Advent meditations
In My Heart I Carry a Star: Stories for Advent
by Derek Maul (Upper Room, 2008; 144 pages; $14, paper)
 Billed as a traveling companion for your Advent journey, storyteller and former teacher Derek Maul — a columnist for the Tampa Tribune — gives us vignettes, Scriptures to reflect on and prayers for each day of Advent. The title of his book comes both from his interpretation of John 12:35-36, the passage that invites us to become “children of light,” and from a Christmas painting by one of his severely emotionally disturbed fifth-grade students. In the painting the student wrote, “Deep inside me I carry a star. A light sometimes only I can see.”
Maul, a member of First Presbyterian Church in Brandon, Fla., is one of those people who finds the Advent season brimming with light and inviting us to Christ’s peace. He writes, “For me everything else that makes sense finds its genesis in the context of Christmas.” This reader-friendly book will delight all who want to take full advantage of the richness of Advent and get a contemporary understanding of the context of Christmas.
—Teresa Blythe
Ten Most Common Mistakes Made by New Church Starts
by Jim Griffith and Bill Easum (Chalice Press, 2008, 122 pages; $19.99, paperback)
 Jim Griffith and Bill Easum know the ten most common mistakes made by church starts because they’ve made them. These two church consultants and coaches offer helpful tips to anyone who is planting a church, leading a newly planted church or consulting with those involved in the process. If you have a connection with a new church start, or even with an older church that is trying desperately to grow rather than die, you will find this book full of stories, advice and encouragement.
The first of the 10 mistakes cited by the authors is to “neglect the great commandment in pursuit of the great commission.” In other words, if you forget to love the people you are trying to reach you will not grow. They discuss the kind of opposition churches face as they grow (spiritual and material); the premature launch; fear of talking about money (get over it!); and using the “superstar” model as a paradigm (as in thinking you can become like Willow Creek if you just use the Willow Creek plan).
Of greatest importance is knowing your mission field. Who are you trying to reach? If the answer is everyone, you are setting yourself up to fail. This book is short and sweet but packs a punch. Anyone involved in new church development will enjoy it, while also feeling challenged by it.
—Teresa Blythe
Understanding the Hebrew Bible
A Short Introduction to the Hebrew Bible
by John J. Collins (Fortress Press, 2007; 324 pages; $30, paper)
 John J. Collins, Holmes professor of Old Testament Criticism at Yale, has done an extraordinary job in this “short” introduction. Short is hardly the word, but it couldn’t have been shorter. The advanced reader will manage it well, but such a book is best utilized in a classroom setting. This is an excellent resource for a congregational study group seeking to understand the nature of the text.
Collins writes: “My intent in the Short Introduction was to write something clear and concise that would help students recognize what is most important in the Old Testament for people in the modern world.” Working from the perspective of current scholarship, Collins lets the text speak for itself, freeing it from the overlay of dogmatic assertions about inspiration and such. Wrangling about the text often obscures the message of the text. Collins advises us to just read it, in its glorious affirmations of love and life, its prophetic “truth to power” and its critique of idolatry. Even its bloody stories offer insight into human perversity, and how, at our worst, we’re inclined to want God on our side.
Collins’ comments on “violence” in the Bible are profoundly helpful. It’s a part of the Bible we have to face, and no amount of dogmatic gymnastics or allegorical interpretation can change this. Collins also devotes attention to the “side writings” — some included in the Roman Catholic Bible. Their role in the formation of first-century Jewish and Christian thought is significant; to study them opens up windows of insight into the Gospels. Jesus was familiar with these writings and alludes to them. In such writings, “immortality” and “eternal life” begin to emerge in Jewish thought, ideas intensified in Christianity.
—Tom Eggebeen, pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church, Los Angeles
Discipleship beyond the sanctuary
Living Beyond the Sanctuary: Discipleship in the Real World
by Glenn McDonald (Faithwalk Publishing, 2008; 160 pages; $16.99, hardcover)
 Christians are called to discipleship — a walk of faith that transcends the Sunday worship experience. In Living Beyond the Sanctuary McDonald, senior pastor of Zionsville Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis, provides fresh, pointed guidance for living a Jesus-based life. The second half of the book, in particular, asks compelling questions and presents challenges to anyone seeking a radical faith. These challenges cover many aspects of the Christian journey, among them the discipline of prayer and meditation on the Word, our response to the world (becoming salt and light), and a commitment to the priority of God’s kingdom (the high cost of kingdom building).
Each chapter ends with questions for group discussion, making the book well-suited to small-group study. Presbyterians interested in evangelism will especially appreciate this book, since McDonald serves as a consultant for the denomination in church growth. Not just another indictment of the comfortable pew, this book meets all of us where we are and helps us find our growing edge.
—Sally Curd, Southside Presbyterian Church, Tucson, Ariz. |
