Reading Goals for 2025

 Each year I try to set some reading goals. Here are the ones for 2025.

1. Read 50 books.  So far this year (as of December 19), I've read 64 books.  I've already met the 50 book goal, but 64 books seems like an anomaly compared to previous years.  I'm going to keep the number at 50 for 2025.
2. Read 18,000 pages. My average book size this year was 360 pages.  If I read 50 books, that will be 18,000 pages.  Number of pages is a new goal for me.  I'm able to do it because I have created a Story Graph account.  Story Graph will convert audiobooks to number of pages.  
3. Read at least four Spiritual Development books.  This goal helps with my spiritual growth - not a small thing. It also feeds my post-writing for the blog.
4. Read at least 30% new books.  As of today, 53% of the books I have read have been new to me.  I like re-reads, but I don't want to only re-read.  Hence this goal.

This isn't a reading goal, but I also want to revamp how I track my reading in my bullet journal and in my reading journal, so I'm giving that some thought. 

I'm keeping updated accounts in both Good Reads and Story Graph.  So far that hasn't proven to be an issue at all. I like what each one provides even though at first blush it might seem duplicative. 

I love data!

By the way, this is an image from UnSplash of someone else's library. Do you love to look at pictures of wonderful libraries?  I do.

One more "by the way."  I keep a library page for the blog that lists the Spiritual Development books I have read linked to the posts I've written.  I haven't updated it in 2024, but I'll do that late this year or early next year.  It's part of my end-of-year routine.

Perspectives: Trees and Sunset

 

Why Community?

Many years ago, when my boys were still boys, I was speaking to the mother of another one of the youth in our church. I would guess she was part of the church because her son was part of the youth group and that she and her husband attended because a neighbor had invited them. She said to me that she felt closer to God in her backyard, being part of nature, than in worship.

I don't think that is a unique experience - I think many of us have felt the presence of God in God's creation. Let's set aside my opinion that our church's traditional style of worship wasn't her cup of tea, and just think about corporate vs individual means of grace.

Laceye Warner, in the book All the Good: A Wesleyan Way of Christmas, writes this:

The vitality of the early Methodist renewal movement depended on small group gatherings.  John consistently urged that authentic spiritual formation could not take place 'without society, without living and conversing with [others].'"

I think this statement makes sense when one considers the emphasis the Wesleys placed on accountability groups. These small group gatherings were the heart of the spiritual growth Wesley envisioned for those who participated in his movement.

What is the benefit of a communal experience of the means of grace (according to me)?

• Wesley would say to encourage nurture and accountability. While we can practice self-discipline, we are prone to self-justification of our actions, aren't we? At least I am. Having others to encourage and provide truth is helpful.
• When we are part of community, we have opportunities for service. We care for each other, and together, we can reach out beyond ourselves. On our own, who do we love? Who do we care for?
• We are more - synergistically - when we are together than when we are alone. The church - our community - is more than the some of the members.
• When we say, "I'll just sit here in my backyard to worship," we selfishly think that God's desire for our worship is only that we are individually edified. What do we bring to worship than can build up others? What do we bring to church that can help others to grow?
• What about when we are grieving, lost, alone, unwell? Community can support us. And when others need help? Sitting in our backyard doesn't help anyone.
• What about stewardship? What about giving of our gifts and talents? Who do we give them to in the backyard?
• In isolation, our experience of God is one-sided, flat - created only from our own perceptions of God. In community, our understanding of God is broadened, strengthened, because other voices and experiences contribute to it.

Please don't misunderstand me. I think times alone, times in nature, are wonderful gifts of grace. I just think they can't be everything and all. We are called to be in community, called to be of service to each other and to those around us. God is surrounding us, entering the spaces between us. We need each other.

Circles of Truth

In the book The Road to Wisdom, Francis Collins provides a visual image for truth.  He says:

"Let's consider a set of concentric circles. In the center are truth claims that are universal and inescapable. In the outermost circle are claims where no evidence exits to favor acceptance or rejection, so these are essentially just subjective opinions. And then there are the levels in between."

The circles are from the innermost outward:

• Zone of Necessary Truth - items that just have to be the way they are.  For example, 2+2=4.
• Firmly established facts - "These are conclusions that are overwhelmingly supported by evidence, but discerning them has required human observation."  For example, the earth is round.
• Zone of Uncertainty - "Claims that are potentially true but whose supporting evidence is currently insufficient to move them into the circle of firmly established facts." For example, life on other planets
• Zone of Subjective Opinion - For example, dogs make better pets than cats.

As we traveled through our last election cycle (and the two before it), I found there were things I considered to be firmly established facts, that other people didn't. And I would encounter what some people called firmly established facts that for me, were not truth at all.  I think this is part of what divides us - we can't even agree on what is true and what is not true - even though some of these categories are objective.

Later in the chapter, he talks about commonalities that we an all agree on and that can be used to bring us back together.  Think of these as pillars that represent the values we all probably share: faith, family, freedom, truth, beauty, love, goodness.  He sees this as good news.  Truthfully (haha), I worry that we don't all share these values. We say we do, but we argue about them so much, and what they mean, that I'm not sure they can be used to bring us together.

