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 Rev. Shana Lynngood, Co-Minister at First Unitarian in Victoria, on Sunday, Feb. 16, 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. Fifty Days of Solitude, by Doris Grumbach, 1994, 921 GRU [Published by Beacon Press. From LibraryThing: “… Her partner has departed for an extended book-buying trip, and Grumbach has been given fifty days to relax, think, and write about her experience. In this graceful memoir, Grumbach delicately balances the beauty of turning one’s back on everything with the hardship of complete aloneness. Even as she attends church and collects her mail, she moves like a shadow, speaking to no one. Left only to her books and music in the midst of a Maine winter, she must look within herself for solace. The result of this reflection is a powerful meditation on the meaning of aging, writing, and one’s own company–and reaffirmation of the power of friends and companionship.”]
2. Lifecraft: The Art of Meaning in the Everyday, by Forrest Church, 2001, 248.4 CHU [Published by Beacon Press. From LibraryThing: “… A joyous book on the art of finding meaning in daily life. Forrest Church challenges much of the modern search for meaning-indeed, the entire thrust of modern theology.”].
3. A Listening Heart: The Art of Contemplative Living, by David Steindl-Rast, 1983, 248.4 STE [Gift of Anne Ptolemy. From LibraryThing: “In this book, Brother David Steindl-Rast, who has been a monk for more than 50 years, argues that every sensual experience – whether the joy of walking barefoot or the fragrance of the season – should be recognized as a spiritual one.”].
4. 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. …”].
5. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, by Eckhart Tolle, 2004, 204.4 TOL [Gift of Arthur Hughes. From LibraryThing: “… To make the journey into the Now we will need to leave our analytical mind and its false created self, the ego, behind. From the very first page of Eckhart Tolle’s extraordinary book, we move rapidly into a significantly higher altitude where we breathe a lighter air. We become connected to the indestructible essence of our Being, “The eternal, ever present One Life beyond the myriad forms of life that are subject to birth and death.” Although the journey is challenging, Eckhart Tolle uses simple language and an easy question and answer format to guide us. …”].
6. The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life: International Edition, by Thomas Moore, 1996, 158.2 MOO [Gift of Sheila Feary. From LibraryThing: “Starting from the premise that we can no longer afford to live in a disenchanted world, Moore shows that a profound, enchanted engagement with life is not a childish thing to be put away with adulthood, but a necessity for one’s personal and collective survival. With his lens focused on specific aspects of daily life such as clothing, food, furniture, architecture, ecology, language, and politics, Moore describes the renaissance these can undergo when there is a genuine engagement with beauty, craft, nature, and art in both private and public life. …”].
7. Coping With The Stressed Out People In Your Life, by Ronald G. Nathan, 1994, 158.2 NAT [From LibraryThing: “Managing your own stress is tough enough, but how do you deal with the stress of those around you without taking it on yourself? Ronald G. Nathan, Ph.D. and Marian R. Stuart, Ph.D. show that you can defuse the anger and tension that sabotage personal relationships. Rooted in rich insights based on the psychology of relationships and two decades of experience in stress management, Nathan and Stuart offer a host of techniques that really work in reducing stress at home, on the job, with parents and children, with friends, and during major life crises.”].
8. 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.”].
9. Walking a Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Practice, by Lauren Artress, 2006, 291.3 Art [From LibraryThing: “’Walking the Labyrinth’ has re-emerged today as a metaphor for the spiritual journey and a powerful tool for transformation. This walking meditation is an archetype, a mystical ritual found in all religious traditions. It quiets the mind and opens the soul. Walking a Sacred Path explores the historical origins of this divine imprint and shares the discoveries of modern day seekers. It shows readers the potential of the labyrinth to inspire change and renewal, and serves as a guide to help us develop the higher level of human awareness readers need to survive in this century.”].
10. What Really Matters, by Tony Schwartz, 1995, 128 SCH [From LibraryThing: “”In 1988, …, Tony Schwartz hit an unexpected wall. Why did the success he’d sought for so long suddenly feel empty? … During the next five years he crisscrossed the country, meeting with mystics, psychologists, philosophers, physicians, and scientists. Blending the hunger of a seeker with a journalist’s commitment to hardheaded inquiry, Schwartz interviewed, challenged, worked with, and sometimes befriended the key figures of a new, distinctively American wisdom tradition.”–BOOK JACKET. Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved”].
11. In the Holy Quiet of This Hour: A Meditation Manual, by Richard S. Gilbert, 1995, 291.4 GIL, [From Skinner House Books. LibraryThing says “These gentle prayers remind us that we can find the sacred and profound in every day by taking the time to stop and absorb the holy quiet”].
12. From Beginning to End: The Rituals of Our Lives, by Robert Fulghum, 1995, 128 FUL [From the author in the paperback edition, as stated on LibraryThing: “… Rituals do not always involve words, occasions, officials, or an audience. Rituals are often silent, solitary, and self-contained. The most powerful rites of passage are reflective–when you look back on your life again and again, paying attention to the rivers you have crossed and the gates you have opened and walked on through, the thresholds you have passed over. I see ritual when people sit together silently by an open fire. Remembering. As human beings have remembered for thousands and thousands of years.”].