Some Different Kinds of Lists

Things I Didn't / Did / Need to Read

From Thanksgiving to the New Year, we love best of lists.

Regarding reading, I try to have rhythm and spontaneity. This means a plan to follow and room for fun. You might create something like Mark Dever’s Canon of Theologians, or trace a theme—but think about what and who and when (time in history, not time of day) you are reading.

In a screen-based culture, reading is imperative. In a reel/meme/snippet reality, our minds need the challenge of careful thought. And you need popcorn because life is hard. It’s tough to laugh, cry, or be in awe when you don’t let yourself get lost in a story occasionally. That’s how some of the best truths come at us: when we aren’t looking.

To that end, here are a few short book lists you may consider as you think through what and who and when you will read next.

Some Things I Didn’t Finish Yet

In the last six months, 95% of what I’ve read has been Church History as I prepped for an exam. In the meantime, I kept finding rabbit trails I wanted to chase, so I’ve got a stack of books I’m eager to sit with over the coming weeks.

Here are a few:

• Friendship: The Heart of Being Human (Victor Lee Austin)
  A friend recommended this, and while I’m waiting for his book on friendship to be written, I’ll take his recs!

• Lifting the Veil: Imagination and the Kingdom of God (Malcolm Guite)
  It’s been a year of facts about history, and I’m ready for my imagination to be stirred toward Christ more and more.

• Longing for the Good Life: Virtue Ethics After Protestantism (Pieter Vos)
  Over the last 3-4 years, I’ve built a shelf of resources on virtue ethics and character formation. This one looks great. I’ve read a couple of chapters and am eager to finish.

• The Scandal of the Kingdom: How the Parables of Jesus Revolutionize Life with God (Dallas Willard)
  WIllard’s The Divine Conspiracy changed my life. I’ve read his work ever since and am thankful his ministry continues through things like this. After reading Snodgrass, I’ve been hunting for treatments of the parables.

Some Things I Did Get To and Enjoyed

• How to Stay Married: The Most Insane Love Story Ever Told (Harrison Scott Key)
  I listened to this inside of 36 hours, and immediately asked Carly to listen to it, which she did within another 36 hours. Key tells his story in ways that shocked, sobered, and encouraged along the way. I kept thinking, “people don’t talk about these things this way.” But Key did as he points to God’s working in and through suffering. You can read a good engagement on it here.

• A Quiet Mind to Suffer With: Mental Illness, Trauma, and the Death of Christ (John Andrew Bryant)
  This is my favorite book of the last few years. It is beautiful, helpful, painful, and real. The Lord used this book to heal some things in me, and I will read it again and again. If you're a paid subscriber, you can read where I talk about mental health and Bryant’s work here.

• Water from a Deep Well: Christian Spirituality from Early Martyrs to Modern Missionaries (Gerald Sittser)
  Sittser walks through each century, describing what the saints engaged and how they pursued faithfulness to Christ. It’s a devotional Church history. Get it, read a chapter at a time, and trace the line of saints before you. We have our faith because saints before us preserved the teaching of the Apostles. They did their job, and we have a job to do in turn.

• Joshua: No Falling Words (Dale Ralph Davis)
  This was my favorite commentary while teaching Joshua this fall. Davis consistently had helpful pastoral application, excellent writing, and clear teaching. I made myself wait to read this one last each week, it was such a delight.

• Popcorn

  • Spy novels. Current flavor is The Grey Man series by Mark Greaney

  • Audiobooks with my Kids: Sanderson’s Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series was the hit this year.

Research Ahead

It’s time to nail down a dissertation topic, so this is the first stack I’ll look through headed into the new year. I’m sure these newsletters will have themes and findings along the way.

But, I’m not much of a reader…

If you get here and you think, “I’m just not a reader,” or “I don’t have time for this,” - let me suggest that you can be, and you do. In fact, you can’t afford not to read carefully, because if you are a Christian, you are a person of The Book. We give our attention away in micro-moments throughout the day, what if you pointed them toward reading the Bible, or a work on life with God?

Take a small step forward, and keep moving day by day.

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Thanks for reading.

If someone forwarded this to you, I write two kinds of emails: one on any given Tuesday about life with God and the other every Friday, where I share things I’ve found during the week. The latest two months of posts are accessible to all, and paid subscribers get the full archive. If you want to subscribe but can’t afford it, email me, and I’ll take care of it—no questions asked.

I live in Flower Mound, TX, with my wife Carly, our three kids, and our chocolate lab. I pastor, teach, and lead at The Village Church, serving as an Elder and the Executive Director of Discipleship. In my spare time (ha!), I’m working on a Ph.D. in Church History, studying Jonathan Edwards and character formation. Also, I’ve written A Short Guide to Spiritual Disciplines: How to Become a Healthy Christian.

Thank you for reading and supporting my work as I seek to shepherd with compassion and wisdom, equipping people to embody God's truth for all of life.

Talk soon,
Mason