ONE WORD 365 // Week 10, Book 10

Catching up here....

The Wagon and Other Stories From the City

By Martin Preib

Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010

I think I originally bought this book via Amazon for my Kindle because it was cheap. I heard nothing about it so it was a complete shot in the dark.

In it Martin Preib shares his memoirs through a series of essays: his days as a beat cop in Chicago as he transports dead bodies and trains new officers, and his time as a doorman at a hotel in downtown and organizing workers for a union vote. Overall the book is more about his observation of the city of Chicago, making it a living character to his stories.

I got the feeling that he really loved Chicago; it was a city that drew him in and wouldn't let him go. But at the same time, he was also very clear about the ugliness that runs the city and the cycle of violence that continues on and on. You get this peek behind the curtain to some degree. Reading his stories from his time as a beat cop made me want to go to Chicago, find a cop and give him or her a hug -- and then go kick down the bureaucrats' doors and tell them to use common sense.

It wasn't all just about his beat cop days. The essays from his time of hauling corpses to the morgue were also good but sad and heavy. Fitting, I suppose. Reading his perspective of death and/or watching him sort through findig death's place in the world was interesting, though heady at times. I also like observing his life as a hotel doorman and how he learned the tricks of the trade. That lightened things up. The book even ended on a higher note as he joined the YMCA and started playing basketball games with the men there. You got the sense that while he often felt like one of the forgotten in the city, it was there he found a small place.

I enjoyed the book. Maybe because I got it free or cheap. But also because Prieb was a "writer" who for the longest time didn't actually write. He did other jobs to free up his time to write. Eventually, he did it, and we have this book. That gives the book an overall sense of victory. It's a testament to the good of the city of Chicago, even when so many ugly things also happen there.

ONE WORD 365 // Weeks 8 & 9, Book 9

Confession: I sped read this book. It was 500 pages long and it was due back to the library today -- I had to get through it.

The Iron Lady: Margaret Thatcher, From Grocer's Daughter To Prime Minister

By John Campbell

New York: Penguin, 2011

I saw the movie The Iron Lady in January and loved it. A bit sadder than I expected but still quite good. I was 3 when Lady Thatcher became Prime Minister, and though while growing up I remember hearing her name on the news, I never really paid much attention to her story, her politics, her place on the world stage. After reading this book and seeing its movie adaptation, I kind of wish that I had been old enough to understand and to care. She was quite the character.

I like politics and international relations. In this day and age, we should each to some degree care about what happens on the world stage. Globalization has made the world so much smaller. And I left this book with a little sadness and/or remorse that I hadn't know more about her while she was Prime Minister.

A few thoughts from reading the book....

The book was very detailed -- from what I could tell through speed reading. The author included a lot of material. He was not all praise, and he was not all condemnation. He seemed fair-handed in his assessment of Lady Thatcher's time in office.

I found myself reading more closely the parts that included her husband Denis, her daughter Carol and the Queen. I read the sections with Denis or Carol because I had seen the movie, in which both were present. The love story/relationship between Margaret and Denis was a large part of the movie so reading more about the real life story was interesting. The movie included her daughter Carol in a role that her daughter probably would not have in real life. In real life Margaret's daughter is quite scathing about her relationship with her mother. And the section discussing the interaction and relationship between Lady Thatcher and the Queen was very interesting (I thought). It wasn't covered in the movie but how it was covered in the book was fascinating.

The movie showed how quickly Lady Thatcher lost her position as Prime Minister. I don't really remember that from growing up (guess I didn't care so much at 14), so when I saw the movie version, I was curious to find out if it happened that fast. Apparently, it did. The book was very descriptive of those three weeks (it happened fast!).

I really enjoyed the book. I loved getting some depth to what the movie portrayed in a couple hours' worth of time. The movie hit most of the high points, though it didn't touch on Lady Thatcher's relationship with America so much (especially with President Reagan) or her fights with the European community or her jet-setting as a world figure. I think the movie did what it set out to do -- show who Margaret Thatcher was and how she might be dealing with dementia now -- and the book more than filled in any blanks.

It was long but I'm glad I (sped) read it.

ONE WORD 365 // Week 7, Book 8

My third book in one week! From my favorite author....

Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis
By Lauren Winner
San Francisco: HarperOne, 2012

I will re-read this book very soon. I kind of devoured it the first time through and I think I need to go through and slowly take it in and digest it.

I just love her writing and storytelling. And her vulnerability is both refreshing and challenging at the same time.

I will be writing more about this book as I read it again. For now I recommend it to anyone in a middle ground, who feel stuck in between the beginning and the end.

ONE WORD 365 // Week 7, Books 6 & 7

Thanks to my friend Beth, I raced through Catching Fire and Mockingjay, the last two books in The Hunger Games series, via the shared book feature on my Kindle app.

 

Catching Fire and Mockingjay
By Suzanne Collins
New York: Scholastic Post, 2009 and 2010

Now I'm officially caught up on all things Hunger Games. And my life feels about the same.

