Our final summer reading

The first of our last set of summer readings is from Amy Carmichael and is on page 360 of our book. Prompted by events in 1901, it has immense relevance today. If you're gripped by what you read, talk to Esther or Christina. They have connections to a ministry that addresses similar problems in our own generation.

The other is online and is by a historian named James Edwin Orr. It's called "Why Campus Revivals Spark Missionary Advance." It's a tremendous faith-builder and a reminder of what God can accomplish on our campus this year.

Please read it even if you haven't been doing the readings with us this summer - it's really good!

Our Lucky Thirteenth Reading: Service

This summer we're reading through selected excerpts from Spiritual Classics, an anthology of writings about the habits faithful Christians have practiced for centuries.

The Habit of Service

• page 199, Hadewijch of Antwerp, Collected Letters
• page 217, Karl Rahner, Encounters With Silence

Glen sez: favorite lines "There were many pious women in the thirteenth century named Hadewijch" (199). Heh. "Let people take you for a fool; there is much truth in that." (200).

But enough of Hadewijch - on to Rahner. I really like the Rahner reading. He likes the fifty cent words a little too much, but I resonate with what he says. "It's not the affairs of this world that make my days dull and insignificant; I myself have dug the rut. Through my own attitude I can transform the holiest events into the grey tedium of dull routine. My days don't make me dull, it's the other way around" (219) and then this bolt of insight "if it's true that I can lose You in everything, it must also be true that I can find You in everything" (220). Good stuff.

We're almost done - one more week of reading, then our back to school retreat, and then IT STARTS!

Our Twelfth Reading: A Miscellany Of Thoughts

This summer we're reading through selected excerpts from Spiritual Classics, an anthology of writings about the habits faithful Christians have practiced for centuries.

Miscellaneous Thoughts

• page 346, Hannah More, On Comparatively Small Faults And Virtues (ca 1800 AD)
  
• page 10, Joyce Hugget, Learning The Language Of Prayer (she's still alive)

Glen sez: Hannah More rocked it in this essay. We often settle for a gospel of "good enough." We stop worrying about the small stuff because we've learned to live with our sins and have decided that they're just part of this mortal existence. We've forgotten the call of Christ to "be perfect." Oh - and my favorite line, "Life itself, though sufficiently unhappy, cannot devise misfortunes as often as the irritable person can supply impatience." The Joyce Hugget piece didn't rise quite to the level of More's insight, but it was refreshingly clear. Many of our recent readings have been kind of hand-wavy and overly metaphorical. All in all, this week gave us one of the better sets of readings.

Our Eleventh Reading: Seeking Guidance In Community

This summer we're reading through selected excerpts from Spiritual Classics, an anthology of writings about the habits faithful Christians have practiced for centuries.

Seeking Guidance In Community

• page 284, John Ruusbroec, Spiritual Espousals (ca 1350 AD)
• page 291, Ignatius Loyola, The Spiritual Exercises (ca 1500 AD)

Glen sez: For the record, I found the Ruusbroec reading exceeedingly weird and I'm not quite sure what it has to do with the topic of corporate guidance. It was more of a primer on how to experience God more fully. I'm all in favor of that, but I can't help but feel that I'm missing something. Anyone have better insight?

The Ignatius of Loyola piece, on the other hand, was extremely clear and helpful. In particular, I thought rules 9 and 13 from the first set and rules 6 and 8 from the second set were very good.

I should also point out the G. K. Chesterton piece (perhaps the best reading in the entire book) is on the next page after the Ignatius of Loyola pace. Reread it. Or even read in place of the Ruusbroec piece. ;)

The worship post is still attracting comments, including a very substantial one from an alumn who says "I HATE WORSHIP" - check it out.

Our Tenth Reading: The Habit of Worship

This summer we're reading through selected excerpts from Spiritual Classics, an anthology of writings about the habits faithful Christians have practiced for centuries.

The Habit of Worship

• page 258, Charles Wesley, O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing (ca 1750 AD)
• page 271, Andrew Murray, excerpts (ca 1850 AD)

Glen sez: Cool stuff here, folks.

Charles Wesley is one of my favorite historical figures (along with his brother John and their friend George Whitfield), and this hymn is one of his masterpieces (although it's not my favorite - I like Christ The Lord Is Risen Today and Hark! The Herald Angels Sing more, for example). This man knew God and knew how to lead others closer to God through his songwriting.

One of the recommended exercises is to sing the entire hymn through. In case you can't remember how it goes, you can hear a classic organ version of the hymn at http://www.oremus.org/hymnal/o/o138.html or a more modern guitar-driven version at http://igracemusic.com/hymnbook/hymns/o04.html

And Andrew Murray is the bomb slash diggity dot com. Seriously - if you've never read anything by him you're missing out. In this reading I was struck by his metaphor about astronomy. Very helpful.

