Diary of a Country Priest
588478
Bresson's exquisite, quietly affecting study of a young priest's spiritual travails remains one of the great achievements of world cinema. Adapted from the novel by George Bernanos, "Priest" is decidedly minimalist in style, with Laydu's supremely restrained performance eliciting our empathy and subtly attuning us to his character's inner struggles. Bresson handles the details brilliantly, his unadorned elegance and intensity permeating the mood, set design, and action. "Priest" is a sublime film that will reward attentive viewers with a profound meditation on life, faith, and purpose.
4917290
Dark and yet hope-filled, this book carries you along on the journey of a young pastor through gangs, prisons, and illegal immigrants. These are desperate people. But these are the peoplelike the huckster tax collector Matthew in the Biblethat Jesus made a point of befriending.

Its an emotional and frightening journey. Chris at first felt uncomfortable with the title of Pastor, but thats what his outcast acquaintances insisted on calling him. Pastor means shepherd  in this case, a shepherd to the black sheep. Its where Chris seemed to belong:

Growing up in many churches, I never found them to be raw or extremely honest placesnot places where you could show the worst side of yourself. But I found the jail to be a place where inmates didn't have the option to hide their problems. Hard as one may try with weak laughter or macho fronts before guards, you cant pretend your life is working out just fine when you're locked in the county jail. Here, people are left staringinnocent or guilty of the specific chargesat the wreck of their lives. And in this place, in these rooms of unadorned life, I found something that clergy call sacrament, mysteries I could feel. More than bible studies, the one-on-one visits with the men were the sites of holy encounters for me.

The fellowship in prison grew, and Chriss faith grew alongside it.

I felt like I was falling deeper in love as all this happened. It wasn't just with these broken lives at the table with me. It was love for the One through whose eyes I was possibly learning to see. I began to suspect I was sensing the desire of AnotherGods desire for the locked-up.

Raw and real, this is a book you don't want to miss if you're serious about being a Christian. I hope to provide a few excerpts from the book in future posts.

Harper One,  2015, 367 pages

ISBN: 978-0-06-232136-7
4850500
Father Tim, Episcopal priest in the little North Carolina town of Mitford, approaches his 60th birthday exhausted. He loves his work, his people, and his town. But he's worn out, and thinking seriously about leaving the priesthood. His bishop and friend since young manhood tells him that he needs to start taking care of himself, that he's burning out from lack of time off; and he knows Stuart may be right, because Father Tim doesn't even take a day off every week. His last vacation? Years and years ago. He's barely left Mitford, giving his car up for Lent 8 years ago and not using it since. But there may be something physical going on, too, as well as psychic burnout. He doesn't have time for any of this. An 11-year-old boy whom no one wants falls into his care when the child's grandfather, the church sexton, becomes seriously ill; his new parishioner informs him that she's dying, and the town's widowed and still grieving doctor starts falling in love with her; his new neighbor, a beautiful artist and author who works at home, wants to be friends (she's single!); and something odd is going on at the church. Where food disappears, and jewels turn up in a cremation urn.

I've resisted this series for a long time, because I can't abide a lot of today's Christian fiction. Having a spiritual theme can't, for me, excuse a book from being well written. But this one is! It's not a bit preachy, either. Even when Father Tim is praying a conversion prayer with a seeker, he's simply behaving in character for Father Tim. The story is a gentle one, moving through a year in the protagonist's life and taking the reader along through its many changes and crises. Yet there's nothing gentle about the things that happen to the characters, Father Tim's friends and parishioners, as their lives also change - sometimes in good ways, and sometimes as those lives go tragically wrong. This is real. These things happen to people. And although situations do tend to resolve well, which isn't always realistic, coping doesn't come easily - faith isn't a panacea.

Definitely, I'm going to read more in this series. I needed a lift, and from this book I got it without a dose of saccharine included!

--Reviewed by Nina M. Osier, author of 2005 science fiction EPPIE winner "Regs"
3787423
This is an easy-to-read autobiography of a woman who listened for God's direction in her life both inside and outside the church. She was willing to make changes in her life when she felt they were needed. After arriving at burnout serving as an associate pastor of a large church in Atlanta, she felt moving to a small country parish would be the answer to her overbooked schedule and endless demands on her ministry life. She and her husband moved to a rural community where she became the first woman clergy in the county. She worked hard there and in five years she was back into the same chaos and business that she had experienced in Atlanta. She learned to experience God through the creation.