Perspectives: Giraffe

 

Every Mountain Made Flat

This is a devotional I wrote for our JM Advent Devotional ministry.

Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"  (Luke 3:5-6)

I live at the top of a mountain. Not everyone would call it a mountain; some might scoff at me and say it is a hill.  A short bump in the road. I realize I don’t live on Pike’s Peak or Mt. Everest. I know that my mountain isn’t epic. To me, though, it is a mountain, especially in the winter.

When winter comes, and the snow flies, and I am driving to work, I pause at the top of the “big hill” – the last and biggest downhill slope to reach the flatter roads near our home – and I definitely call it a mountain. I pause at the top to allow the car in front of me to slowly slide – I mean carefully drive – down the mountain. I wait for all the cars coming the other side of the mountain to make their way down so that my way is clear. Then I slowly start driving down our mountain in my all-wheel-drive CR-V. I ever so carefully pump the brakes (I know I’m not supposed to, but I want a slow speed – don’t correct my driving while I’m creeping). I pause where the ice always flows across the road and slowly roll over it. I take the big curve to the outside because I know the road slopes toward the ditch. When I reach the bottom, I celebrate.

I can drive all the way to Charleston in the snow with less worry than when I drive down our mountain.  It is an obstacle for me to reach the rest of the world.

Our passage today shares the words of John the Baptist as he quotes the prophet Isaiah, calling for repentance to make the way clear for the Lord to come. I, for one, can certainly imagine how low valleys, high mountains, and crooked roads can be obstacles. I can see how our sins and self-centeredness could block the way for the Lord to enter our lives, and therefore the entire world.

I wouldn’t mind if my mountain were made low so that my obstacle to the world would be gone. I imagine repentance – our turning away from the metaphorical mountains and crooked habits that separate us from God – could make God’s way into the world possible.

What do we need to do to clear the way for God’s entrance into our lives and into the world? What repentance would make the path straight and the way smooth so that all flesh could see the salvation of God? What are our first best steps to make it so?

 

Open Your Eyes to Joy

 This is a devotional that I wrote for the WV Annual Conference Advent Devotional Ministry this year.

³ I thank my God every time I mention you in my prayers. ⁴ I’m thankful for all of you every time I pray, and it’s always a prayer full of joy. ⁵ I’m glad because of the way you have been my partners in the ministry of the gospel from the time you first believed it until now. ⁶ I’m sure about this: the one who started a good work in you will stay with you to complete the job by the day of Christ Jesus.  Philippians 1:3-6

 

Several years ago, when I was Nurture Chairperson of my church, the responsibility for our church’s Wednesday evening dinners was thrust upon me. The truth is, I was resentful of the work and worry of picking up the dinners, preparing them, serving them, and cleaning up afterwards.  For six weeks I worked full of indignation. Have you ever felt this way?

 

After the six weeks, out of habit, I wrote thank you notes to all of the volunteers who had helped. It was a lot of notes; it was a pile of gratitude. After the cards were mailed, I realized I was no longer resentful – I was only thankful.

 

Paul wrote in Philippians (from prison) that he was “thankful for all of you every time I pray, and it’s always a prayer full of joy.”  I wasn’t at all joyful when I was working on the church dinners – I was only resentful. It wasn’t until I felt thankful that I found joy. I don’t think joy is the same thing as happiness; I believe joy is something we feel when we are close to God. That means it was gratitude – thankfulness – that brought me to awareness of joy and of God in the work I had done.

 

I lead the Conference Certified Lay Ministry Course. We meet once a month via Zoom. No matter how tired I am when we start, when I turn off the Zoom and close my computer, I feel thankful. I am grateful for the people who have heard God’s call to ministry and have joined the class.  Every time. It is a joy. Paul’s joy in the people for whom he was praying led him to write to them, “I’m sure about this: the one who started a good work in you will stay with you to complete the job by the day of Christ Jesus.” I think Paul could see the work of Christ in the people of the Philippian Church because he was thankful for them.

 

Gratitude is the key to seeing the people of God and God at work in them. When you are resentful, when you are tired, when you are discouraged, take a moment to offer your thanksgiving. I think God will open your eyes to the joy.

 

Prayer: Loving God, open our prayers to thanksgiving, our hearts to joy, and our eyes to each other. Amen.

Perspectives: Line it up

This is a bulletin board on the wall in a local hospital. It advocates steps patients and staff can take to prevent a fall.  It's cute because it was fall when I took the picture.

But, couldn't they line up the wood background plank paper?  That's all I could see when I looked at it.

Book Review: Road to Wisdom

 Information about the book

Collins, Francis S.  The Road to Wisdom: On Truth, Science, Faith, and Trust,  Little, Brown, and Company. New York. 2024. (Amazon)

Summary

From Amazon: "As the COVID-19 pandemic revealed, we have become not just a hyper-partisan society but also a deeply cynical one, distrustful of traditional sources of knowledge and wisdom. Skepticism about vaccines led to the needless deaths of at least 230,000 Americans. “Do your own research” is now a rallying cry in many online rabbit holes. Yet experts can make mistakes, and institutions can lose their moral compass. So how can we navigate through all this?