Questions

• What's your current favorite worship song?
• Who is your favorite worship songwriter?
  

Our Ninth Reading: The Habit of Submission

This summer we're reading through selected excerpts from Spiritual Classics, an anthology of writings about the habits faithful Christians have practiced for centuries.

The Habit of Submission

• page 171, John Milton, poems
• page 190, Alan Paton, Instrument Of Thy Peace

Glen sez: This somehow became "famous literary figures week" in our readings. We didn't do that on purpose. It's pretty cool, though.

How interesting that at the age of 23 Milton already felt like a failure. There's a lesson there for Stanford students, if you dwell on it. And I love that his most famous line is born out of one of his darkest moments (no pun intended).

And the writing by Paton intrigues me. He quotes a passage I had been thinking about for other reasons (Exodus 4:11-12), in which God declares that He causes us to be as we are (not that He merely allows it - He causes it). Very interesting concept when put in relation to the idea of submission to God.

Both of our readings focus on the discipline of submission to God, which is at the heart of Christianity - but they neglect the discipline of submission to earthly authorities. That's a much less celebrated aspect of Christianity. Meditate on that for a while - it will prove salutary.

Our Eigth Reading: The Habit of Solitude

This summer we're reading through selected excerpts from Spiritual Classics, an anthology of writings about the habits faithful Christians have practiced for centuries.

The Habit of Solitude

• page 149: Thomas a Kempis, from The Imitation of Christ
• page 160: Paul Tournier, "A Listening Ear"

Glen sez: Solitude is to relationships as fasting is to food. And like fasting, solitude has an existing cultural counterpart that makes it complicated. For fasting, the cultural counterparts are dieting and eating disorders, and they've built triggers in our brain that co-opt this vital spiritual discipline. We're fasting and all of a sudden realize that it's about us and our body image and not about God. For solitude, the cultural counterparts are hobbies and workaholism - we get alone and do our own little thing and get into a groove and it turns out to be about us and our pleasure and not about God. Solitude for us can become a rationale excusing our isolation from community. I like these readings because they remind us that solitude isn't a goal - it's a tool.

Also, has anyone else noticed that when I don't post questions I get MUCH more feedback than when I do?

Our Seventh Reading: The Habit of Simplicity

This summer we're reading through selected excerpts from Spiritual Classics, an anthology of writings about the habits faithful Christians have practiced for centuries.

The Habit Of Simplicity

• page 111, A.W. Tozer excerpts from The Pursuit of God (ca 1925 AD)
• page 134, Clare of Assisi "Letters to Blessed Agnes of Prague" (ca 1225 AD)

Glen sez: Hands down my favorite line has to be "you also know that one who is clothed cannot fight with one who is naked." I like Clare of Assisi's style. Tozer is convicting as always. Both readings this week take a whack at the dominant idol of American culture - stuff.

Our Sixth Reading: The Habit of Meditation

This summer we're reading through selected excerpts from Spiritual Classics, an anthology of writings about the habits faithful Christians have practiced for centuries.

The Habit Of Meditation

• page 5, Thomas More "A Godly Meditation" (ca 1500 AD)
• page 22, Marguerite Porete "The Soul's Seven Stages" (ca 1300 AD)

Glen sez: Assuming that you're not totally consumed with the last Harry Potter book, you'll notice that this is the first week we've had two really old readings - usually it's one older one and a relatively recent one. The More piece, in particular, is a bon mot bonanza. The Porete one sounds stranger to our ears, but it represents a very common way of describing the path to Christian maturity back in the day - breaking spiritual progress up into a mystical number of stages (often 7).

Two readings that we didn't actually assign (by Merton and Hugget) are much more practical when it comes to describing the discipline of meditation. I commend them to you.

Questions:

1. Favorite quote from the last two weeks?
2. Do you think Porete's essay is mostly accurate or mostly off?

Our Fifth Reading: The Habit of Fasting

This summer we're reading through selected excerpts from Spiritual Classics, an anthology of writings about the habits faithful Christians have practiced for centuries.

The Habit of Fasting

1. page 57: "A Fasting On Criticalness" by Catherine Marshall
2. page 73: excerpts from A Serious Call To A Devout And Holy Life by William Law

Glen sez: Although Law's essay easily demolished something I once believed for many years, I found Marshall's essay on criticalness to be boring, poorly written, and completely irrelevant....

Questions:
No questions this week. Take a break.

Our Fourth Reading: The Habit of Confession

This summer we're reading through selected excerpts from Spiritual Classics, an anthology of writings about the habits faithful Christians have practiced for centuries.

The Habit of Confession

• page 240: Leo Tolstoy (ca 1850 AD) "Why Do Men Stupefy Themselves?"
• page 337: John Wesley (ca 1750 AD) "The Firstfruits of the Spirit"

Glen sez: Both of these writings are about being aware of our sinfulness and not so much about the habit of confession per se. Confession is implicit in the concepts of self-awareness and authenticity - once we know who we are we allow those who are close to us to see us in the same way. Confession to other humans (and not merely to God) is a key Biblical concept: "...confess your sins to one another..." James 5:16.

