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. Shawn Gauthier, on Sunday, March 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. 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.”].
2. Fear and Other Uninvited Guests: Tackling the Anxiety, Fear, and Shame That Keep Us from Optimal Living and Loving, by Harriet Lerner, 2004, 152.46 LER [Gift of Dawn Stewart. From LibraryThing: “… Often unrecognised, fear and shame drive our choices and attitudes in ways that most of us never figure out. As Lerner explains, fear is not an amorphous unknown to be transcended or overcome but an emotion to be recognized, explored, decoded and embraced. Once we befriend fear, it can actually help us achieve calm, clarity and fundamental peace. Lerner teaches us the best ways to deal with fear: to expect, allow, and accept its presence in our lives, to mindfully observe and attend to how it feels in our bodies and, ultimately to own it. We can become experts on our personal triggers of anxiety, learning when fear signals real danger and when it’s best to plough through it because it comes with the territory of making necessary changes. The very worst thing we can do in the face of fear is to run from it or try to avoid it. Fear is not something to be conquered or eliminated–or even tackled, for that matter. Instead, we need to pay close attention to the message it is trying to convey. Using her wonderfully rich and inviting therapeutic voice along with personal memories and examples drawn from her practice, Lerner gives fear its due. We needn’t let anxiety, fear, and shame silence our authentic voice, close our hearts to the different voices of others, or stop us from acting with dignity, integrity and brio. We need to harness fear and put it in service to our best selves.”].
3. 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. …”].
4. Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Anxiety, by Britt Wray, 2023, 155 WRA [Donated by John Boyle. From LibraryThing: “An impassioned generational perspective on why climate anxiety is completely natural and necessary, and how we can be stronger for it. Climate and environment-related fears and anxieties are on the rise everywhere, with few resources to address them. As with any type of stress, eco-anxiety can lead to paralysis, burnout and avoidance. In Generation Dread, Britt Wray seamlessly merges scientific knowledge with emotional insight to show how these complicated feelings are a sign of our humanity, and acknowledging and valuing them is key to making it through present and future crises. This isn’t a simple process, and it’s not a level playing field when it comes to our vulnerability, she notes. However, with the worsening situation, we are all on the field–and unlocking deep stores of compassion and care is a crucial step in healing our relationship to the planet and each other. With openness and curiosity, Britt explores her own fears about starting a family when evidence of dangerous environmental shifts creates an especially bleak picture of what lies ahead. …”].
5. The War on Terror: Taking Aim at the Anxiety Disorders: A Primer for Sufferers and Loved Ones, by David Buchanan, 2015, 152.46 BUC [Written by VanU librarian. From LibraryThing: “… is written for a general readership (e.g., sufferers of anxiety disorders and those near and dear to them, and others interested in the topic) and no prior knowledge of the topic is necessary to fully appreciate this book. This book could be used as a text for a psychology or psychiatry course, for instance. In addition, it is the author’s hope that medical and psychological clinicians and researchers will gain a fresh perspective on their fields of expertise after reading this book. Ingrid Söchting, Clinical Assistant Professor at University of British Columbia wrote: “I was impressed by the wealth of information and your ability to clearly and succinctly synthesize it all. A wonderful resource for anyone seeking help with or information on anxiety.””].
6. 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.”].
7. In the Simple Morning Light: A Meditation Manual, by Barbara Rohde, 1994, 242 ROH [Published by Skinner House Books. From LibraryThing: “In contemplating illness and recovery, family and church life, Rohde’s personal reflections and wry observations shed new light on life’s unique occurrences.”].
8. Man’s Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy, by Viktor E. Frankl, 1984, 150.19 FRA [The Julian Fears Library. From LibraryThing: “… Between 1942 and 1945 Frankl labored in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished. Based on his own experience and the experiences of others he treated later in his practice, Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose. Frankl’s theory – known as logotherapy, from the Greek word logos (“meaning”) – holds that our primary drive in life is not pleasure, as Freud maintained, but the discovery and pursuit of what we personally find meaningful. …”].