment

What To Do If You Need a Retreat, But Can’t Leave Home

January 23, 2012 By 2 Comments
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(Paula Huston, Simplifying the Soul: Lenten Practices to Renew Your Spirit, Ave Maria Press, 2011, 170 pages.) I have had the opportunity to go on a few five-day contemplative retreats in recent years: to the Abbey of Gethsemane in Kentucky (where Thomas Merton was cloistered), the hard-to-reach Monastery of Christ in the Desert in New Mexico, and the saguaro-cacti-surrounded Desert House of Prayer in Arizona. Unfortunately, the last of these retreats was more than five years ago. In … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Book Reviews, Lent, Spiritual Practices 2 Comments