What We're Reading

In this imaginative retelling of the Gospel story, an unnamed disciple connects with Jesus at a wedding in Cana in Galilee. Jesus's loving charisma and something deep inside the disciple calls him to join the small band of followers and then witness over and over Jesus's radical, inclusive love. This profound grace brings new life to many and infuriates others.

After seeing Jesus's death by crucifixion, the disciple is devastated and loses hope. In the midst of his despair, another invitation comes in the form of a young Celt who invites him to walk the ancient path that will become known as the Camino Frances. A slow healing, new hope, and an unexpected reunion await.

The tale of a simple act of faith between two young people - one Israeli, one Palestinian - that symbolizes the hope for peace in the Middle East.

In 1967, not long after the Six-Day War, three young Arab men ventured into the town of Ramle, in what is now Jewish Israel. They were cousins, on a pilgrimage to see their childhood homes; their families had been driven out of Palestine nearly twenty years earlier. One cousin had a door slammed in his face, and another found his old house had been converted into a school. But the third, Bashir Al-Khairi, was met at the door by a young woman called Dalia, who invited them in.

Published posthumously in 1588, “The Interior Castle” was written over several weeks in 1577 by Saint Teresa of Avila, a prominent 16th century Spanish mystic, Carmelite nun, theologian, and writer of the Counter Reformation. Saint Teresa of Avila was born in 1515 in Avila, Spain to a wealthy and prominent family. After the death of her mother when she was 11, she went to live with the Augustinian nuns and devoted the rest of her life to the church until her death in 1582. “The Interior Castle” was written shortly after Saint Teresa finished her autobiography, “The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila by Herself”, which has become a classic work of Christian mysticism. Saint Teresa wrote “The Interior Castle” to guide the faithful in their spiritual development and relationship with God through service and prayer. Inspired by a vision she received of the soul as a diamond in the shape of a castle containing seven mansions, Saint Teresa interpreted this vision as the journey of faith in seven stages, culminating in the perfect union with God.

I just finished this series - it was FABULOUS!!! Set in an alternative universe, this dystopian fantasy series follows the struggles of a handful of colleagues as they attempt to survive the end of the world. Each novel adds to the complex mystery and intrigue, fitting the details together like puzzle pieces as Vin and her allies consider issues of trust, sacrifice, faith, and justice. ~Wendi Bernau

Fairy tales are not just for kids. Estés is a Jungian psychologist who has studied fairy tales found all over the world in many different cultures and the power of those stories in how we understand the movement, dangers and needs of the psyche. Specifically written for women who need to reclaim their earthy connection to the Wild and the feminine as personified in the female wolf, each chapter she introduces a particular fairy tale as a conglomeration of several versions and explains the symbolism of the self-actualizing journey. She also points out the traps that ensnare the naive, the pertinent moments of claiming one's own agency, and the no-going-back-now of knowledge in each wisdom tale. ~Wendi Bernau

I have been running into Paul Young, the author of The Shack, in a number of places lately – unfortunately, all of them virtual.  I have been catching up on back episodes of Ian Cron’s podcast Typology, and listened to a wonderful two part interview with Paul there.  That pushed me to pick up my old copy of The Shack, which reminded me of how much I enjoyed his characterization of the Holy Trinity.  The Shack has a special place in my heart – a number of years ago, a dear Sunday School student of mine died by suicide.  The following Sunday, our class of teens gathered, and we read the beautiful scene from Chapter 11 where Mack watches through a waterfall as Missy plays in a beautiful meadow with Jesus. We hugged each other and cried as we imagined that for our friend. That memory pushed me to watch the movie version of The Shack, which I had never seen, and that pulled me into Paul’s most recent book, Lies We Believe About God.

Lies We Believe About God seems to me to be Paul’s effort to tell us all that the healing journey that he describes in The Shack is available to us all. In his calm, peaceful tone, he picks off one after another of the assumptions and impressions we carry around about God. He strips away everything other that the image of a God who loves us and who is with us. He loops us back to the conclusion that God wants us to love God, and to love each other.  Nothing more complex or complicated than that. It was a lovely read.~Larry Duggins

I have just found Ian Morgan Cron - Denise Crane suggested that I check out his podcast - Typology - and I was hooked. This book was the first of his that I have read and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Many years ago, I started my journey into “applied Christianity” with Brian McLaren’s New Kind of Christian series. Cron has laid out the life-giving teachings of St. Francis using that same Wisdom Literature approach, using a fictional story to weave the biography and teachings of Francis.