She pushes back on what many would identify as historic, orthodox Christianity on several points. She invites the reader to join her spiritual pilgrimage with great sincerity and honesty. She learned much that many agenda-driven Christians need to know and experience. This is not a book about stylized structured Christian theology. She does not fit into the filters of reformed, Protestant, Catholic, or categorized schools of thought. Her framing of church history is a bit too broadminded for some readers as she discusses conflict of thought about truth in the ancient Christian church. This book is ultimately a journal of her growth process and is a refreshing read.
3324048
This book was assigned for Education for Ministry this year.  EfM calls us to discern God's call to us as his unordained ministers in the modern age and to prepare ourselves to fulfill our call.  Countryman's book does an exceptional job of defining what it means to serve in God's church as a member of the laity.  However, as someone who reveres the ordained priesthood as professional men who have answered God's call in a special way by attending seminary, studying deeper, taking vows and being ordained and having had experiences that I as a lay person would never have, I am somewhat troubled by Countryman's use of the term "foundational priesthood" as applied to the laity.  The points are well made, but I would have preferred the use of the word "minister" over "priest" when referring to lay disciples.  Still, a very good book.
1532461
To all our readers: I am leaving the information "About the Author" and about "My Daily Walk" as a matter of information.

  About the Author

Preacher, pastor, conference speaker, author, prayer warrior, loving husband, and father, all of these describe Pastor Nikoley. Dr. Nikoley was born in Stettin, which was then part of Germany but is now a part of Poland. He grew up during the Nazi rule in Germany. One brother died in infancy because of the horrible wartime conditions. After the war, his family was able to immigrate to the United States and lived in Reno, Nevada. Through hard work, he began to realize the American dream and was a very successful Realtor in Reno. His wife Mary and two children were saved through the ministry of Child Evangelism Fellowship, and he noticed a dramatic change in their lives. While he did not know what it was, he knew he wanted that same change in his life. Although he was a member of a church, he had never accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour. A short while later, he accepted Christ and was saved. God began to work in his life, and he felt the call of God upon him. He packed up his family and moved to Hammond, Indiana, where he attended Hyles-Anderson College. Upon graduation from college, he pastored a church in Turlock, California, and had a very successful ministry there. God soon began to move in his heart once again, and he felt led to come to Poway to pastor the Pomerado Road Baptist Church. He has been the pastor there for over 25 years. Pastor Nikoley loves people and desires to see them come to know the Word of God and to serve the Lord. He preaches the whole Word of God without apology. If you are ever in the San Diego area, it would be an honor to have you visit Pomerado Road Baptist Church.

My Daily Walk is a devotional booklet for teenagers and adults. It is meant to inspire personal devotions. It is not to be a replacement for church attendance or personal Bible study. A Spirit-filled Christian needs to have his thrice-weekly meal of sound Bible preaching, as well as a quiet time with the Lord and His Word. These are the times when God can speak to his heart and show him areas that need improvement. Don't deprive yourself of this blessed time. A devotional is not designed to give a Christian all the Bible teaching that he needs. That comes through preaching and personal Bible study. What any good devotional strives to do is give you a thought or a verse to meditate upon throughout the day. This booklet also gives the added benefit of an area in which to put those meditations into writing, as well as assignments to perform to put those meditations into action.

