Summer Reading Recommendations (Part 1)

Over the next couple of months, the team at Chattanooga Faith + Work + Culture would love to provide some helpful resources for your summer reading list. These books are wonderful primers on how to let the Gospel of Jesus inform how you live right now in your everyday life. Have a wonderful summer and happy reading!

(1) Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life; Tish Harrison Warren

Liturgy of the Ordinary is a beautiful book that encourages the reader to have eyes to see the mundane moments of our life as opportunities for holy encounters with the God of the universe. Liturgies are normally described as the components of a worship service but Warren argues that the small practices and habits of our life are also forming our spiritual lives. 

The book follows a day in Warren’s life and each chapter is titled after part of that day. Whether it is waking up, making the bed, sitting in traffic, or eating leftovers for lunch, God’s presence and grace is evident. If you are looking to connect your belief in the transcendent sovereign God with your normal daily life, this would be a great first read. 

(2) Visions of Vocation: Common Grace for the Common Good; Steven Garber

Steven Garber has spent his entire life thinking about how our faith in the gospel should shape our hearts and our vocation. In this book, Garber argues that when we have eyes to see the brokenness of the world, we are “implicated for love’s sake.” As we allow ourselves to be in relationship with the world we begin to understand its beauty and also its faults. We see where deep needs exist and then begin to imagine what it would look to walk towards the need with the love of Christ. 

Garber gives example after example of people who have lived with this posture in their ministries and places of employment. These stories are simple yet profound and are designed to encourage the reader to love God’s good creation and be empowered to bring light to darkness in the specific contexts they find themselves in.  

(3) Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion; Rebecca McLaughlin

When one takes a look at the global church, Christianity continues to be the fastest growing faith tradition in the world. But here in our American context popular culture is beginning to question much of the Christian faith. In this important book from Rebecca McLaughlin, she engages with a number of the most important questions surrounding the Christian religion. 

Whether it is views on race, sexuality, or gender roles McLaughlin engages these topics with humility and grace but also with conviction and courage. Confronting Christianity brilliantly takes the truths of scripture and applies them to our current cultural moment. If you want to better understand your Christian faith this would be a great starting point.