The book is a call to set aside the trappings of church and to live the live Christ has called us to. Our work at the Missional Wisdom Foundation is an attempt to walk in that way. Cron lays out a wonderful path for us all to follow Jesus in the manner of Francis. ~Larry Duggins

I just finished reading my friend Carl McColman’s new book, An Invitation to Celtic Wisdom. It is a lovely book that touches on the streams of Celtic Christianity, the stories of the Celtic saints and suggestions about incorporating a Celtic flavor into the modern practice of Christianity.

Carl is wise and is a mystic, and his gentle approach flows through the book. Treat yourself, and spend a little time with this wonderful book! ~Larry Duggins

As someone who has spent the better part of my life feeling like I don’t fit in, this book was really inspiring. The use of the donkey is not pejorative. Donkeys are great in their own way. They are reliable, hard-working and constant, if somewhat routine oriented and afraid of change. Unicorns are magical animals but we often try to file down our horn in an effort to fit in when culture tells us we are too weird or too different. At the same time, unicorns who know our own fabulousness have to realize that just being a unicorn doesn’t mean I don’t have to work hard or be diligent. Michaels offers both empowerment and self-responsibility in those of us who can finally claim and be proud of our creative, innovative selves. ~Wendi Bernau

By Justin Hancock, this is the newest book from the MWF library!

This book invites its readers to an exploration of some of the greatest theologians in Christian history through the lens of disability theology in order to understand how the Christian Church is intended to deal with the ever-evolving concept and reality that is the disabled human experience.

Larry Duggins says it best: "Andrea Lingle is a wise woman who is a curious, inquisitive Christian, who speaks from a depth of experience as a mother, a lay leader, a survivor, and a 'retro-church hipster.' As she walks us through Christian life and experience through the lens of Sunday morning liturgy, she speaks with a voice many of us are straining to hear--that of a 30-something adult who loves Jesus, but who has a few questions."

Read the new book by Bret Wells, that was created specifically for a class that he teaches in Launch & Lead.

As part of my [Larry Duggins] personal analysis of the Way Forward issues, I went in search of a good book that fairly deals with the various arguments around the human sexuality issues without screaming at me about them.  I made several false starts and then came upon Two Views on Homosexuality, the Bible and the Church (Zondervan, 2016). Read more

As I [Larry Duggins] was searching for an audio book to ride with me on my annual summer trek to Asheville, I stumbled upon The Parable of the Sower by Octavia E Butler. I was hoping to find something written by someone who has a different life view than my own and Ms Butler was an African-American author winner of a Hugo, a Nebula award and a MacArthur Fellowship. Pretty strong credentials. Read more

Wendell Berry made a Sabbath practice of walking the fields of his seventh generation family farm and writing poetry about the experience. In this collection, he has chosen a few poems from each year spanning a segment of his life from raising a young family to empty-nesting. ~Recommended by Wendi Bernau

Reaching into our past and a new story for the future, All That We Share is a book about the "commons." There is another way of looking at ownership that is neither private nor public. This book is called a "Field Guide to the Commons" and it very much informs us of how some things belong to everyone. (Recommended by Bryan Mitchell and Kate Rudd, for it's influence in shaping Haw Creek Commons.)

After recently spending a week with Alexander Shaia on pilgrimage in Iona, Denise Crane, Andrea Lingle, and Larry Duggins recommend his writing, especially Heart and Mind. Larry says, "Occasionally, I will read a book that sticks with me – I think about it throughout a day or a week or a month, and I randomly find myself turning over its ideas as I walk through life.  Alexander Shaia’s Heart and Mind: The Four-Gospel Journey for Radical Transformation is such a book." (Read the rest of Larry's review here.)

