It Finally Happened

I've been making my way through some form of ministry with people (monks, students, religious professionals, country church folk)for the better part of two years now. I had been able to put it off for this long, but finally I decided to dive back in - not to the blog, but to theological reading.

For the better part of two years now I have done my best to really avoid the theological reading. I have read some of the Spiritual classics, I've read some for a seminary class I helped with last year and some for the commissioning papers (although to be honest, my brain has been joined with the spirit of Wesley's for some time now). But for the most part I have stuck to history, fiction and useless blogs and facebook (Best reading in this realm: Run by Ann Patchett, Juliet Naked, Nick Hornby's new one, and of course, David McCullough's 1776.)

But the other day I decided it was time to dig in. When you are tillin' souls out here in the country, you don't have a whole lot of time for theological reflection. You are running from the hospital to some old lady's house, from Bible Study preparation to District meetings, and sometimes all you can manage is a quick breath before you try to remember what who you are going to say and what particular need or ailment brought you here.

And as I have been trying to not set the church ablaze for a few months now, I have noticed that I need some helping thinking about just what I am doing and how I am supposed to go about doing it. Out here on the edge of the district, I don't run into a bunch of budding theologians. I talk to friends and mentors on the phone and try to make the best of it, but I also came to realize that I needed to start relying again on the wisdom of the saints who have gone before - you know, to help me focus how I am spending my time so I can try somehow in the midst of all this mess of counting people in the seats and surviving charge conference to proclaim and live into the kingdom.

I'm a little far away from Sister Cassell and Candace, Joshua and Parker, Penniman and the Methodist Trinity, Pugh and Sister Beth and the rest of my crew, so I decided, with the help of the Cokesbury gift card, to begin some conversations again.

I was a little bit like an addict returning to the bar, but I went to work, efficiently and with a 30 percent discount. So, I started with Barbara Brown Taylor and then went to Wally B, I booked a table with Richard Foster and dessert with Dallas Willard. Niebuhr and I will sit down for coffee, H. Richard, not Reinhold, of course, and I'll probably try to dive back into God's Ambassadors, to remember how we've done this thing for so long and remember how much fun reading E. Brooks was back in the day.

So, I'll let you know how it goes. But for now, here's my dance card for the next couple of weeks.

An Altar in the World, Barbara Brown Taylor
The Word that Redescribes the World, Walter Brueggemann
Longing for God, Richard Foster and Gayle Beebe
The Responsibility of the Church for Society, H. Richard Niebuhr
Knowing Christ Today, Dallas Willard