Here’s the list of books I read on my Sabbatical, including a quote from each that stood out in my reading.

Open Mind, Open Heart: The Contemplative Dimension of the Gospel by Thomas Keating 

“Prayer is not only the offering of interior acts to God: it is the offering of ourselves, of who we are just as we are.” pg. 13

The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“The only way to win assurance is by leaving to-morrow entirely in the hands of God and by receiving from [God] all we need for to-day.” pg. 178

Preaching by Fred B. Craddock

“To be a minister in a community is to be a resident, a citizen, a responsible leader, and one who shares the blame and the credit for the quality of life in that place.” pg. 95

Heartbreak: A Personal and Scientific Journey by Florence Williams 

“Expect to suffer. You can’t run away from pain for long. You must feel it and then you must wait. And yes, beauty could blow open the possibilities of the universe while also making you less focused on yourself.” pgs. 177-178

The Choice: Embrace the Possible by Dr. Edith Eva Eger

“But as my fellow [Holocaust] survivors taught me, you can live to avenge the past, or you can live to enrich the present. You can live in the prison of the past, or you can let the past be the springboard that helps you reach the life you want now.” pg. 175

Reorganized Religion: The Reshaping of the American Church and Why It Matters by Bob Smietana

“Sometimes I think a church or other faith community is a bit like a gas station on a lonely country road. You can drive by for years and never notice it. Then one night, perhaps late, running out of gas or with something going wrong, you see the lights and pull in. It’s there when you need it because someone left the lights on and kept the door open.” pg. 193

The Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris

“In a world in which we are so easily labeled and polarized by our differences: man/woman, Protestant/Catholic, gay/straight, feminist/chauvinist, monastic hospitality is a model of the kind of openness that we need if we are going to see and hear each other at all.” pg. 162

Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others by Barbara Brown Taylor

“The only clear line I draw these days is this: when my religion tries to come between me and my neighbor, I will choose my neighbor. That self-canceling feature of my religion is one of the things I like best about it. Jesus never commanded me to love my religion.” pg. 208

Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times by Michael B. Curry

“Whenever someone tells their story, you are standing on holy ground. You behave differently, hear them differently, and react from a different place. It’s so much harder to hate when someone has shown you their heart.” pgs. 218-219

The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe by Matthew Gabriele & David M. Perry

“On July 15, 1099, several ladders clung to the wall and the Christians gained a foothold, forcing the defenders to retreat. The gates opened. The Christians poured in. The Temple ran red with blood, and the exultant victors celebrated a mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, a sanctuary supposedly built over Jesus’s tomb. What happened during this campaign is not heavily contested by historians; what it meant at the time, what it means today—these matters remain subjects of bitter and sometimes violent dispute.” pg. 126

Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most by Miroslav Volf, Matthew Croasmun, & Ryan McAnnally-Linz

“Life isn’t a series of crises calling for Heroic Moral Deeds.  Most of the time, it’s a series of small, seemingly insignificant decisions and nondecisions.  It’s made up of habits and assumptions and incremental changes.  The shape of who we are and how we live isn’t like Stonehenge.  It’s not made by stacking a few massive rocks on top of one another.  It’s built up over time, brick by brick.” pg. 79

Photo by Rev. Lauren Ostrout.