In The Road to Wisdom, Francis Collins reminds us of the four core sources of judgement and clear thinking: truth, science, faith, and trust. Drawing on his work from the Human Genome Project and heading the National Institutes of Health, as well as on ethics, philosophy, and Christian theology, Collins makes a robust, thoughtful case for each of these sources—their reliability, and their limits. Ultimately, he shows how they work together, not separately—and certainly not in conflict. Dr. Francis Collins was the head of the Human Genome Project, and is a world-leading scientist.  He is also a person of faith.  From the back cover of the book: "Dr. Collins believes that faith in God and faith in science can coexist within a person and be harmonious.  In The Language of God he makes his case for God and for science."

Impressions

My pastor, in a sermon, mentioned this book. She had seen Francis Collins interviewed on the The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (interesting interview). I was in the middle of the Religion and Science class and had read The Language of God by Francis Collins this summer.

I enjoyed the book. I especially found the chapter that talks about truth to be interesting - truth as concentric circles.  I don't think I've written a post about it, but I should.  As I mentioned, I read The Language of God prior to the Religion and Science class - in some ways, I think this book would have been a better prequel to the class - impossible for me, since it came out int eh middle of the class, but for future reference....

I would recommend this book.

Posts about book

Collins Road

How do we thank God for you?

Roughly inspired by 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

I imagine this as a letter to a church

How do we thank God for you?

For your life, your work, your service?

How can we thank God for the joy you bring?

We pray without pausing,

night and day,

with all intensity,

to see you again,

face to face.

We pray that we may bring you faith

the way you have strengthened our faith.

May God set the path

so that we can come to you.

May God direct our way to you.

May God grow the love that is found among you

so that it is abundance and obvious.

So that your light shines for all.

So that the love we feel for you

will be felt among you.

And may God strengthen your hearts

Strengthen your faith

So that holiness is like the water that washes you clean each day.

May you be blameless before God

in the grace God has provided.

 

Perspectives: Happy Thanksgiving

 

Marks of a Methodist

 I'm reading a book called All the Good: A Wesleyan Way of Christmas by Laceye Warner, Amy Valdez Barker, Jung Choi, and Sangwood Kim.  This morning I read this:

For Wesley the marks of Methodist were not religious opinions or distinctive doctrinal commitments setting them apart from other Christians, Grounded in biblical texts, Wesley turned to the simple, and at the same time unimaginable, reality of God's love. This love embodied in Jesus Christ invites all to receive God's love and then to practice love through holiness of heart and life.

There are those who say that United Methodists don't believe any particular thing - that we are a denomination that says, "Believe what you want to believe."  That is not the case.

Wesley taught that there were basic doctrinal beliefs that we should share as Methodists, but they are distinctive to Methodism. I think they were the basis of his faith, and he was not shy about preaching about them - demanding faith in them.

But what sets us apart? I think there are a few things, but this quote reminds me of one of them - one that produces the nature of our faith together.  We believe that we are loved by God. That love should move us to action, and that action should be acts of holiness of heart and holiness of service. We work to love God in return and to open ourselves to God's love, and we work to share that love with others. It is a faith of piety and social holiness.

Every Scripture

2 Timothy 3:15-17

¹⁵Since childhood you have known the holy scriptures that help you to be wise in a way that leads to salvation through faith that is in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ Every scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for showing mistakes, for correcting, and for training character, ¹⁷ so that the person who belongs to God can be equipped to do everything that is good.

I read this yesterday and thought about the times that people have used it to defend themselves when people disagree with their interpretation of Bible passages.  Please understand as you read this that I am not disparaging the scripture with anything I am about to write; however, I think the passage deserves some thought.

This is from Timothy. Traditionally, Paul wrote Timothy. Modern scholars think this may not be the case - but I don't want to debate this here. Let's imagine the traditional viewpoint is correct (or that it was written by someone who followed Paul's teachings.).  The writer, especially it if was Paul, was probably Jewish. Scripture for that person was the Torah and maybe the historical and prophetic writings of the Hebrew Scripture.

Paul, or whoever wrote this passage, was writing a letter, and yet when we read it, we think of the Gospels and the Epistles (as well as the Hebrew Bible). I wonder what the author would think if he knew his letter was being elevated to the level of Torah.

I was talking to someone once about this passage, and said, "You know, the writer of this Timothy passage wouldn't have thought of what we call the New Testament as scripture."  The person I was speaking to didn't say anything, as if I had spoken a foreign language.

I do think the passage is correct, and I do think it is true of the Gospels and Epistles, even if the author didn't know about them or consider them scripture.  My point is that we need to be informed about what we say. And I think we need to realize that nothing the author of Timothy said means that a literal interpretation of scripture is the best way to open ourselves to the teaching, correction, and traiging the scripture offers.

 

Perspectives: Stonewall Lake