by Carolyn Arends
Isn’t this what you yearn for? Aren’t you tired of living at a pace that blurs out beauty, peace, or joy? Don’t you want to be at home? –Rich Villodas, The Deeply Formed Life
It seems to me that, in the great Venn diagram of “places and spaces that help us find our way home,” the Rabbit Room and the Renovaré Book Club overlap in some beautiful ways. That’s why it always brings me joy when the Chief Rabbits welcome a Renovaré Book Club Update. Thanks, Rabbits!
Here we go…
The Renovaré Book Club is about to begin a new season, and you are warmly invited to join us. This year we’ll be reading together:
Book One: The Deeply Formed Life, written by Rich Villodas, who pastors a multi-racial church in Queens, NY. Rich explores five transforming values—Contemplative Rhythms, Racial Reconciliation, Interior Examination, Sexual Wholeness, and Missional Presence—in a treatise on spiritual formation that feels at once strikingly fresh and deeply classic. (If that doesn’t seem to make sense, read it to see what I mean.) Rich himself will be facilitating our journey through this book.
Book Two: The Journal of John Woolman, by—you guessed it—John Woolman. One of America’s first abolitionists, 18th century Quaker John Woolman gently but actively resisted slavery, injustice to Native Americans, cruelty to animals, and conscription. His personal Journal was first-published in 1774 and has never been out of print. Never read it? We have the remedy! Quaker scholar Jon R. Kershner will guide us through this one.
Book Three: A Burning in My Bones by Winn Collier. This is the authorized biography of Eugene Peterson, and it comes guaranteed to grow your soul. Winn will be our facilitator, and I have it on good authority that he’ll even be sharing some otherwise unpublished correspondence with Peterson. (Eugene, that is. There are a lot of Petersons around here!)
Book Four: Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard. This definitive, meaty work on spiritual transformation turns 20 this year. Dallas’s good friend, Gary Moon, will help us mine its treasures, while several Renovaré Ministry Team members (many of whom were close to Dallas) will pitch in as well.
We begin October 4th, and registration is open now. Membership in the Club includes weekly guides through the books, exclusive resources from the authors/facilitators, online community, and the option to join or start an in-person or Zoom discussion group.
Good things continue to happen when Rabbitarians and Renovarians meet. We hope you will join us in the Club.