Questions (answer in the comments)

1. Wesley divides sins up into "sins of infirmity", "sins of surprise", and "sins of disobedience." What other categorizations of sin have you seen? Have any been helpful to you?
2. Best quote?
   

Our Third Reading: The Habit of Prayer

This summer we're reading through selected excerpts from Spiritual Classics, an anthology of writings about the habits faithful Christians have practiced for centuries.

The Habit of Prayer
o page 37: Agnes Sanford: "Experiments in Prayer" (ca 1950 AD)
o page 43: Author of The Cloud of Unknowing: "Starting to Pray" and "How and Why Short Prayer Pierces Heaven" (ca 1350 AD)

Glen sez: I really like the practicality of Sanford, but the reading I'm most excited about this week is from The Cloud of Unknowing. It's a missive from another era and is just different enough from our expectations to really stimulate reflection.

Questions (answer in the comments)

1. What's the best quote from the readings?
2. What do you do when you get distracted during prayer?
3. What's the most helpful book/article/sermon/Bible study about prayer? Link to it if it's online.

Our First and Second Readings

This summer we're reading through selected excerpts from Spiritual Classics.

I'll be posting the readings here

The Habit of Study
o page 79: George MacDonald: The Cause of Spiritual Stupidity (ca 1850 AD)
o C.S. Lewis "On The Reading of Old Books" (ca 1950 AD)

Glen sez: This Lewis piece is something I'll probably ask you to read a dozen more times before you graduates - it's that good.

The Habit of Celebration
o page 265: Gerard Manley Hopkins: Two Poems (ca 1850 AD)
o page 300: G. K. Chesteron: "Enjoying The Floods and Other Disasters" (ca 1900 AD)

Glen sez: This is one of my favorite set of readings - Hopkins and Chesterton rock. The Chesterton piece in particular is quite amusing. You'll note that neither of these readings from the actual section devoted to the habit of celebration - Lindsey and I disliked those readings and thought they sort of missed the point. Even these are more about enjoyment than celebration.

Questions For The Comments
Let's start the interactive stuff with something simple: post your favorite quote from these first two weeks as a comment - what's resonating with you?

2007 Summer Reading Schedule

This summer we're reading through selected excerpts from Spiritual Classics.

Readings for the week of Monday, June 18: Study
o page 79: George MacDonald (ca 1850 AD)
o C.S. Lewis "On The Reading of Old Books" (ca 1950 AD)

Readings for the week of Monday, June 25: Celebration
o page 265: Gerard Manley Hopkins (ca 1850 AD)
o page 300: G. K. Chesteron (ca 1900 AD)

Readings for the week of Monday, July 2: Prayer
o page 37: Agnes Sanford (ca 1950 AD)
o page 43: excerpts from The Cloud of Unknowing (ca 1350 AD)

Readings for the week of Monday, July 9: Confession
o page 240: Leo Tolstoy (ca 1850 AD)
o page 337: John Wesley (ca 1750 AD)

Readings for the week of Monday, July 16: Fasting
o page 57: Catherine Marshall (ca 1950 AD)
o page 73: William Law (ca 1750 AD)

Readings for the week of Monday, July 23: Meditation
o page 5: Thomas More (ca 1500 AD)
o page 22: Marguerite Porete (ca 1300 AD)

Readings for the week of Monday, July 30: Simplicity
o page 111: A. W. Tozer (ca 1925 AD)
o page 134: Clare of Assisi (ca 1225 AD)

Readings for the week of Monday, August 6: Solitude
o page 148: Thomas a' Kempis (ca 1425 AD)
o page 160: Paul Tournier (ca 1950 AD)

Readings for the week of Monday, August 13: Submission
o page 171: John Milton (ca 1650 AD)
o page 190: Alan Paton (ca 1950 AD)

Readings for the week of Monday, August 20: Worship
o page 258: Charles Wesley (ca 1750 AD)
o page 271: Andrew Murray (ca 1850 AD)

Readings for the week of Monday, August 27: Guidance
o page 284: John Ruusbroec (ca 1350 AD)
o page 291: Ignatius Loyola (ca 1500 AD)

Readings for the week of Monday, September 3: Miscellaneous
o page 346: Hannah More (ca 1800 AD)
o page 10: Joyce Hugget (still living)

Readings for the week of Monday, September 10: Service
o page 199: Hadewijch of Antwerp (ca 1250 AD)
o page 217: Karl Rahner (ca 1950 AD)

Readings for the week of Monday, September 17: Miscellaneous
o page 360: Amy Carmichael (ca 1900 AD)
o James Edwin Orr "Why Campus Revivals Spark Missionary Advance" (ca 1950 AD)