As you know, the biblical word “fellowship” relates to “things held in common.” Well, over the years I have been richly blessed by “assembling together” with fellow pilgrims (Hebrews 10:25) in order to “stimulate one another to love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10:28). This has occurred as we minister together, pray together, bear each other’s burdens, and, especially relevant to this brief letter, as we read together. That particular form of fellowship has involved the 30 years of monthly novel reading by the Notting Hill Napoleons, the Book Brunch discussions sponsored by Vital Signs Ministries which we still host every quarter, church reading projects like those we organized with two different congregations with The Chronicles of Narnia as our project, and innumerable reading covenants we have engaged in with special friends over the years. We have found reading together to be a wonderful enjoyment with profound and lasting spiritual benefits.
And that brings me to this invitation for you to join Claire and me in an autumn and winter reading adventure. Think of it like the reading challenge you undertook as a kid for the local library. But, in this case, you’re not reading to get a bookmark or a certificate with a gold star embossed on the edge and bearing the signature of Mrs. Succotash the head librarian. No, the prize you win in this program is simply the “iron-sharpening” fellowship you experience in reading quality literature with other serious Christians.
Here’s how it works -- we are going to list a half dozen books which Claire and I both promise to be reading between now and March 1. We then invite you to join us in reading one, two, or whatever number you desire. Consider it a book club, if you like…a book club that offers reading motivation and accountability, even if we can’t enjoy a direct conversation over coffee and muffins. (Of course, there’s always phone and email.) Anyhow, that’s it; a challenge to make reading fine books one of the “things held in common” these next few months.
Okay, the booklist. As you’ll see, we’re including fiction and non-fiction. 1) Ben-Hur by General Lew Wallace, 2) No Little People: Sixteen Sermons for the 20th Century by Francis Schaeffer, 3) A Christmas Carol (plus one other of the Christmas books) by Charles Dickens, 4) What’s So Great about Christianity by Dinesh D’Souza, 5) 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, and 6) Lectures to My Students by Charles Spurgeon.
Well, that’s it. We hope you’ll consider our invitation, at least for joining us in reading one or two of the titles we suggested. Happy autumn!