A wonderful introduction to Palmer’s work on Circles of Trust, A Hidden Wholeness attends to that inner journey we’re all making towards wholeness, and the necessity towards health it serves for our societal and global wholeness. It’s a great introduction to Parker Palmer’s work, and a thorough exploration of the work along the path of authenticity and peace. ~Evey McKellar

Alexander Shaia is a wise and experienced man with a fascinating combination of lived and acquired knowledge. He has studied hard to build a wonderful base of psychological, theological and anthropological knowledge, and he has tempered those with the life experience of an immigrant and a pilgrim. Returning from Camino is a gift of both acquired and lived wisdom as it applies to the Camino in particular and to pilgrimage in general. Read the rest of Larry Duggins' review here.

Paul Tillich's The Courage to Be gave me language to articulate a knowledge that is deep within me. Sometimes life seems hard. Really, really hard. And just gathering enough pluck to keep your atoms together seems like a large ask...but if you do...if you let go of what you want to force life to be, then you can find the joy of being. If you release God from being what you think God is, then God is free to be the joy that God is. Read the rest of Andrea Lingle's review here.

Obtained recently while on pilgrimage to Iona, Blessed by Our Table caught the eyes of Rachel Wells, due to its compliment to the table theology work recently done by Andrea Lingle and Evey McKellar. It won her heart though, when she saw chapters for humorous prayers and graces for eating alone.

This is a four week daily prayer companion with morning, mid-day and evening prayers, guiding the reader/pilgrim around sacred places around the island. For me, it’s been a helpful companion alongside pilgrimage, especially in my own inward journeys and transitions. ~Evey McKellar

A great book of blessings for many occasions, and especially a few that rarely see formal blessings for such times. The words are beautiful, and O’Donahue does a brilliant job capturing the emotion and nuance of specific transitions, feelings, accomplishments, and seasons of release. I used a number of blessings for a personal service of release and grief at a specific season in life where there were many things happening at once - O’Donahue had words for each transition and space. ~Evey McKellar

The Mountain of Silence offers a refreshing tale about Kyriacos and his struggle to reclaim his Eastern Orthodox Christian heritage after being educated in Western Schools of thought. Filled with fascinating dialogues between Kyriacos and his spiritual mentor, Father Maximos, the two companions slowly work their way through the major tenants of the orthodox faith and its often misunderstand mystical world view. The book's conversational nature makes it easy to read and hard to put down, while providing thought provoking insights into part of our Christian tradition that few Western Christians know much about. ~Ryan Klinck

"An expansion of Joseph Campbell's and Dan Vogler's work on mythology from a feminist perspective. A well-sourced, easy, and important read. I'm looking for ways to incorporate Frankel's ideas in the next iteration of The Role of Story in Community Development." ~Robert Bishop

CS Lewis is one of the great minds and in my opinion, communicates theology in a wonderfully exciting way. Till We Have Faces is classic CS Lewis which makes the reader imagine both the sinner and saint in us. Brilliant, entertaining, and informative all in the same package. ~Bryan Mitchell

The Rebirthing of God served as the spine text for our recent multi-platform study led by Andrea Lingle, Advent Incarnate.

Douglas Campbell’s new work on Paul is a very readable survey into the writings of Paul. Dr. Campbell, a Duke New Testament professor who will be a key player in their new Certificate in Missional Innovation program, has written a book for the rest of us - clear, understandable and to the point. Read the rest of Larry Duggins' review here.

Recommended by a participant during the course of our recent Advent Incarnate study, several MWF staff members agree that Lamb is a good, light-hearted read.

As a leader of a group that tries very hard to be ecumenical and also tries very hard to impress on everyone the importance of spiritual practices that strengthen connection with God, Larry Duggins found Flee, Be Silent, Pray by Ed Cyrzewski quite interesting. Read Larry's full review of the book here.

From British illustrator, artist, and author Charlie Mackesy comes a journey for all ages that explores life’s universal lessons, featuring 100 color and black-and-white drawings.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” asked the mole.

“Kind,” said the boy.

Charlie Mackesy offers inspiration and hope in uncertain times in this beautiful book, following the tale of a curious boy, a greedy mole, a wary fox and a wise horse who find themselves together in sometimes difficult terrain, sharing their greatest fears and biggest discoveries about vulnerability, kindness, hope, friendship and love. The shared adventures and important conversations between the four friends are full of life lessons that have connected with readers of all ages.