240-249: How to Be Good (Biblically)

The Dewey category 240-249 encompasses devotionals, "Christian living," Christian family life, Biblical ethical philosophy, and, inexplicably, a whole section devoted to church furnishings. If you are a Muslim or a Hindu, you will have to look much harder to find information about what kind of rugs or altar to buy for your place of worship.... so hard that I cannot provide you with your Dewey number offhand. But then, I can't give you your LCCat number either.

I picked three books from that all-encompassing Christian Living section found in my own church library. Just Courage, by Gary Haugen, is a challenge to take risks in the service of God's heart for the redemption of the world. Haugen is best known as the founder of International Justice Mission, of which I am a huge fan and supporter, but he cut his teeth in the Justice Department, investigating police misconduct in the US. I hope that role continues to be filled by smart, aggressive lawyers with a heart to protect the marginalized!

College Ruined Our Daughter, by Wesley Shrader, probably needs a new name. The subtitle is: "Letters to parents about the baffling world of the college student," the copyright is 1969, and I think the point is that college did not, in fact, ruin the daughters and sons in question. By just dipping into the letters, I sense that the issues students and parents are grappling with may not have changed much: sexuality, politics, drugs, hypocrisy, appear on just about every page. Only the clothes have changed-- love beads and Nehru jackets were mentioned!

Learn to Grow Old, by Paul Tournier, is the book that resonates most greatly with me at this moment as I progress through my 50s and walk with my mother through her 70s. The jacket blurb cheerfully assures me that "Dr. Tournier feels that old age and retirement need not be feared or hidden from."

230-239: Father, Son and Spirit

Fun fact: The idea that Father, Son and Spirit are three aspects of one God rather than three distinct individuals who still make up One is not within the scope of orthodox Christianity. Seems like splitting hairs to me, but there you have it. Whichever view you take, if you want to explore the trinity, this is the Dewey decade for you. May I recommend:

Father: The Return of the Prodigal, by Henry Nouwen, that sweet, broken healer, is beautifully summarized here.
Son: The Everlasting Man, by the always entertaining, often in error but never in doubt, G.K. Chesterton, is now out of copyright and freely available in print and audio forms.
Spirit: The Forgotten God is by the one living author on my short list, Francis Chan, a man who, as far as I can tell, never wrote a word he didn't live out with shocking integrity.

All of these I have read at other times in my life. For this project, I returned to the theme of the Father of the Prodigal Son with Abba's Heart, by Neal and Matthew Lozano. They have preached in my church, and I have attended their retreats, so their concerns and the format of the book are very familiar to me. Stories of people they have met are interwoven with devotional meditations on Scripture, all with a therapeutic focus. My favorite story in the book is this one:

I always had a hard time believing that God loved me. I knew He loved everyone, and that included me, but I was loved as one of the multitude. My dad often said wonderful things to me to communicate his love, like "You are my favorite daughter." I knew what he meant, but I was his only daughter! I met those words with disbelief, not allowing them to penetrate my heart....

I was on a retreat when I faced the insecurity and emptiness in my heart. The worthlessness speaking from within was louder than the voice of God. How could you love me? I thought. For days I was overwhelmed by these lies. Suddenly the voice of the Father broke in: You are my favorite.

First of all, I have a favorite niece who is also my only niece. But she really is my favorite, too! So I get how this works. I also love how this narrator takes responsibility for her own responses, as it were. She doesn't blame her father for choosing the "wrong" way to express his love for her... she acknowledges that it was her own human limitations that kept her from accepting those expressions. Likewise, it's not our heavenly Father's fault that we don't trust Him, feel loved by Him, or understand what He is doing half the time. These roiling emotions are just our lot as humans, and we have to keep making better choices, opening our hearts again to Him, doing that work of repentance none of us likes! The Father has done and is doing His part to love us, even coming into the world to experience the same obstacles we deal with. Now it is our turn, by the power of His Spirit, to receive what He has given.