Every Season Sacred by Kayla Craig

★★★★ ☐ The publisher has provided a copy for review.

These reflections will help you to pause and to practice the seasons of faith. I'm recommending this to families, spiritual directors, contemplatives, and those who think they are too busy to reflect on their faith. Craig provides weekly guidance in every season; you'll enjoy the prayers, ideas, and activities. 

Preparing to Meet Jesus: A 21-Day Challenge to Move from Salvation to Transformation by Anne Graham Lotz; Rachel-Ruth Lotz Wright

★★★ ☐☐ The publisher has provided a copy for review.

Spiritual direction is all the rage. Spiritual formation is a buzz word. But is it transformational? Has your character or longing for the presence of God grown?

Lotz and Lotz-Wright offer a challenge to be changed by a worthy goal, preparing for the day when you will come face to face with the Savior. If that's not motivation, I don't know what is.

Sometimes you go on a journey with a group, sometimes by yourself. Sometimes you have a sabbatical or retreat coming up. Take this 3-week book with you. It offers a scripture, prayer, stories, questions, and a challenge for each day. If you do even half of this, you'll be changed. 

I recommend that you take it a week at a time and think about where you're headed after every week is done. Keep a journal of the trip - you'll be amazed at how scripture and the Way comes alive to move you to intimacy and action.

The Practice of the Presence of Jesus by Joni Eareckson Tada

★★★★ ☐ The publisher has provided a copy for review. 

Maybe your life has ceased to be creative or interesting. Maybe you face real challenges and insurmountable obstacles. Tada knows all about that. This daily meditation combines writings of Brother Lawrence, a lowly monk working in the kitchens of his monastery with Tada's own observations of life with severe human limits.

Tada encourages the reader to come near to Jesus, to draw strength for each day, and to look beyond what people assume our life looks like. She offers hope for the hopeless, perspective for the historically challenged Christian, and a daily meditation that will change your life. 

Sometimes followers of Jesus become bored because they are shallow in their faith. Sometimes there's not enough mystery in the tourney. Well, here's a solution to those assumptions! Dive in. Highly recommended for yourself or as a gift, whether for birthdays, Christmas, or the New Year.

Life on the Altar by James B Law

★★★★ ☐ The publisher has provided a copy for review. 

Self-sacrifice is hardly a popular theme in the Church today. We're more into self-actualizing and realizing our potential.

But what if we carefully read Romans 12:1 and other scriptures and do what they say? What if we lay our lives down, one decision after another, one day after another? What if we trust God enough to let him give our lives away and let living water flow unobstructed through our being?

This book is a challenge to every believer and especially to pastors and leaders to lay down our own plans and let God work through us.

It reminds me of the classic Blackaby study Experiencing God. We're called to listen, hear, relinquish, and obey - regardless of consequences to the self. Only then do we participate in the kingdom of God and realize our true purposes.

Soul Anatomy: Finding Peace, Hope, and Joy in the Psalms by George Robertson

 ★★★★ ☐ The publisher has provided a copy for review. 

If you're wondering what scripture has to say to your emotions and your mental health during this pandemic and beyond, here's a series of "talks to the soul" that will lift you up. Whether you are happy or sad, angry or calm, afraid or confident, the Psalms address every aspect of our response to God and those around us. 

Robertson explores the psalms - and encourages us to deeply reflect in reading and response on what God is doing. Is your life going smoothly? Choose a chapter about that. Are you suffering because of others' decisions? There's a psalm for that.

At the end of each chapter, you can personally record how you are engaging with scripture and bringing God's reassuring presence into your life. Recommended to all.

Radically Different by Champ Thornton

★★★★ ☐ The publisher has provided a copy for review.
Got a pre-teen or teen who's struggling with their identity? Someone being challenged about who God is and if he matter to us? A group of students who wonder if God makes a difference in the world around us?

This book comes with a fill-in leader guide and is recommended for small groups and their leaders. Organized by good, bad, and new categories, this will challenge students to think about and act on God-with-us in ourselves, our families, and our world. It's got colorable (and doodle-able) graphics and space to write your own thoughts, too.

Wish I'd had this when my kids were entering junior high. Recommended.

The Characters of Christmas by Daniel Darling

★★★★ ☐ The publisher has provided a copy for review.
You can read this book with your kids, your friends, or on your own. "Christmas is just around the corner," as they say.

Whether you're a volunteer or staff member trying to present a holistic picture of the Christmas story, or a parent trying to make sense of what Joseph and Mary went through, you'll enjoy this creative exploration of who the characters may have been - around the time of Jesus' birth.

For a fresh look at the old old story, pick up a copy to read by yourself or with friends.

Global Arts and Christian Witness by Roberta R. King

★★★★ ☐ The publisher has provided a copy for review.
This is part of a series on Mission in Global Community for students and others. Music and other arts are an integral part of culture. They have always been part of the worship of the Church and part of the way we tell God's story. As a musician, this topic is dear to my heart. Though there is nothing startlingly different here, the book is encouraging and comprehensive about creative and proven ways to intersect culture.

With many illustrations, King encourages artists and musicians to create space for God's work in and through their art. She also promotes the idea of engaging and understanding cross-cultural settings by listening and looking at the art of other places, particularly in non-reading cultures.

Art is always a two- (or more-) way conversation. Showing, telling, and playing through voice, instruments, and artistic mediums allows a deep heart engagement, which nonetheless comes with some parameters and cautions. King gives a good overview of the process and the possibility of offering Good News through the arts. Recommended.

The Culture of Theology by John Webster

★★★★★  The publisher provided a copy for review.
Six lectures and a lifetime of theology. In the two decades after these talks were presented in 1996, Webster continued to explore what it means to think theologically within "the sphere in which Christian faith and life have their existence by the miracle of God's grace." The extended editorial notes explain a great deal of his theology and enthusiasm for the truth about God and humanity as found in scriptures.

For Webster, theology was a conversation rooted in Christian culture and praxis as well as a deep astonishment that God is present with us and active among us. The personal search to know God better will be a conversation between the theologian's activity in the Church and beyond it, in his/her culture and relationships, measured by God's goodness and favor.

What I felt was an invitation to join an intimate quest - to know God theologically. That may be the legacy left by Webster, who passed away several years ago. Well worth reading, reflecting on, and perhaps even - letting it change your life.