(Makes ya think about what it really means to be a Christian and a leader–something we oughtta be thinking about often.)

Ashes on a Wednesday
Sound only penitential
Unless crosses are to follow

Andrew Murray was a prominent evangelical Dutch Reformed pastor and missions leader in South Africa during the late 1800s and early 1900s. He died in 1917; several of his more than 200 published works are classic devotional readings. Abide in Christ is one of these.

This book is structured into 31 devotionals, all revolving around the theme of abiding in Christ. Murray stresses the personal, total surrender of the Christian’s life to Christ. Readers of some theological persuasions may cringe at Murray’s insistence that a life without willful sin may be possible for the Christian that abides in Christ. However, this claim is tempered by the bigger picture Murray conveys: the Christian life lived in any way apart from Christ is less than what God has in mind for any Christian.

A classic evangelical devotional well worth revisiting–or reading for the first time.

Yet another book appears on ministry and church leadership. Weighted toward general organizational leadership principles, the book also provides scriptural backing and mentions spiritual disciplines for leaders. The book’s central focus is what Addington, Director of ReachGlobal, the mission arm of the Evangelical Free Church of America, has termed the “sandbox.” The sandbox represents a four-sided area into which organizations can operate and people in the organizations can lead after clearly defining each side. The sides include the ministry’s mission, guiding principles, central ministry focus, and preferred culture. The organization’s ministry and the leaders of that ministry must be soundly positioned within the confines of the sandbox.

Leaders in multi-staff churches and ministries could benefit from this book.

The first installment in the prominent UK worship leader’s series on worship. A very small book (only 126 pages, including notes, in less than a 5″x7″ format) with big ideas. Redman quotes Charles Wesley and CS Lewis frequently, providing a clear appreciation and grounding in past worshippers while weaving not too much of his own journey to the heart of worship. Ten short chapters, starting with the unquenchable worshipper, detail things that are “un” in true worshippers: the undone, undignified, unpredictable, unveiled, unstoppable, unnoticed, undivided, unsatisfied, and unending. Very accessible for pastors and worship leaders…or lead worshippers, as Redman rightly calls those engaged in the “un” task of true worship.

“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” –CS Lewis

Was 1908 the greatest year in baseball history? Murphy convincingly argues that it was the end of baseball’s old ball era, and the greatest year for what it began in America’s pastime. The baseball characters that surrounded the year 1908–especially those on the Giants and Cubs that battled it out for the NL pennant–make her argument unforgettable. There may have been other years where higher drama occurred in both leagues; most of the book is devoted to the iconic race between New York and Chicago that found Three Finger (Mordecai) Brown facing Matty (Christy) Matthewson in a final playoff. A final playoff that may not have occurred had Fred Merkle touched second earlier in the year.

The play-by-play writing is superb. The stories behind the players and the owners and the umpires are concise but lively. The book is also social history, with several “Time Out” sections highlighting issues of the era–from a Chicago serial murderess to anarchism. Some of these sections are cursorily related to the baseball race but do set the scene for placing the baseball season within its social context.

The writing is lively and makes this a wonderful read for anyone interested in US history, baseball, or true stories about true characters. And 1908 baseball is filled with characters–from John McGraw to Fred Merkle to the owners who were, at the time, truly in a class of their own. Not to mention the Giants team doctor that tried to bribe an umpire right before the big game.

This book would be a great selection for hot stove leaguers waiting for pitchers and catchers to report.

Reading Jazz: A Gathering of Autobiography, Reportage, and Criticism from 1919 to Now (Edited by Robert Gottlieb, Vintage 1999)
This anthology takes one through the very best of jazz autobiography and other writing. The excerpt from Duke Ellington provides a glimpse of his genius worth having in most any library. The other autobiographical works provide insight into the people who made jazz. Of interest to those checking in on this blog may be the account of the great jazz vocalist Anita O’Day, who the editor notes was also one of jazz’s great drug abusers. Her heroin “hype,” the man who was also her drummer, had formerly studied for the ministry at Moody Bible Institute. A strange intersection of the worlds of 1940s dispensationalism and jazz. Anita O’Day’s musicianship is undisputed; Will Friedwald’s entry on her in his A Biographical Guide to the Great Jazz and Pop Singers (Pantheon, 2010), for which an entry on this blog will someday be posted, is a wonderful account of her contributions to jazz. But the selection from her autobiography gives one the flavor of her personal struggle and brilliance.

Another kind of anthology is A Sacrifice of Praise: An Anthology of Christian Poetry in English from Caedmon to the Mid-Twentieth Century. This volume serves as a wonderful introduction to the early English poets (as they were mostly Christian) and provides great annotation/translation of poems in Old English. The American evangelical reader is well served by the discovery of the way that Christian spirituality in English verse was progressing long before Caedmon’s Call.

Two anthologies that are worthwhile companions into this New Year.

This is President Bush’s much heralded (and advertised) memoir. It is engaging, well-written and sounds just like the man who led the U.S. for eight years sounded. The entire book also rings very honest. It was an interesting read having lived through the time. The tone was not one of apologetic; nonetheless, President Bush pulls no punches in describing the events of his administration. He also frequently offers views on how he could have handled events better in retrospect (like no photo ops looking distantly down on New Orleans from Air Force One post-Katrina).

The President is a student of history. The book was most enjoyable when he uses examples from history to provide insight on how decisions were made. As the book notes in the beginning and end, history will judge whether the Bush Administration was anywhere near the evaluation that the popular media and subsequent campaigns made upon it.