Books

I love to read. I'm sure I've mentioned this in other posts. If I haven't, I'll say it again: I love to read. I read more fiction than non-fiction, although I'm trying to read more non-fiction. I have friends and colleagues who love to read deep, dense books on theology. They read them, they understand them, they even like them. I am not usually that person. When it comes to some of those books I feel like I'm wading through them, struggling to figure out what they're telling me. It takes me a long time to get through them, and when I'm done my usual first thought is, "huh?" Then, sometime later, you know, like 4 years or something, a light goes on and I understand what I read in that book. There are things from seminary that I'm just now realizing I actually understand. I used to think I was a pretty smart person. Then I went to seminary. Anyway, I'm realizing that I much prefer books on spirituality and theology where those really smart people who can read or understand the deeper concepts of theology write about their experiences and put those concepts into context. I don't always agree with these authors, but I appreciate their writing styles. Lately I've been reading several authors that are engaging, funny and practical about their faith. They make thinking and talking about God seem very simple, easy, practical, down-to-earth, even interesting. As a pastor I would like to be more like that. It seems like these past months I've had people in my office complaining about this or that, and we talk about it, but very rarely do they bring up God in these discussions. And I'm sad to admit that I don't bring God up all that much more often. I read these books where people have actual conversations about God and it doesn't seem strange at all. Actually, sometimes it does seem strange, but the authors manage to acknowledge that strangeness and make a point about it. I wonder if those conversations in my office might go in a different direction, if I or the other person might come out of them with a different understanding, if God were brought up. If how we understand our faith were brought up. I do work in a church, after all. It shouldn't seem that strange a concept.