So, every new year I take some time to look back on the reading I did in the year gone by. Reading is one of those weird things for me: it's a hobby, on the one hand, and I do it for pleasure, but at the same time, it's a crucial piece of staying sharp for ministry. It's sort of like a "wobby" for me; or "hork" (get it, hobby + work?). In the past I usually try to trim my readings from the year down to a top ten list of some sort or other, but this year, for the fun and the challenge of it, I thought I'd haiku (yes, haiku) my way through all the books I read in 2014.
Ready?
A message so wise
on the lost arts pastoral
came when most needed.
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A trip to the place
where Truth and Beauty's disguised
as science fiction.
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Humble reminder:
that ministry's not the same
as false relevance.
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A paradise won
in fantastical places
with everyday love.
Peering down the well
of addiction and seeing
My face staring back.
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One pond'rous prologue
to a man I thought I knew
and can't wait to meet.
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I'll help you write songs
said the man with the guitar
and oh, how he did.
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Its not as simple
or as complicated as
we think. There's the rub.
Jennell Williams Paris, The End of Sexual Identity: Why Sex is too Important to Define who we are
or as complicated as
we think. There's the rub.
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Could it really be,
that identity in Christ
isn't gay or straight?
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A view of the cross
from an angle so ancient
it sort of sounds new.
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A better cover
than a book; but then again,
who am I to judge?
stalactites in the heart's cave,
till awe leads us out.
C. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life
till awe leads us out.
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One man's life story:
haunted by joy and yearning.
It aches in us all.
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If God's not in it,
and it's not done on our knees,
it isn't good news.
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Young Adult chick-lit
but the poems led me on.
A man of forty.
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You make it sound
so easy and compelling.
Now for the hard part.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmlZEwkTMj_qSCdNT6-UHlNjxll4XGjLc_DdQuN8pe_58TXuBlotnacNQ8dzfrTgKQy6JFGg4LEEoPCNZ1cMFSDMhdSYM6bUuhLDF-4YX_kQGS4mCN6oXLVjWOvUoC8GxQDW-RzO7woEU/s1600/emotiuonally+healthy+spirit.jpg)
Opened it as an
emotional teenager
wanting to grow up.
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"Sabbath for the man"
is how the Master said it.
Now I think I see.
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Prayers and poetry
can turn the world on its head.
This one had them both.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1kP5_E22OKvAMKoW_PzCslcdwQeUhokaDR8IpAtf3WamHwAgDCO6flAJy_nSUD2TM_NaDgiSOvm79EDoD1zq9WHzwccT78791e5ggtB2KT6NfCshily9Dwg8Wfhg2suN7mDy_lyWmoq8/s1600/life+of+the+soul.jpg)
The life of the soul?
Perhaps: I closed the book with
no clue what it meant.
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