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. Mwibutsawineza Ndagijimana and Rev. Shawn Gauthier on Sunday, May 18, 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. The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times, by Jane Goodall, Douglas Abrams and Gail Hudson, 2021, 304 GOO [Donated by Elizabeth Murdoch. From LibraryThing: “.. explore through intimate and thought-provoking dialogue one of the most sought after and least understood elements of human nature: hope. In The Book of Hope, Jane focuses on her “Four Reasons for Hope”: The Amazing Human Intellect, The Resilience of Nature, The Power of Young People, and The Indomitable Human Spirit. Drawing on decades of work that has helped expand our understanding of what it means to be human and what we all need to do to help build a better world, The Book of Hope touches on vital questions, including: How do we stay hopeful when everything seems hopeless? How do we cultivate hope in our children? What is the relationship between hope and action? Filled with moving and inspirational stories and photographs from Jane’s remarkable career, The Book of Hope is a deeply personal conversation with one of the most beloved figures in the world today. …”].
3. A People So Bold: Theology and Ministry for Unitarian Universalists, edited by John Gibb Millspaugh, 2009, 261 MIL [From inSpirit UU Book and Gift Shop: “Twenty-two prominent ministers, lay leaders and theologians discuss the future of Unitarian Universalist social justice work. Their thoughts and hopes for the future are captured in this inspiring collection of essays. Grounding this mission in an historical context, these voices address questions like: How does our faith hold brokenness, injustice and suffering? and How do we develop a prophetic voice? …”].
4. The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World, by Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, and Douglas Carlton Abrams, 2016, 294 LAM [From LibraryThing: “… The occasion was a big birthday. And it inspired two close friends to get together in Dharamsala for a talk about something very important to them. The friends were His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The subject was joy. Both winners of the Nobel Prize, both great spiritual masters and moral leaders of our time, they are also known for being among the most infectiously happy people on the planet.
From the beginning the book was envisioned as a three-layer birthday cake: their own stories and teachings about joy, the most recent findings in the science of deep happiness, and the daily practices that anchor their own emotional and spiritual lives. Both the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu have been tested by great personal and national adversity, and here they share their personal stories of struggle and renewal. Now that they are both in their eighties, they especially want to spread the core message that to have joy yourself, you must bring joy to others.
Most of all, during that landmark week in Dharamsala, they demonstrated by their own exuberance, compassion, and humor how joy can be transformed from a fleeting emotion into an enduring way of life”].
5. Humankind: A Hopeful History, by Rutger Bregman, translated by Erica Moore and Elizabeth Manton, 2021, 128 BRE [From LibraryThing: “Human beings, we’re taught, are by nature selfish and governed by self-interest. Humankind makes a new argument: that it is realistic, as well as revolutionary, to assume that people are good. The instinct to cooperate rather than compete, trust rather than distrust, has an evolutionary basis going right back to the beginning of Homo sapiens. By thinking the worst of others, we bring out the worst in our politics and economics too. … takes some of the world’s most famous studies and events and reframes them, providing a new perspective on the last 200,000 years of human history. From the real-life Lord of the Flies to the Blitz, a Siberian fox farm to an infamous New York murder, Stanley Milgram’s Yale shock machine to the Stanford prison experiment, Bregman shows how believing in human kindness and altruism can be a new way to think–and act as the foundation for achieving true change in our society. …”].
6. A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster, by Rebecca Solnit, 2009, 155.9 SOL [From LibraryThing: “Why is it that in the aftermath of a disaster, people suddenly become altruistic, resourceful, and brave? Award-winning author Solnit explores this phenomena, looking at major calamities from the past 100 years.”].
7. Hope in Shadows: Stories and Photographs of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, by Brad Cran and Gillian Jerome, 2008, 971.1 CRA [From LibraryThing: “The poignant story of an at-risk community, in its residents’ own words and pictures.”].
8. The Courage to Laugh: Humor, Hope, and Healing in the Face of Death and Dying, by Allen Klein, 1998, 291.4 KLE [From LibraryThing: “… Illustrating the inherent importance of the ability to laugh, Klein gives readers the power to face the end of life with dignity and compassion. Based on the author’s years of giving speeches and leading workshops for patients and their caregivers and families, The Courage to Laugh will be the first book to: * show how patients use humor to cope when life is threatened * offer hope and encouragement to readers dealing with loss * give readers permission to laugh when they feel like crying * explain how popular culture can ease death-related fears * provide uplifting quotes and jokes With poignant wisdom from children, parents, doctors, and nurses, combined with the spirited writing of the author, …”].
9. My Ending Is My Beginning, by David O. Rankin, 1985, 155.9 RAN [From a LibraryThing Review by uufnn, “David O. Rankin was the minister of Fountain Street Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan for many years. In preface the author writes, “Life and death are inevitably woven together. …”. Also, from the Internet Archive, the Contents page has sections like “Why Do Bad Things Happen?”, “Yes to Life!”, “Living with Armageddon”, “To Hell With Hell!” and “Love is Forever”).
10. Life Prayers From Around the World: 365 Prayers, Blessings, and Affirmations to Celebrate the Human Journey, by Elizabeth Roberts and Elias Amidon, 1996, 242.2 ROB [From LibraryThing: “… The mysteries and delights of life on earth are illuminated in this richly eclectic collection of poetry, wisdom, prayers, and blessings from thinkers and writers around the world. Here you will find the poetry of Hildgard of Bingen and Gary Snyder; the political wisdom of Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King, Jr.; a treasury of women’s prayers, classical verse from China and Japan; and beautiful chants and prayers by Native Americans. …”].