The Flight: A Monthly Book Sampler (June 2020)
Board member Andrea Humphries’ book review column is back for 2020! Here’s her reflection on June 2020:
Well, I think I read the fewest new books in June of any month in the last several years. I only finished two and that was in the last week of the month. It was an all-around weird, hard month and I retreated into rereading my favourite bits of my favourite books as a way to cope. But the two books I did read were well worth it.
As I wrote in last month’s edition of The Flight, I’m going to be reading at least one book by a Black author each month for the rest of the year. June’s book was Be the Bridge by LaTasha Morrison. Plenty of people are familiar with LaTasha thanks to the extraordinary work she’s been doing over the last several years through her organization, also called Be the Bridge. In a relatively short period of time, Be the Bridge has had a profound impact on thousands of people who’ve joined the organization’s Facebook group and local, in-person Be the Bridge groups. In her book, Morrison lays out the framework on which Be the Bridge is built, the framework that has facilitated racial reconciliation and bridge-building among thousands of people. Reading the book felt very much like listening to a friendly guide and mentor - the personal and historical anecdotes, the explanations of each piece of the framework that are educational without being preachy or condescending. The discussion questions at the end of each chapter offer opportunity for further reflection and through that the potential for further growth. The prayers offer words where those dipping their toes into this work for the first time may not have them yet and the liturgies offer beautiful opportunities for communal engagement.
The only other book I read in June was an advanced copy of The Liturgy of Politics by my internet little sister, Kaitlyn Schiess. Now, I have to confess that I’ve been eagerly anticipating this book for two years ever since Kaitlyn first sent me her book proposal. It did not disappoint. With her customary insight and wisdom, she examines the ways that Christians have been malformed by the ways we have been taught to engage in or completely disengage from political involvement. She then offers time-tested, biblically-based correctives that, if we let them, could truly form us into a Church that embraces the political sphere as one of the chief ways given to us to truly love our neighbours as ourselves. She draws on the work of scholars and theologians, past and present, from a variety of traditions to present a truer, more Christ-like path forward. Kaitlyn couldn’t have anticipated what this year would look like when she started writing, but it’s an incredibly timely message, with so many finally confronting systemic racism and with the American presidential election this fall. The book comes out in September and you can pre-order it now.
