Our library in Hewett Centre is open every Sunday after service during Coffee Hour in Hewett Centre, and our Library Team offers related reading lists based on the topic of Sunday service. Here is their list for the upcoming service featuring Casey Stainsby, on Sunday, April 6, 2025 at 11 a.m. All are welcome in Hewett Centre after the Sunday service to check out some books and to have coffee and conversation.
VanU library books related to this Sunday’s sermon:
1. Daily Meditations for Calming Your Anxious Mind, by Jefferey Brantley, 2008, 242.6 BRA [From LibraryThing: “Trying to control your anxious thoughts can backfire, making them more prevalent, not less. The best way to calm these common feelings is by attuning yourself to your thoughts in a nonjudgmental, attentive manner, acknowledging your anxieties but choosing to act rather than react. …, a collection of more than sixty-four daily mindfulness-based meditations to help you engage with the present moment, manage stress and anxiety, and rediscover the joy in living. Each meditation contains an easy-to-learn visualization exercise, affirmation, or activity, with meditations grouped into four sections: relaxing and feeling safe, embracing joys and fears, befriending your anxious mind and body, and connecting to the web of life.”].
2. The Miracle of Mindfulness: A Manual on Meditation, by Thich Nhat Hanh, 1987, 294 HAN [Translated by Mobi Ho, illustrated by Vo-Dihn Mai, and published by Beacon Press. From LibraryThing: “In this beautiful and lucid guide, Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh offers gentle anecdotes and practical exercises as a means of learning the skills of mindfulness-being awake and fully aware. From washing the dishes to answering the phone to peeling an orange, he reminds us that each moment holds within it an opportunity to work toward greater self-understanding and peacefulness”].
3. Coming to Our Senses: Healing Ourselves and the World Through Mindfulness, by Jon Kabat-Zinn PhD, 2006, 242 KAB [From LibraryThing: “As stress continues to exact a toll on everyday life, people are increasingly turning to meditative methods, tested by science, to relieve its ill effects and become more focused, healthy, and proactive. Kabat-Zinn is a leader of the mind/body revolution in medicine and health care, demystifying it and bringing it into the mainstream. This book offers insight into how to use the five senses — touch, hearing, sight, taste, and smell, plus awareness itself — as a path to a healthier, saner, and more meaningful life.”].
4. Falling into the Sky: A Meditation Anthology, edited by Abhi Janamanchi and Abhimanyu Janamanchi, 2013, 242 JAN [Published by Skinner House Books. From GoodReads: “The 2013 UUA Meditation Manual is full of open spaces and possibility. Comprised of forty remarkable writings from Unitarian Universalist ministers, leaders, and lay people, these meditations are full of vivid vistas of imagination and reflection.”].
5. Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind: 50th Anniversary Edition, by Shunryu Suzuki, 2020, 294 SUZ [From LibraryThing: “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few. … In a single stroke, the simple sentence cuts through the pervasive tendency students have of getting so close to Zen as to completely miss what it’s all about. … Suzuki Roshi presents the basics of Zen in a way that is remarkably clear and resonates with the joy of insight. …”].
6. The Gift of the Ordinary: A Meditation Manual for 1985, edited by Charles S. Stephen Jr., 1985, 288 STE [A 50 pages book from the Unitarian Universalist Association].
7. The One Minute Active Meditation Technique: How to Unclutter your mind and connect with your Zest, by Alannah Jantzen, edited by Jools Andres, illustrated by Full Circle Graphics, 2012, 158.12 JAN [Autographed by the author. From AbeBooks: “Meditate Anytime, Anywhere. The One Minute Active Meditation book gives one simple, easy technique that helps busy active people meditate anytime, anywhere.”].
8. Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in with Unexpected Resilience and Creative Power, by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone, 2022, 303 MAC [From LibraryThing: “This revised edition of “Active hope” shows us how to strengthen our capacity to face crises so that we can respond with unexpected resilience and creative power.”].
9. This Very Moment: A Brief Introduction to Buddhism and Zen for Unitarian Universalists, by James Ishmael Ford, 1996, 294 FOR [Published by Skinner House Books. From LibraryThing: “An elegant primer, This Very Moment includes basic teachings of the Buddha, the historical development of Zen Buddhism, Zen meditation practices, koans and more. Ford also highlights the spiritual and political connections between Zen Buddhism and Unitarian Universalism, demonstrating the harmonious balance that can be struck between the two.”].
10. The Heart of Buddha’s Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy & Liberation, by Thich Nhat Hanh, 1999, 294 NHA [From Amazon: “With poetry and clarity, Thich Nhat Hanh imparts comforting wisdom about the nature of suffering and its role in creating compassion, love, and joy – all qualities of enlightenment.”].
11. The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety, by Alan W. Watts, 1951, 128.3 WAT [The Julian Fears Library. From LibraryThing, a Los Angeles Times article: “… Alan Watts draws on the wisdom of Eastern philosophy and religion in this timeless and classic guide to living a more fulfilling life. His central insight is more relevant now than ever: when we spend all of our time worrying about the future and lamenting the past, we are unable to enjoy the present moment – the only one we are actually able to inhabit.
Watts offers the liberating message that true certitude and security come only from understanding that impermanence and insecurity are the essence of our existence. He highlights the futility of endlessly chasing moving goalposts, whether they consist of financial success, stability, or escape from pain, and shows that it is only by acknowledging what we do not know that we can learn anything truly worth knowing.
In The Wisdom of Insecurity, Watts explains complex concepts in beautifully simple terms, making this the kind of book you can return to again and again for comfort and insight in challenging times. …”].
12. The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters, by Priya Parker, 2020, 302 PAR [From LibraryThing: “… argues that the gatherings in our lives are lackluster and unproductive – which they don’t have to be. We rely too much on routine and the conventions of gatherings when we should focus on distinctiveness and the people involved. At a time when coming together is more important than ever, Parker sets forth a human-centered approach to gathering that will help everyone create meaningful, memorable experiences, large and small, for work and for play. …”].
13. New Seeds of Contemplation, by Thomas Merton, 2007, 248.34 MER [From LibraryThing: “… seeks to awaken the dormant inner depths of the spirit so long neglected by Western culture, to nurture a deeply contemplative and mystical dimension in our lives. For Merton, every moment and every event of every man’s life on earth plants something in his soul. Just as the wind carries thousands of winged seeds, so each moment brings with it germs of spiritual vitality that come to rest imperceptibly in the minds and wills of men. Most of these unnumbered seeds perish and are lost, because men are not prepared to receive them: for such seeds as these cannot spring up anywhere except in the soil of freedom, spontaneity, and love.”].