I liked Book 1 and can't wait to see how it comes out in the movie. Book 2 was my favorite. Suzanne Collins built on Book 1 really well in my opinion and gave it enough twists and turns to keep things interesting.

Book 3 was my least favorite. I felt like she rushed to the ending. Like she realized, "Oh shoot! I only have 50 pages left! I need to wrap this up." I was just unsatisfied with how it sped along to wrap things up. And I didn't like that Peeta didn't play as large of a role.

All that said, I still bought Book 1 for my nephews and they raced through them in a couple days. I'll get the two books for them as well because I think it's a fun read overall.

ONE WORD 365 // Weeks 5 & 6, Book 5

OK, so it took me almost two weeks to finish my Week 5 book. It's finished and ready to be returned to the library. And I still have two days to cram in a book for Week 6.

Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City
By Greg Grandin
New York: Metropolitan Books, 2009

I found this title while looking through the list of award winners on Amazon. Rather than buy it, I found it through my local library.

Two things drew me to this book: 1) History connected to Henry Ford and Dearborn, Mich., and 2) the idea of depositing an ideal American society into the Amazon jungle.

What a fascinating read. It gives the history to the hows and whys Henry Ford sought to build a city along the Amazon and gives the details of how it started and ultimately failed. It was interesting to read how Ford changed his tune as his quest for growing rubber failed. The reason for being in the Amazon suddenly became a "civilizing mission," to transplant American society to the people of the Amazon.

The overall story is kind of sad. Henry Ford had big dreams but it seems he also suffered from tunnel vision. He wanted to simply recreate the operation that worked in Michigan. Except that it was an entirely different culture of people and ecosystem, and no adjustments or concessions were made for those. The whole project might have worked if Ford were more flexible and engaged more with the land, the ecosystem and the people. But he just sent teams down to set up shop and create a little American town in the Amazon jungle without planning for what might happen.

That said, if you have time, read it.

There is a solid book review from the NY Times here: "Dearborn-on-Amazon"

On finishing I started "googling" Fordlandia. Seeing this place in person is now on my bucket list and I wanted to see if there were any recent pictures, to see if any others travelers have since been to Fordlandia and sister city Belterra (Ford's second attempt and perhaps more successful venture). I found one guy who added it to his Amazon visit also after reading the book. His travel blog is here. He has a link to a Facebook page with a bunch of photos from his stop there, including some from the Ford water tower in Fordlandia. They are worth a look, especially if you've read the book: Fordlandia and Belterra on Facebook.

ONE WORD 365 // Week 4, Book 4

I went with something "lighter" this week....

Hunger Games
By Suzanne Collins
New York: Scholastic Press, 2008

"Welcome, and Happy Hunger Games!"

I had planned on reading this but the wait list for a copy through the public library was forever long. And then I saw the trailer for the movie. That's it. I bought the Kindle edition.

And once I started, it was easy to get through. Loved it. Now I need the next two...

I don't have much of a review here. It's a great story and if you don't mind being caught reading teen science fiction/fantasy, then you should pick it up.

I'll leave you with this:

ONE WORD 365 // Week 3, Book 3

Let's catch up here...

While You Were Micro-Sleeping: Fresh Insights on the Changing Face of North American Missions
By Steve Moore
Stone Mountain, GA: The Mission Exchange, 2009

This book was required reading for the team at Global Initiative, the missions organization that I will be joining this year.

Each chapter is a transcript from video blogs (vlogs) that The Mission Exchange hosted starting in 2008, called Learning @ the Speed of Life. The point of the blogs (and the book) is to remind people that to stop learning, even for a short time, brings the risk of irrelevance.

I read the book with my upcoming work with the Global Initiative team and audience in mind.

The book read quickly; the chapters were not long. And since the subject matter was interesting, it didn't take much effort to read. And it will be easy to flip back and re-read particular chapters for reminders.

The one that stuck with me the most after the first reading was chapter 3, "Where's Your Green Line?" A "green line" is "the line of activity or behavior that if someone crosses it [you] perceive them to be 'out of bounds' as it relates to [your] conviction about being a good steward of creation" (11).

Ever since seminary and moving back from L.A. I have become more of a "tree hugger." I did some focused study on creation care and our job (as humanity and as Christians) to care for the earth in grad school. I started recycling as much as possible, using less energy in the house and became a strict vegetarian, all in an effort to make my "carbon footprint" smaller. I seek to consume less and reuse more. I cook and bake more from scratch; I shop local and organic as often as possible. I use the Better World Shopper when making my purchases.

So where is my green line? I encourage others to do the same but not in a militant way. If they want to eat meat or consume diary, I encourage them to source it locally and for goodness sake, don't eat at McDonalds, etc. I suggest that maybe they could layer clothes and turn the heat down some in winter (saves energy and money).