A good devotional is one that leads to a change in your life; it is not one which just gives you a "pretty thought" for the day. This, however, will take some effort on your part. The Lord will bless that effort. Please take the time to pray and meditate upon the Scripture verses and yield yourself to the Holy Spirit. Expect God to do great things in your life.
2417344
Father Joe comes back from California where gambling has apparently taken place, and he has been helped by Caroline. Hes still a Priest, teaching a creative writing class, which he doesnt want to continue. To complicate things, hes having hormonal changes, there has to be practice for the Madonna Procession and in the confessional he hears sex stories. At one point he has to leave the confessional and take a cold shower! This is Catholic Humor and its okay in my mind, even refreshing for a Religion to not take itself so seriously and laugh at itself sometimes and these books don't cross any lines in my mind. Thats what good humor is, and the author is adept about this and knows the boundaries! The Confessions of a hooker Margaret rejuvenate 94 year old Father McDonald, and everyone is talking about whats up with him! Reverend Mother and Father Joe have some laughs here and there, but then things go up a notch in fun when Caroline from California comes to visit. Theyve all barely recovered from the practical jokes and antics of her last visit! Caroline smells something fishy. Why is father Joe not wanting to hear the confessions of a hooker? The Confessional becomes a Merry-Go-Round of Priests leaving and having others take their place, embodied by the antics of Father Joe and Father McDonald. A great time is had by all, including this reader 5 stars for lots of laughs and fun.
4261631
This was another one of those books that I really couldn't put down.  I'm about to enter the seminary and a pastor loaned this book to me because it accurately reflected the life of a minister--especially a minister in a small town.  It was fascinating to say the least.  One aspect of this book which I found particularly interesing was the bredth of the problems that Rev. Lischer had to deal with: a teenager who is pregnant and fears telling her father because he'll beat her; a seventeen-year-old girl who's having an affair with a thirty-five-year-old man and doesn't understand why people are against it; advice to the man who is considering quitting his job at a factory to concentrate on farming full time; should contemporary songs be introduced to an extremely traditional congregation?; a young, frightened woman who is about to undergo emergency surgeory and her husband.  I found myself asking myself what I would say in these situations as I may very well be facing them some day soon.
One piece of advice that Lischer points out once, but occurs more that he realizes is that reflecting the love and compassion that God has for you in your dealing with others tends to work.  When Lischer treated people with respect and love, as God would have us treat others, things turned out pretty good for him; when he attempted to impose his own personal political feelings, things tended not to work out as well.  Lischer does attempt to impose his own views quite often in the book--from the time he tried to have the American flag removed from the sanctuary of the church to his own biases concerning against "restrictive" tradition in the modern Lutheran church.
In sum, this has been an incredibly helpful book for me as I went about making my decision to enter the ministry.  Although this book is well worth the read, I did have problems as an ordained minister tended to write against traditional religion and I was disappointed to find that Lischer wrote little about the domestic ups and downs of pastoral work (he briefly mentions a fight he and his wife had concerning the amount of time spent working versus the amount of time spend with his family).  Recommended.
1488340
This book is a compilation by Dr. Conrad Baars' daughter and her colleague in their counseling offices.  It includes pamphlets and journal articles that are no longer in print and some articles that have never been published before.  Dr. Baars is a Dutch American psychiatrist.  During WWII he was imprisoned in Buchenwald Concentration Camp for his work with the French underground.  After the war he finished his psychiatric training and was able to immigrate to the US.  Along with his colleague, Anna Terruwe, Ph. D., MD, he has served as a consultant to the Vatican on problems in the priesthood.  Some of these articles in this book are based on his consultant reports to the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.  Dr. Baars also gave many conferences to religious on psychology and the spiritual life. It is wonderful to see these pamphlets and articles back in print and to have them in one very helpful and hopeful book.
3797934
They said the priest was creepy several times. I 'd say more odd than creepy. It was a nice comparison of big city living compared to the small town experience.
1464028
As background, I am 74 years old. I went to a Catholic college and taught Religious education and moved on to study in seminary to be ordained a RC Deacon. I am no longer of the Catholic tradition. I have been around religious most of my adult life, although my career was in insurance. This book caught my eye. I am fascinated by seminary life and the "Calls" people experience and their formative affect on the life of a soul.

This book should be required reading for those who are thinking of service in the ministry. The book's contents hint at the rigidity, frustration and difficulty one experiences in going through the process which is long and arduous. The personal essays, which I feel were centered regionally, reveal this although most all end well for the individuas writing them.

Not much is said about the effort to balance other significant areas in one's life like marriage, family or work which are all vocations too. Nothing was noted about the preparations one takes as to how one integrates oneself in a community after which often is a tense issue.

