Library

Our library is a great resource for all types of Christian education and offers a full array of books and movies.

Library Corner

November 2021

November 1, is “All Saints Day.” Did you know that all believers in Christ are saints? As evidence, look at Romans 16:15. Paul tells the church in Rome to “Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them.” As Luther taught, and Pastor Brad often says, we are “simultaneously saint and sinner.” So, what are you doing to invite the Holy Spirit to remake your heart and mind? (Romans 12:1-2)

Our library has new magazines that can inform, teach and help you become more like Christ. Teach Us to Pray, the Christianity Today Special Issue picks up the Disciples request, “Lord, teach us to pray.” It highlights “women’s perspectives on deepening our engagement in life with God.” The September/October issue of Connections has multiple articles about the Seventh Petition of the Lord’s Prayer: “But Deliver Us from Evil.” Christianity Today, the September 2021 issue, has an article on the slow process of sanctification: Why Christians Keep Preaching to Themselves. Another article in the same issue is the story of Heather Mercer. In She Was Captured by the Taliban in 2001. But God Gave Heather a Bigger Story, we learn Heather eventually began a ministry in Iraq and adopted a deaf young boy. The final magazine, the October issue of Christianity Today focuses on modern Christian fiction. People either love it or hate it because the Christian novels are not “literary” enough. They miss the point of ethics and morality that these novels teach.

Two series of Christian historical romance novels by Jane Peart were added this past month. The Orphan Train West Series is the life story of three orphan girls who leave an orphanage near Boston on a train heading West to adoptive homes. The Westward Dreams Series is about women who leave homes in the East for places in the West. Finding “themselves in a difficult, sometimes hostile environment” they show “persistence, principle, and a steadfast faith” that allows them to establish new lives.

Three devotional books have also been added. Songs of Praise contains passages from both the Old and New Testaments to meditate upon. Moments for Friends includes stories about friendship with a quote and verse to share with a friend, or you can use it alone. For Such a Times as This includes verses from the Epistles and commentary to mediate upon. The final book, 90 Minutes in Heaven, details the death experience of Don Piper and his miraculous return to life on this earth. One of my cousins read this book and agrees with the statement on the back cover: “The experience dramatically changed Piper’s life, and it will change yours too.”