This chapter goes on to encourage leaders to consider where their green line is and if it can be moved to reach a younger generation of people that are concerned about the environment. I love these words:

Please understand these people have not been brainwashed by environmental "whackos." Their beliefs about creation care have been shaped by a journey of spiritual formation as an extension of biblical discipleship. They can't conceive of an authentic and growing relationship with Jesus that doesn't somehow express itself with a concern for the environment....an increasing number of them won't want to work for your organization or give to your ministry or volunteer for your projects if your green line is too far way from theirs. (12)

This is me. I never thought this would be me; but it's me. And I wonder how the Global Initiative office has responded to it. I guess I'll find out soon enough.

There is a difference between a method and a value. If moving your green line is a method to attract a new group of people to your organization instead of a value that is being expressed in your organizational culture, your lack of authenticity will be obvious and you maybe going backward instead of forward as it relates to building trust with the very people you want to attract. (12)

I hope to be pleasantly surprised at the green line at Global Initiative, but if things don't meet my green line, I hope I can help out.

ONE WORD 365 // Book 2, Week 2

The second book in my quest to read one book per week in 2012 was...

Erasing Hell: What God said about eternity, and the things we made up
By Francis Chan and Preston Sprinkle
Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2011

Confession: I downloaded Rob Bell's Love Wins the day that it came out and started reading it while sitting in missionary associate orientation. I don't remember how it took me to read. Not long. I finished it rather quickly. Now it's been a while since I've read it so any reflection I type here will be rather vague.

I remember agreeing with Bell about seeing the kingdom of heaven here and now. But things feel apart for me after that -- that hell is here now as well (don't quiz me on his exact position; I'd need to go back and read through it again).

I liked what Chan had to say in Erasing Hell and tracked with him through his process. I think I understood the overall gist of Bell in Love Wins and agreed with some. I also really liked the footnotes in Chan's book; they dug in a little deeper.

I marked a few things (via the Kindle app*) as I read along:

1) "Don't get so lost in deciphering that you forget to tremble." (Page 87)

Creator God invented justice and knows what everyone deserves. And he didn't leave it to me or you or any human to figure out. "He has only asked us to embrace His Word and bow the knee, to tremble at His Word..." (Pages 86-87) This reminds me that we can have these conversations and we can talk about these questions but don't lose sight of God or stop trembling before the One who knows.

2) "Could it be that his [Paul's] drive to reach the lost was directly related to his willingness to ponder their fate if he didn't reach them at all? It sure appears so." (Page 98)

Chan here is talking about Paul's efforts to reach unbelievers and wonders, "Would Paul be so motivated if he didn't also believe that there would be punishment for those who didn't believe?" This sounds like a "if it's good enough for Paul, it should be good for me" theory.

3) "Maybe we don't want to admit that we believe in a God who is so free to do whatever He wants." (Page 128)

And then...

4) "...The more important question is not whether or not you want to, but could you believe these things, if in fact God says they are true?" (Page 130)

These two books (Chan & Bell) cover (or uncover as the case may be) some unpopular and/or difficult-to-swallow topics. But I like where Chan takes this discussion. Ultimately, can we know the answer? I don't think we can be fully certain, though we might have a glimpse of the answer. One phrase I took from seminary is "don't paint yourself in a corner." Don't cling so tightly to your theory that you don't leave room for any other option or God. Chan's point here is: Will you leave room for the idea that God just might show his wrath and judgment in a way that seems unfair to us? Can you still believe in a God like that?

My answer was, "Yes. I could believe in a God like that."And then I continue with: "Now let's work for God's kingdom to come here on earth now."

Have you read both Chan's and Bell's book? One or the other? Thoughts?

*Page numbers above from the Kindle app

ONE WORD 365 // Week 1, Book 1

Ok, I'm finally getting around to writing down my thoughts about the first book in my quest to read one book per week in 2012.

Parade of Faiths: Immigration and American Religion
by Jenna Weissman Joselit
New York: Oxford University Press, 2001

I found this book at Brattle Book Shop while in Boston for New Year's. It was too cold to scour through all the books outside -- and too close to closing time. I'll need a return visit for that.

It was a quick read; I started and finished it on the plane rides home to Nashville.

The book has a simple outline and premise -- how immigrants and their faiths arrived and planted themselves in America. It devotes full chapters to Protestant, Catholic and Jewish immigration and lumps all remaining religions in one chapter. The first three chapters were good and gave good insight into the Judeo-Christian background of much of America. I was most interested in the more recent immigration experiences of the Chinese and Japanese, the Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims, but all of that information was crammed into the last chapter.

This book is a basic starting point for anyone researching faith and immigration in America. The stories are interesting, though pretty basic and taken from other historic accounts. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in studying faith in America and immigration as a starting point. It won't take long to read and I'll loan you my copy if you're interested.

LIFE IN TENNESSEE // Hospitality

Last week I had the honor of teaching the ladies of The Church At Indian Lake during the Wednesday night service. I thought I would post my musings here for those who didn't hear it, including the men who had a separate teaching.

*****

I had been thinking about hospitality and what it means to show hospitality. I was inspired by a friend's entry in the Live Dead Journal. Here's an excerpt from Day 23, "Hospitality: Our Faith in Action":

There is a knock at my door and my heart sinks. I anticipate who stands on other side. It is a neighbor who knows that I am home. She loves to spend time together, although the language barrier is so great we can barely communicate. I feel like a prisoner in my own home! She knows I am home, so choosing not to answer my door is to risk offending her.

