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Why does an elephant use his trunk as a bookmark? 

So he NOSE where he stopped reading. 

(groan) 

Ok, that quip is not orignal to me; I just googled 'joke about reading' so that I could find a decent line to open this week's Dearly Beloved with. 

I want to recommend some books to you today, but before I do, I want to say a few words about reading. 

Not everyone loves reading. Chances are if you haven't already skimmed or scrolled past this point, you potentially enjoy reading at least a little more than the average person. 

I am not a strong reader. 

I hope you don't mind me being honest with you about that for a moment. I didn't really love reading as a child or in school. I still don't feel confident reading aloud. And, to this day when making my way through a book I am frustrated with myself for how slowly I read. For some reason it can exhaust me. 
Reading is a discipline for me. 
And, perhaps interestingly, it is still somehow a delight for me. 

Over the years I have observed that some people love reading simply because they love reading (I'm a little jealous of these folk). But for the rest of us, we usually have found something else that motivates us to read. 

Here are a few of the reasons I have found that motivate me to read:

  • I love beholding Jesus. I love capturing new glimpses of Him! 
  • I really enjoy learning, especially about things that fascinate me. 
  • I enjoy thinking deeply (and maybe this is why I often read very slowly)

Whether you are in the 'always love to read' or the 'reading is a discipline' category, can I encourage you to consider including a book to run alongside our "Is the Gospel Actually Good News" series this Fall? Let me mention a few to you: 

The Prodigal God, by Tim Keller. This approachable and relatively short (yay!) book digs deeply into some important insights in Luke 15. We will lean on some of the compelling concepts Keller brings to the surface. I have probably gone through this book 5 or more times in the last 5 years. I love how it helps me to see God's heart and the wonder of His gospel! 

 

The Return of the Prodigal Son, by Henri Nouwen. If you have an appreciation of art or deep thought, you may find this book very captivating. Nouwen gives time to contemplating Rembrant's famous artwork inspired by Luke 15 (pictured on the book's cover), identifying fascinating details that can often go unnoticed. He relates the inspiration of the piece to God's message from Luke 15 for you and I. 

 

Both of these books are for sale in CPC's Resource Centre in the new Central Lobby. 

Not in our resource centre, but worth a quick mention in case you want to order your own copies:

  • The Surprising Genius of Jesus, by Peter J. Williams. If you enjoy fascinating details that live in scripture and ancient biblical contexts and cultures, you will enjoy this book that looks primarily at Luke 15 and its meaning. 
  • If you are the kind who may think more deeply about the "Is the Gospel Actually Good News?" question when it comes to history and our world today, you could consider, "Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World" by Tom Holland, and also "The Rise of Christianity" by Rodney Stark

Finally, whether reading is pure discipline or pure delight, let's give the best of our attention to the Bible. Nothing will help you to behold Jesus better than Spirit's work in your life as you consume scripture. 

Happy reading,
Pastor Mike 

 

Ps: I have found audio books can be a great help to me, so you could consider that too if reading isn't your strongest suit. I almost always I still end up having a physical copy of the book so that I can stop and underline along the way. ...which slows the whole thing down for me again... Ha!