Have you checked out our church library recently?
Many in our congregation are readers, and reading is a key piece of their spiritual formation. Here are a few newer titles to be found in our library, each offering wisdom for the journey of discipleship, compassion, justice, and belonging.
Our library has many titles that would be wonderful companions for Lenten reading—we have a whole series of 40 Day Journeys with the writings of spiritual giants from Joan Chittister to Bonhoeffer, Maya Angelou to Martin Luther. We also have others; check out the 240s on our shelves.
As our congregation enters Lent together, Hope Is Here! Spiritual Practices for Pursuing Justice and Beloved Community by Luther E. Smith provides a rich companion to the work many of our Koinonia Groups will be doing. Smith invites readers to see hope not as optimism, but as a practiced way of life rooted in God’s future.
For those longing to cultivate a more attentive heart, Jill J. Duffield’s Appreciate These Things: Eight Ways of Cultivating Compassion offers accessible spiritual practices grounded in everyday experience. It is a wonderful entry point for anyone seeking to grow in awareness of God’s presence amid ordinary life.
Other new titles include:
- Chris A. Kiesling’s Discipleship for Every Stage of Life
- Amy Lindeman Allen’s The Gifts They Bring
- Amy Odens’s God’s Welcome: Hospitality for a Gospel-Hungry World
- Kimbery Wagner’s Fractured Ground: Preaching in the Wake of Mass Trauma
- The New Testament for Everyone, edited by N. T. Wright, are easy-to-read commentaries on each of the New Testament books and are excellent companions for reading a Gospel or epistle during Lent.
- Gregory Boyle’s Cherished Belonging
- Anne Lamott’s Somehow: Thoughts on Love
- The Book of Joy by the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu
- Stronger Than the Storm: Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina by Shelley McKechnie
- Suzanne Collins’ Sunrise on the Reaping offers a compelling narrative that invites reflection on power, sacrifice, and hope.