I go to the door. Suspicions are confirmed and I invite her inside. I smile outwardly and grumble inwardly. At this point I am new on the field and a young mom with two toddlers. I enjoy spending time with this neighbor, but she always seems to knock at the most inconvenient moment--and this day is no exception. I offer her a seat in my living room as I go to the kitchen to prepare something to drink. Alone in my kitchen, I throw my hands in the air and "scream" in a whisper, "I don't even want you to be here!"

Alone in my kitchen? I might as well have spoken those words in front of an audience of thousands. More sobering is that I had just spoken those words in front of Jesus Christ himself. Just months earlier I had stood before churches that sent me overseas for opportunities like this very one--and yet here I was in my kitchen, resentful of the "imposition." God forbid that I ever see a human soul as an imposition..." (Live Dead Journal 2011, 122).

The entry goes on to talk about how hospitality is faith in action, how hospitality is us extending Jesus' heart to others and looking for God's plan in the midst of seemingly inconvenient moments.

I've been doing some reminiscing recently as I prepare to leave my home of 14 years. And thinking about the good times, the difficult times, what I would do the same, what I would do differently. And I've been thinking more about my house and my neighborhood as I sit and wait for a buyer. Putting those two things together, I think, "How have I shown hospitality to those around me?" Answer: Uh, not very well--at least not to my literal neighbors.

But hospitality is about more than just opening my house to my neighbors, though it is that, too. This is about a different attitude and change of heart towards people. It is about fellowship and sharing a meal, but it is also about the relationships made.

One of my classes in grad school looked at hospitality. We used the book Making Room by Christine Pohl. As I read the above entry, I revisited the topic and the book and put some of these thoughts together.

The tradition of hospitality was once the practice of welcoming strangers into one's home with the offer of food, shelter and protection. It covered physical, social and spiritual aspects of life. But more than just meeting needs of a person, hospitality was about recognizing people's worth and our common humanity. It was (and is!) about seeing others in the image of Christ. "Hospitality is central to the meaning of the gospel...a lens through which we can read and understand the gospel, and a practice by which we can welcome Jesus himself" (Pohl 1999, 6). We welcome others as Christ welcomed us.

In the early days of the Church, hospitality was a means for the spread of the gospel; it went above any ethnic or national distinctions in the Church; and it was for the care of the sick, the strangers and the pilgrims. Hospitality was meant to build relationships with family and friends, but also to include those on the outside, to bring them into relationship as well.

Pohl talks about the definition of hospitality, using the Greek word philoxenia. That Greek word combines the general word for love or affection (philo) and the word for strangers (xenos) (31). It literally means "love for strangers" or "stranger love" if you will. So, by definition showing hospitality is showing love to strangers. But aren't all believers considered aliens here on earth and citizens of heaven? We're all strangers here. Showing hospitality is about caring for physical and social needs of family and friends and strangers, and about developing the spiritual dimensions of those relationships, too.

That said, how do we reclaim the art and the practice of hospitality?

There certainly are opportunities for offering hospitality; I don't think anyone would disagree with that. Pohl even thinks that our situation today is much like the situation of the early church:

"We, like the early church, find ourselves in a fragmented and multicultural society that yearns for relationships, identity and meaning. Our mobile and self-oriented society is characterized by disturbing levels of loneliness, alienation and estrangement. In a culture that appears at times to be overtly hostile to life itself, those who reject violence and embrace life bear powerful witness" (33).

This thought by Pohl still makes sense, even 12 years after publishing. People are hungry for relationships and to be known. Maybe they feel connected through social media (Facebook, Twitter), but are people really connected in those virtual worlds?

I can feel like I know complete strangers based on our interaction on Twitter--but I don't really know them. And then there are the widows and orphans, the homeless and destitute among us. How do we reach out and connect to them? It will require doing more and opening ourselves up more.

It was probably easier in the "olden days"--when the community took on all the physical, social and spiritual needs of the family, acquaintances, strangers and foreigners within it. Consider Israel of the Old Testament or the early Church of the New Testament--meeting the needs of those who lived among the community. Nowadays we have others to do that for us. We have hospitals for the sick, orphanages for the orphans, shelters for the homeless, retirement communities for the elderly and so on (57). It doesn't take much for us to show hospitality as we deliver canned goods to the food bank, coats to the shelters, make dinners for the sick, etc. We have specialists to do the day-to-day with those people. Giving to those institutions is good, but something more is required for true hospitality.

We also have to overcome our own American mindset. We like our privacy; we like to retreat into our homes after a long day at work or at school or just being out in the community. "A man's home is his castle." But oftentimes I think we make those castles into fortresses; we shut the outside world out. "No one's getting in here right now. I need to my space." [Raising my hand] I'm guilty of this. I could easily be a hermit; just shut myself up in my house for days at a time. This is not the best behavior for showing hospitality.

