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I almost can't believe it's August already!
This month, in honor of how much it is used on our students summer trips, we are featuring my favorite collection of liturgies: Every Moment Holy. This book has captured my heart and awakened my soul more times than I can count. The introduction begins with a quote from Wendell Berry, "There are no unsacred places; there are only sacred places and desecrated places." It goes on to describe that the many authors featured hope that the liturgies inside help us to recapture the "dream of Eden that simmers at the edge of things." It might be helpful to quickly define what a liturgy is. A liturgy is simply a prayer, meant to be read by one or more people, with the aim of helping us recognize God's movement. To quote the author, "these (prayers) are ways of reminding us that our lives are shot through with sacred purpose even when, especially when, we are too busy or too caught up in our busyness to notice." There are liturgies for sunsets, to begin purposeful gatherings, for the changing of diapers, and for husbands and wives at the start and close of the day. You can find a full list by following this link if that interests you. https://store.rabbitroom.com/products/every-moment-holy This book is for anyone who would like to get better at recognizing the sacred in the ordinary. It also is a great resource for those who feel pressure to pray "well" in front of a group, because (at least in my experience) reading a prayer removes that pressure. Our copy lives on a small table in our reading nook that someone in our house picks up almost daily, and I would love for you to have a similar experience. |
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Kickoff is finally here!
With schools, sports, extra-curricular activities and yes, even church programs ramping up, I want to re-feature a book that I think is especially helpful in seasons like this! We last featured Jefferson Bethke’s book “Take Back Your Family” this past April, but I want to make sure you see it in case you didn’t then! Admittedly, I (Noah) am a little biased here. This book addresses the heart of the greatest issues I think families face today – burnout, busyness, individualism, and the nuclear ideal. If you’re thinking, “that's a lot of big words in a row,” don’t worry. Bethke’s voice comes through strongly, and this book reads far more like a conversation than a textbook. Jefferson explores the reasons why families seem to find themselves in a cycle of busyness and burnout (spoilers, it hasn’t always been this way) and lays out what he calls a “biblical blueprint for families” that I find super compelling. He doesn’t just name the problem and outline what he believes the solution is though – he also provides a very practical framework for assessing your own heart as parents and seeking to live as a “family team on mission together.” This resource is geared toward parents of all ages. I like it so much that just typing this summary has me re-reading it to keep it in the front of my mind. I know it probably sounds like I’m overselling it a bit, but don’t just take my word for it – read it for yourself so we can geek out together 😊 |
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I'm sure it's obvious that some of these recommendations are totally selfish. Right now, I’m only halfway through Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation but it has already been so impactful for me I can’t help but feature it this month.
If you talked to our high school students, you would know that I have a few “soapboxes” I like to jump onto regularly and rant a bit. Social media – especially the way that it has changed how students learn and interact with each other – is one of those soapboxes. I really don't like social media. Up until this book (at least to my knowledge), sociologists have only established a correlation between excessive screen time, smartphone usage, and social media and things like depression, poor self-image, and anxiety. In a fascinating and horrifying development, this book sees Haidt clearly demonstrate a causal relationship that starts around 2010 alongside the widespread adoption of smartphones. Haidt spends the first half of the book making the case that we have traded a “play-based” childhood for a “phone-based” childhood and discussing the consequences of that shift. Children are safer than ever (statistically) but now enjoy far less unsupervised playtime with peers. This results in children failing to engage in crucial developmental risks and challenges. A child who never falls never truly comes to respect and healthily fear heights. It isn’t just our kids though – our middle and high school students are spending substantially less time together outside of structured (and adult-supervised) extracurricular activities. As a result, our youth grow up with a lower “tolerance” for adversity in the real world. As much as it hurts having a group of students on the playground tease or disagree with you, those kinds of interactions form the basis of our coping mechanisms for adult disagreement. Haidt proposes that phones and screens have served as a digital barrier to these interactions, allowing undesirable opinions to be scrolled past or filtered out by an algorithm. He spends a chapter discussing how these kinds of negative effects (especially anxiety and poor self-image) disproportionally affect young girls who use smartphones before the age of 14-16. The end of the book suggests ways that school and parents might practically begin to push back against a “phone based” childhood, and his suggestions feel pretty realistic and attainable. I think this book is for any parent interested in exploring how smartphones and social media are capable of negatively affecting their children. Fair warning – this book is a bit more academic than the others that I have recommended here, but I really believe it's worth your time. If we are still called to be a generation that is “set apart” (and I think we are) I think that the often-thoughtless use of technology and social media might be a good place to start. |
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Hello, November!
Last month I was brave enough to feature a nerdier-than-usual book, and it actually received the most interest yet! So to lean into the sociology momentum a bit, this month I want to share a book that has deeply shaped the way that I view (and do) youth ministry. To be fair, it’s not a book that is geared toward parents, but I think it has lessons for all parents to learn and reflect on regardless. The book in question is Andrew Root’s “The End of Youth Ministry?” While the title is attention grabbing all by itself, I think the subtitle is even more so - “Why parents don't really care about youth groups and what youth workers should do about it.” I’m not recommending this book because I think none of you care about youth group... but there is a not-so-secret hope that you might be a little more invested after reading it. In some ways, this recommendation is far more personal than any before it – in reading Andrew’s words, you will learn about my heart for ministry. Among the myriad footnotes, Root invites you to journey with him as he tries to answer the question “what is youth ministry for?" In a super personable (but still deeply academic) tone, Root tells the story of how he researched this question, and the realizations and conversations he had along the way. What he finds has crucial implications for both parents and youth workers alike, and this book is best suited for anyone who fits those categories. Without spoiling too much... he ultimately contends that youth ministry is for joy. If that sounds weird to you, or if you strongly resonate with it, I would seriously love to have you read this book so that we can talk about and implement some of his ideas together. |
For Moms and DadsGrowing With
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For Parents Who are TiredTake Back Your Family: From the Tyrants of Burnout, Busyness, Individualism, and the Nuclear Ideal
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If you happened to hear my sermon this past October, this is the book that I kept referencing. Comer's voice and heart are so present in this book, and it is wonderfully easy to read as a result. This is the book that caused me to trade my smartphone for a "dumbphone" for nearly three months, and it has been instrumental in helping me slow down and Sabbath well. If you find yourself struggling with hurry in your life, this is a great place to start tackling that.
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