Stopping to Think

And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer by Fredrik Backman My rating: 5 of 5 stars This novella takes you inside the mind of a man and his memories, and walks you through the painful experience of losing those memories, only slipping out from time to time to help you feel how devastating this experience is not only for the man himself, but for his grandson and son as well. Backman’s prose is absolutely spot on. Delightful would be the wrong word given this subject matter, but the grace of his language is part of what makes the pain bearable. I lost my grandfather (on my mom’s side) almost a year ago, following several years of noticeable cognitive decline, and my own father has severe memory impairment following a stroke several years back. The pain I felt for ever character in this story was palpable. Devastating. And yet this book is so suffused with beauty. I suppose to give it a two word summary I would combine those two. And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer

  "Pastors must remain vigilant, guarding not only the orthodoxy of statements of faith but also the imaginations of their congregants." Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Hearers & Doers, pg 12

  "Doctrine is not a distraction but the church's main business: living each day, all day, to the glory of God." Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Hearers & Doers, pg 134

Weakness Is the Way: Life with Christ Our Strength by J.I. Packer My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book was not what I anticipated; I was anticipating a more extended meditation upon the topic of weakness, whereas this book is actually a meditation upon Paul's second letter to the Corinthian church, with particular application to weakness. Which is probably what I needed. Packer is always lucid, incisive, and to the point, and this book is no different. View all my reviews  

  "There is no such thing as love or worship that is merely private." Anthony Esolen, Life Under Compulsion, pg 212

The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan My rating: 5 of 5 stars I had started to read this several years ago and put it down. I always had in my mind the idea that this was a simple, perhaps over-simple, book. As I listened to the audio book over the past couple of days and was struck both by Bunyan's quite complex and nuanced view of the Christian life-or pilgrimage, as it were-and by the beauty of his language. Highly recommended. View all my reviews  

  So next time you hear someone say, "The church is a people, not a place," you might respond: "Sort of. The people become a people by regularly assembling in a place. You can't call the team a team if they never play together." Jonathan Leeman, One Assembly, pg 64