Where do we start? I think of my friend above. What needed to happen in her? I think of my hermit self. What must happen in me? It's about a change of heart, a new perspective on people.

Pohl notes that hospitality begins in worship. Hospitality is about God's grace and generosity, and not about my duty or responsibility. This is a response of love and gratitude for God's love for me (172). "Our hospitality both reflects and participates in God's hospitality. It depends on a disposition of love because, fundamentally, hospitality is simply love in action. It has much more to do with the resources of a generous heart than with sufficiency of food or space."

This is about giving our full attention to people--to all the strangers in our lives. Whether they come over to your house at your invitation or just show up at your door unannounced. How do you welcome them? How much interest do you show them? What kind of time do you give them? All of this communicates how much they are valued (179).

Do we show hospitality at home--to our family? In our neighborhood? At work? At church? At school? At the grocery store? Where is hospitality happening? And what is our response when we encounter those moments in which we should show hospitality?

Hospitality can happen anywhere. We need to make sure our hearts are ready to give it. We need to make a place for hospitality, not just in our homes but in our lives and in our hearts.

In Matthew 25 Jesus gives an illustration of the judgment. In addition to offering food, drink, clothing and visits, he says, "I was a stranger and you welcomed me" (v. 35). This could very well be about welcoming Jesus into a physical place, but could it not also mean welcoming Jesus into a relationship? That's what we are talking about here. Hospitality is about sharing meals and offering a roof to sleep under. But it's also about relationships, about welcoming people into our lives, not just into our homes. And if Jesus said, "As you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me," then are we welcoming people into our lives?

Hospitality is about relationships. It's not about entertainment. Though if you want to invite me over for a game of Apples To Apples, I will gladly come. It's not just about hosting a dinner. Though if you want to have me over for dinner, it needs to be vegan (a meatless chili will do just fine). Hospitality is about putting primary attention on the person. Hospitality is about welcoming people INTO your life. Hospitality is about relationships. Hospitality is about loving others with the love that God has shown us. God has shown us great love and generosity; we should do the same.

LIFE IN TENNESSEE // One Word for 2012

I participated in One Word for 2011 last year. My one word was: SEE. Still processing how I did with that one.

But I am ready with my One Word for 2012: READ.

I took 2011 off from reading. After over three years in grad school with much required reading and research, I found it hard to crack many books last year. I think I've come around now and I'm ready to dive back into books. Plus, I bought a bunch of books last year that I just couldn't bring myself to read so I have to catch up.

Alongside that, I want to process my thoughts on the books I read here on the ol' Learning blog. I'm gonna dust off some books and dust off the blog and go for it.

The general goal is to do one book per week. Though once my house sells and I get ready to move, things might get hectic and I'm already prepared to be behind. Still, I shall give it my best to do one book per week and at least one blog entry per book. The blog entry might be a general review of the book or it might something more personal about what I'm reading. Depends on the book, I think. Because this is a hodgepodge list of books: some classics, some work-oriented, some pop fiction, etc.

Here are the books on my list so far. Some are new to me; some I have started and never finished so I'm going to start them over and try again. Some are real books with paper covers and pages; some are e-books on my Kindle and iBooks apps.

In no particular order....

*1) Parade of Faiths: Immigration and American Faiths by Jenna Weissman Joselit -- Week 1 DONE
*2) Just Kids by Patti Smith -- Week 14 DONE
*3) The Pacific and Other Stories by Mark Helprin -- Week 33 DONE
*4) The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin -- Week 19 DONE
*5) Night by Elie Wiesel -- Week 25 DONE
6) In Allah They Trust by Kamran Karimi
7) The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel
8) Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott -- Week 34 DONE
9) The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
*10) Erasing Hell by Francis Chan and Preston Sprinkle -- Week 2 DONE
11) From the Roots Up by Joann Butrin
*12) Unchristian by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons -- Week 12 DONE
*13) The Wagon and Other Stories from the City by Martin Preib -- Week 10 DONE
14) Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
*15) The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -- WEEK 22 DONE
16) After the Leaves Fall by Nicole Baart
*17) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins -- Week 4 DONE
*18) Bossypants by Tina Fey -- Week 11 DONE
19) Love in a Headscarf by Shelina Zahra Janmohamed
*20) While You Were Micro-Sleeping by Steve Moore -- Week 3 DONE
*21) Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis by Lauren Winner -- Week 7 DONE
22) Steering by Starlight by Martha Beck
*23) Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City by Greg Grandin -- Weeks 5 & 6 DONE
*24) The Iron Lady by John Campbell -- Weeks 8 & 9 DONE
25) The Sojourn by Andrew Krivak
26) Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen
27) Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
28) World War Z by Max Brooks
29) Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
*30) Chasing Fire by Suzanne Collins -- Week 7 DONE
*31) Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins -- Week 7 DONE
32) A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
*33) Parables of the Cross by Lilias Trotter -- Week 23 DONE
*34) Parables of the Christ-Life by Lilias Trotter -- Week 24 DONE
*35) A Passion for the Impossible by Miriam Huffman Rockness -- Week 27 DONE
*36) Axe to Grind by Grey West -- Week 22 DONE
*37) The Non-Profit Narrative by Dan Portnoy -- Week 13 DONE
38) 1000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp
*39) A Muslim's Mind by Edward J. Hoskins -- Week 29 DONE
*40) Gardening Eden by Michael Abbate -- Week 41 DONE
*41) Bruchko by Bruce Olson -- Week 39 DONE
42) The Next Christian by Gabe Lyons
*43) Eternity in Their Hearts by Don Richardson -- Week 42 READING NOW

And that's the start. I'll add to this list as I go along.