Although there is a section describing the authors, I wished that I could have chatted with some of them and formed a personal impression of them and shared with them about their experiences.

If your church has a sponsor program for seminary programs, this book would be a good tool for a day's retreat before accepting a seminary student for the upcoming year.
1653481
when we think of the birth of Jesus, we generally think of a manger scene, all calm and quiet. I imagine, however, were we to look into Marys diary, it would be a lot more like this:

I am just exhausted. Coping with a new baby is a stress at the best of times, but you try doing in in a cave with cows and a donkey breathing down your neck.

and

I sent one of the shepherds up the hill to politely thank the angelic host for their serenade, but, Would they mind finishing now, as I had a baby that needed some sleep.

We get the mothers-eye view, from birth to death to resurrection, of one of the most influential people who ever lived.  In human form and likeness, Jesus supposedly lived among some very interesting people, according to the author. A grandmother who kept company with questionable people, a cousin (John) who couldn't hold his wine, and various other true-as-life-or better characters make their way into Marys diary.

True or not, these memories are in turn hilarious, tragic, and touching. And never once is there anything disrespectful written in these pages. This is what truly made me love this book.

I suspect that somewhere above, the heavenly hosts are laughing their haloes off from reading Mr. Meades wonderful book.
1753821
I purchsed this book for a Priest who is a friend of our family. I didn't read this book but he did and told us about it. He said it was a great book and one that he wanted to have very much.

Our friend said this book was very well writen and very imformative it was also delivered it great shape. His only complaint was that it was too much money to buy and that it was hard to find.
171918
The book is a collection of addresses given by the author (a former Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England) to ordinands and clergy.  The target audience includes "those who are in the ordained ministry, those who are preparing for it and those who are ready to think about its inner meaning." One of the distinctive aspects of the book is that the author focuses not on "the changing forms of the priest's work and role," but instead "tries specially to deal with the priest's inner life amidst the changes which surround him" and "[t]he inward meaning of all ordained priesthood."

I found this book to be accessible, informative, and true to the faith.  It is a very useful addition to the literature concerning the practice of ministry, which in my experience tends to be functional and driven by contemporary fads in social science or business.  The author has assembled a true prolegomena to ministry, a survey of the issues that must be grappled with before the budget or vestry or disgruntled pew sitters.  I was particularly heartened by the author's description of the priest as a "man of prayer," one who is "called, near to Jesus and with Jesus and in Jesus, to be with God with the people on our heart."  The emphasis placed by the author on the Daily Office helpfully reminds the reader that the objective of the round of Morning and Evening prayer "is to root your prayer in the scriptures and in the Church's corporate prayer."  The place of the priest today is (still) "on the Godward side of every human situation."

The book is not without certain limitations.  Some of the cited examples of contemporary challenges facing the priest "today" are somewhat "yesterday" (e.g., the death of God controversy).  And most of the counsel offered by the author is geared toward a priest functioning in a society that still acknowledges the possibility of objective truth, and it is unclear what advice the author might offer in response to the advent of post-modern perspectives and lifestyles.  My own assessment is that the advice is still largely valid but the priest of the 21st century "today" must also be able to make effective witness about worldviews such as that described in Lesslie Newbigin's "<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Gospel-in-a-Pluralist-Society/dp/0802804268/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Gospel in a Pluralist Society</a>."  Another possible limitation is that the author writes from within the Anglo-Catholic tradition in the church.  I think that some of my fellow evangelical Anglicans could find fault with the author's apparent neglect of those aspects of the inner life of a priest that are particularly relevant to evangelism, mission, and outreach.  That being noted, much of the author's prognosis and recommendations are largely ecumenical in nature and could be profitably read and applied by priests and ministers from a variety of traditions.

Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in the topic.
3753611
This is a very intelligently written description of one priest's life with the Maasai. I found it compelling and insightful.
386221
I checked this out at the library when I first saw it. It is the story of a priest who is in need of redemption. He does his "job" but does not know how to love. Through the people he meets in the little village, he realizes that his life up to this point has been meaningless. Through these people he finds friendship, love, and forgiveness to become the man God wanted him to be in the first place.
1708640
a very good diary about living on the plains in the 1830's through 1870's.