Deus Misereatur

Our Good Crisis: Overcoming Moral Chaos with the Beatitudes by Jonathan K. Dodson My rating: 5 of 5 stars It’s young, thoughtful, biblical and to the point. “Our Good Crisis: Overcoming Moral Chaos with the Beatitudes” is a 192-page softback nicely written and highly germane given our present culture of polarizing and partisanship. Johnathan K. Dodson, lead pastor of City Life Church in Austin, founder of Gospel-Centered Discipleship, and author of several books, has delivered a homerun in this discussion of the Beatitudes “breaking into the crisis of our everyday lives” (x). And by everyday lives, he especially means, our lives right now, in this environment, in this antagonistic context. Anyone from 16 to 86 will gain immensely from the material between these covers. Dodson launches into his deliberations defining the word crisis, with its ancient roots in Aristotle and in the Greek New Testament. Crisis is the Greek word for judgment, when Jesus will return to judge (krisis) t...

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann My rating: 5 of 5 stars A fascinating rehearsal of the adventures and personality of Percy Harrison Fawcett. The development of his explorer's ways, slide into the occult, and obsession with "Z" is gripping. The ending is quite the pleasant surprise, not quite were you expect it to end. Grann, who doesn't need my accolades, is an attention-grabbing writer, and draws the reader into the story for pages and chapters on end. I highly recommend the book. View all my reviews

Disappearing Church: From Cultural Relevance to Gospel Resilience by Mark Sayers My rating: 5 of 5 stars Though the picture can be a bit bleak in places, nevertheless the analysis seems right. "Disappearing Church: From Cultural Relevance to Gospel Resilience" is a 176-page dossier on where we are in the Western moment, and why churches keep missing the mark. As the author states, this book argues "that we cannot solely rely on the contemporary, Western church's favored strategy of cultural relevance, in which Christianity and the church is made "relevant" to secular Western culture" (12). Mark Sayers, senior leader of Red Church in Melbourne Australia, inveterate podcaster and author, pursues his evaluation, while pointing a healthy way forward. He writes in an easy fashion that makes this volume a straightforward read that can be comfortably knocked out on a Sunday afternoon, but will change what you see and perceive for a long time to come. I...

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble (Psalm 46.1). O Lord God, who rules in heaven and on earth, who directs orbits and oceans, governs harvests and hailstorms, directs plagues and pestilence, who fashions the hearts of all people and observes all their deeds (Psalm 33.15); through your Son, Jesus Christ, you reconciled to yourself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace through the blood of his cross (Colossians 1.20). Attend to our prayers as we seek your face and intercede on behalf of your Church and world. For your church all around this globe, and around the OKC area, such as: Crosstimber UMC, Crown Heights UMC, Douglas Blvd UMC, and Edmond Chinese International Methodist Church; we pray. Guide her leaders, heal her divisions, reclaim her waywardness, right her wrongs, mend her brokenness, strengthen her weaknesses, and fortify her fidelity. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. For the nations of o...

Emotional Abuse Recovery: Healing Your Heart after Codependent and Emotionally Abusive Relationships: How to Handle Narcissists, Controlling, Manipulative, Toxic People and Take Your Life Back by Martha McDowell My rating: 5 of 5 stars Here we are in the middle of the COVID-19 outbreak. The numbers of infected are piling up, and restrictions on human movement is mounting. Some States are even imposing a “shelter-in-place” restraint. It’s all for the purpose of flattening out the growing infection rates and is meant for our good. But it’s in the middle of such hunkering down that another potential problem can rise. Strapped to homes and secreted away behind certain closed doors, there is a perfect environment for abusive people to rain down hurt on their victims with little to hold them back. That’s what makes Martha McDowell’s 128-page paperback, “Emotional Abuse Recovery” a well-timed and worthy read. The material is presented simply, and without technicalities. Anyone from 16 to ...

In the midst of this international epidemic, I thought it worthwhile  to pray for our medical professionals and volunteers, and their families. “ I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me. O LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. O LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit ” (Psalm 30:1-3). O God our healer and restorer of life, we are ever grateful for our health establishments, the therapeutic advancements made throughout the years, and the number of men and women who have stepped into the helping professions. We pray for our doctors, nurses, PAs, respiratory therapists, nursing assistants, and other medical professionals and volunteers. We pray for these during this trying time. Preserve them from the very ailments they are seeking to remediate; pack them full of resiliency and buoyancy at every level of their being; make plentifu...

The Noonday Devil: Acedia, the Unnamed Evil of Our Times by Jean-Charles Nault My rating: 4 of 5 stars The first time I read  this 205-page paperback, "The Noonday Devil: Acedia, The Unnamed Evil of Our Times" was back in August 2015. I have picked it up a second time, and was even more impressed with it than the first. This is an intriguing read on the subject, written primarily from within the context of monasticism, and for monastics. It includes an interesting historical trek through Benedict, Evagrius, John Cassian, Gregory the Great and Aquinas. And it takes on the dead-end concoction of William of Ockham, and his "liberty of indifference" (96). Acedia, that "Noonday Devil" is a broad vice that shows itself in loss of heart and motivation, discouragement, despair, desertion from place, perpetual need for activity and change, and so forth. "Acedia is the temptation to withdraw from the narrowness of the present so as to take refuge in what ...