There will also be numerous cookbooks or food writing books consulted throughout the year including:

1) Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson
2) The Happy Herbivore by Lindsay Nixon
3) Skinny Bitch in the Kitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin
4) Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero
5) The Conscious Kitchen by Alexandra Zissu

Check out other's One Words here: One Word 365.

LIFE IN TENNESSEE // Hello, Blog! How've You Been?

OK, it has been almost a year since I last posted here. How sad. I guess I've been busy elsewhere online. But I'm back.

My New Year's resolution and/or 2012 goal, whatever you want to call it, will be tied to this blog so I know that I will need to check in and write here. It'll be good for me. And hopeful fun and/or insightful to for you.

Here we go...

A REVIEW // Matthew Barnett, The Cause Within You

Matthew Barnett is the co-founder of The Dream Center (with his father Pastor Tommy Barnett) and senior pastor of the Angelus Temple in L.A., and in the opening of The Cause Within You, he talks about the night he spent on Skid Row in downtown L.A. (quite a dangerous idea) to celebrate their 15th anniversary as the Dream Center.

In the 15 years of the Dream Center, Barnett had worked with and spent time with people facing hardship and suffering but he had never slept on their streets. In lieu of a celebratory banquet with staff and volunteers, touting their own success, Barnett felt God leading him to do something different, radical and uncomfortable, much like what he felt when he started in the Echo Park area of L.A. as a young 20-year-old brand new pastor. So he did it. He spent the night on Skid Row. And he came away realizing that the more dangerous place to be for a Christian, more dangerous than Skid Row, would be the return to a "routine life not fully aligned with God's cause" (p. 25).

His experiences inspired this book, The Cause Within You. It's a collection of stories from Barnett's personal experience as well as the personal stories of people from the Dream Center and Angelus Temple. [Disclosure: I've attended Angelus Temple while in L.A. and was given an advance copy of the book by a staff member for review. I am also acquainted with two of the women whose stories are included in the book.]  The various personal stories are both interesting and inspiring, and they make for a quick and easy read, and illustrate Barnett's challenge well.

His challenge to himself and to his readers is to find the cause (or vision, dream, purpose, reason for being) that God has placed in each person's heart. But even more than just finding one's cause or purpose, he aims to have readers focus on their personal relationships with God in order to discover how waiting on God and having the right attitude will fuel the fire of their cause. Otherwise, what he believes often happens is that a person will redefine their cause to their own comfort level, rather than the full radical and passionate purpose God places within them.

He breaks the idea down into smaller bites: 1) discovering the cause, 2) waiting on God's timing, 3) having the right attitude, 4) starting to serve, even by small steps, 5) finding partners and 6) knowing when to quit. He includes inspirational bullet points at the ends of chapters of what he has learned, something a reader can pick up quickly for a reminder.

Barnett closes the book with the thought that one's God-given cause is the cause of Christ and to live out one's life to this cause goes well beyond personal achievement or success on earth and is part of something far more magnificent than anyone could imagine, with eternal significance. That's the bottom line and that's where Barnett leaves it.

*****
Confession: I usually read headier books on missiology or theology (maybe I'm a dorky bookworm, or maybe that's my God-given purpose). The Cause Within Me is more along the lines of popular reading for the Church. Absolutely nothing wrong with that; there just aren't many of those books on my bookshelves these days. Still, I found this book encouraging me and challenging me as I walk toward a new venture in my life this year. It reminded that I need to regroup with God and allow him to clarify and define my vision for this next stage of life.

LIFE IN TENNESSEE // One Word 2011

Through my friend Grant [website] and the power of Twitter, I heard about a concept for the New Year: to pick one word to challenge and inspire you, one word to focus on. As a wordsmith and lover of things lexical, I thought I would take the challenge.

My one word: See

I've been thinking about this for a few days now because "see" seemed too simple, not deep enough or fancy enough for a writer. But I really couldn't get away from it.

I just recently finished grad school. I spent three years working and studying full-time, longs hours at my computer and in the books. Now that I'm done, I have a lot of free time and I've been trying to figure out how to fill it. With missions work in my future and a master's in cross-cultural studies hanging on my wall, I feel led to SEE what is out there in my community, to find a place to serve people from other cultures, to apply what I spent $32K in studying. I feel led to SEE who is living in Nashville now and how I can get involved until the time comes that I move on from this fair city.

I also find myself living in a virtual world.  I could easily be a hermit. I SEE much of the world through my laptop, Droid and now an iPad. It's easy to talk to friends and family without actually using my vocal cords or having actual physical contact. But I'm feeling convicted about that. Last year I started sending out more cards, notes and treats so that communication in my life wouldn't solely be in a virtual world. But now that I'm armed with knowledge and more defined call to missions, I need to SEE the world and its people around me. I need to reach out to them, talk to them and engage them.

So, SEE, that's my one word for 2011. To look outside my magic boxes of technology. To look outside the four walls of my house. And SEE what is going on in the world and how I can use my God-given gifts to his glory.

LIFE IN MICHIGAN // Days in Cape Town

My brother-in-law is in Cape Town, South Africa, attending the Lausanne 3 conference this week. [What is Lausanne? Click here.]  He and some friends are hosting a blog and podcast while there. [You can read and listen here.]

In today's podcast, Dr. DeLonn Rance made the following comment in response to the ongoing discussion of proclamation vs. social justice:

"The greatest act of social compassion is to plant a local church. Because if you plant a local church, that church understands what that community needs. They know where the literacy problems, work problems and feeding problems are. [The local church knows] what the issues really are and can respond in a direct and immediate way that communicates the love of Christ."

Of course, then it becomes a matter of getting the pastors and leaders of the local church to understand the need to reach out to the community to discover and respond to those needs......

LIFE IN...WHEREVER I AM THIS WEEK // Taking it too far?

I got an e-mail during work today; a press release from the Christian NewsWire service. This can be one of my favorite things as someone undoubtedly says something that fires me up every week.

The release is a response to a comment that First Lady Michelle Obama made on the "Tom Joyner Morning Show." She was talking about the prayer circles and people that pray for her and the President, etc., and how those people are "keeping the spirits clean" around them.

The release quickly jumps to a conclusion that questions whether the First Lady is into some brand of animism. [Read the release in its entirety here] What? Really?

Here's her clip from the show: [The Tom Joyner Morning Show w/ Michelle Obama] It's around the 6:30 mark.

How can you immediately suspect that the First Lady is into animism? And how many people actually know what that means in America? I do but I studied it in seminary.

Could she just be referring to the good kinds of spirits (the Holy Spirit, angels, God's messengers) around them? That prayer is keeping the evil spirits at bay? That the prayers of believers are keeping the clean spirits at work around them? Why do you people have to be so suspect and divisive and stir up trouble?

LIFE IN MICHIGAN // 5K Run/Walk in Support of Dearborn Assembly

Some folks from my church here in Dearborn (Dearborn Assembly) are walking in the 5K Run/Walk portion of the Detroit Marathon on Sunday, October 17.  Since I've just recently arrived and found out about this, I'm jumping in last minute.

Our church is part of the Marathon Mission Team, which is a non-profit community and faith-based umbrella whose participants raise financial support for a Marathon Mission charity of their choice. Ours happens to be Dearborn Assembly (obviously), a church plant in downtown Dearborn that is currently raising money for its building renovation of Harry Miller Flowers into its own church building. It's both an exciting time for the church to have a place of its own but a stressful time in that it needs to take occupancy of the new location by December 31.

Would you consider supporting our endeavor? One-hundred percent of your gift will go to the church and is tax-deductible. Checks can be made payable to Dearborn Assembly. You can send them to my attention and I will deliver them to the church. I wish we had an online fundraising page but alas, the way fundraising is set up through the marathon website did not allow for specific donations to the church.

Let me know if you would like to contribute and I will send you a mailing address. Thank you!

LIFE IN MICHIGAN // Initial Thoughts

When I lived in L.A., I didn’t feel that far from home because Nashville is a little L.A. in some ways, what with the entertainment and music industry. So living in L.A. was like a warmer, bigger, more ethnically diverse Nashville (this a loose comparison).

But Dearborn feels more real, normal, honest, everyday. It actually fits the blue collar, industrial stereotype that I’d associate with Detroit. And it freaks me out a little bit because it’s unlike the life that I’ve become accustomed to, dealing with entertainment, artsy-type people.

Not that my personal life is all that opulent but I feel a little more white collar professional than the community I’m now living in. (Which is still kind of funny because I own a home in Old Hickory, surrounding by a few of Nashville’s greatest rednecks.)

And in 10 days, I’ll fly to Chicago to watch my friends’ kids while they go to Spain. I will make good money while staying in a big house with keys to a luxury car in my pocket. And that will feel more normal than this does (probably in part because they are like family and I’ve done it before).

I experienced some culture shock on my first day, last Saturday, as I drove to my supervisors’ house for a visit before a community outreach hayride. I knew coming into this that Dearborn has the highest concentration of Arab Americans in the country, and that quickly became real to me as I drove through Dearborn and saw mosques, storefronts with English and Arabic writing, and veiled women (women wearing head coverings/scarves). Seeing the people and the mosques made it most real. But I’ll be honest, seeing all the authentic mid-East restaurants made my stomach real happy. I’m really glad that I finished the book Miniskirts, Mothers & Muslims before I arrived. It helped me understand the veiling of women and gives me a whole new level of respect for the meaning behind it.

Mostly I’ve spent time exploring Dearborn, finding the coffee shops with wifi and the nearest Target and Costco. I’ve gotten to spend a little time with folks from the church but haven’t gotten much beyond basic introductions. Mostly I’ve just started to collect research for my ethnography that I have to write on the city. No time like the present to start researching!

Tonight I’m going on a tour of mosque and out for Yemeni food for dinner with a couple people from church and a missionary visiting from Morocco. I fully expect to have more to say after that experience.

All of this to say, I’m adjusting slowly, learning my way around town just fine and hoping to find all the best information for my paper. I feel good about this project and hope to share about the church and its vision soon.

A REVIEW, SORT OF // Eminem, "Love The Way You Lie" ft. Rihanna

Warning: Video contains obscenities...

I first heard this song on the radio. And if you listen to even the smallest amount of pop radio, chances are you've also heard it.

Naturally at first the hooky chorus by Rihanna got stuck in my head. You hear it once and you start humming it.

Then you notice the words: Just gonna stand there and watch me burn / But that's alright because I like the way it hurts / Just gonna stand there and hear me cry / But that's alright because I love the way you lie / I love the way you lie.

When I considered the words, I thought, "What in the world is he talking about?" I tuned in to the rest of it and thought, "Oh, got it! This is a bad, bad relationship. He's talking domestic violence." Not real difficult to catch on to that, once you listen to more than the hooky chorus.

And I have to admit as I listened to it, I really liked it. Not the idea of domestic violence, mind you. But I liked the bravery and skill with which he wrote about this issue. I get the feeling that this is a two-way issue; infatuation and regret on both sides keep this couple locked in a relationship stuck in a vicious cycle.

I in no way condone a man or a woman to stay in an abusive relationship and I hope to God that Eminem doesn't either but I think he paints a very passionate scene about what people feel in these types of situations and just how difficult it can be to get out of it when one feels the emotion of love (even if it's a false emotion). Oftentimes, people on the outside who haven't experienced such a mixed-up relationship of crazy emotions probably think it should be easy as 1-2-3 to snap out of such blind love and escape the abuse. But for those on the inside, like Eminem portrays here, it just might not be that easy.

As I thought about writing about this, I looked up the video. If you watch it above, I apologize for the language, etc. The video showed the scene in a harsh, passionate, painful, dark way but in the video both the man and the woman are the abusers, and together they burn the metaphorical house down. It doesn't fingerpoint at one or the other. You see the scenes play out between the two of them: the love and the alcohol-induced fights. Both people are players in the game and it makes me stop and think about how twisted reality becomes to both and how difficult it can be to extricate oneself.

It's not a situation I would ever want to be in, nor would I wish it upon anyone, but I think it gives us a visual of how tough it can be to escape our emotions and see clearly what's going on around us and what is unhealthy and unproductive and destructive. It'll make me think twice should I ever encounter a situation of domestic violence.

I'm not sure what my thoughts were about Eminem prior to this but for these four minutes at least, I'm a fan.

LIFE IN MICHIGAN // Moving to Dearborn

Four weeks from today I'll pack my clothes and my cats into the Jetta and head to Michigan for two months. The cats are going to live with Grandma and Grandpa in Grand Rapids while I work on my practicum on the other side of the state in Dearborn.

Dearborn, Mich., is the home of Ford Motor Company and the second largest concentration of Arab Americans in the country (according to the 2000 Census). The city also has the highest percentage of population that are of Arab ancestry. A city of around 100,000 people, close to 30,000 are Arab Americans; that's 30 percent of the population. By comparison, New York City has the biggest population of Arab Americans but with over 8 million people and about 70,000 Arab Americans, less than one percent of the population is of Arab ancestry (numbers from 2000 Census).

Many of the first Arab Americans that immigrated to the area were Lebanese Christians but over the last couple decades more Arab Americans began to come from Yemen, Iraq and Palestine. These latter groups were more predominantly Muslim. In 1963, Dearborn became the home of the Islamic Center of America, the largest mosque in North America.

This is the community that I am going to live and work in. I'll be working with home missionaries Trey and Becky Hancock at Dearborn Assembly. As part of my project, I will do an ethnographic study of the community: learning the culture, language and traditions of the Arab community in Dearborn. I will also do a study of the church through interviews with leaders, lay leaders and members to discover the culture and organization of the church. I will then make suggestions to bridge the cultures by developing various marketing and communications pieces.

In a conversation with Becky, she mentioned that there are only two evangelical churches in Dearborn and that their call is to bring the church back to Dearborn. So I will look to help create some pieces for the church to send to supporters to share the story of the church and the community and their needs and to mobilize believers to reach out to the unreached people groups within our own borders, in some of our most popular and populated U.S. cities.

Pray for me! I'm jumping into a new city and new culture with a huge project on my plate. I believe this project could become a model for my future and I hope this initial trial run will shed some light on that.