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Here are three of my favorite books of 2024.

  • Introduction to Internal Family Systems by Richard C. Schwartz
  • Religious Trauma by Brooke Petersen
  • The Uncontrolling Love of God by Thomas Jay Oord

Let me introduce you to them, as I commend them to you.

Introduction to Internal Family Systems

This is a practical book about personal healing and transformation and unlocking our inner compassion, confidence, and peace. Having just finished it, I subjected the Wednesday morning bible study to an impromptu lecture about it, but a lecture I believe had everything to do with Paul's closing commendations in his Letter to the Philippians.

Here's the basic idea.

We all have things about ourselves we want to change, from worrying too much to addiction and more. Richard Schwartz invites us to stop trying to eliminate these parts of ourselves and instead start to get curious and get to know them. Of course, this listening is hard. It takes guts, both because it means facing pain and also because it means facing conflict.

Our worrying part is caught in a tug of war with the part of us that hates that we worry. Our addicted part is locked in a viscous power struggle with the part of us that's deeply ashamed and harshly judges our addicted part. These polarize parts need the leadership of our curious, compassionate, courageous Self. This is our deepest self, our True Self, God-within-us, who already knows what these parts need to calm and be healed.

Ask one after the other of these battling parts to "step back" long enough for you to get to know their enemy. As we do, we will discover their true nature as protectors of our most wounded parts. Listening to their stories and to the stories of the wounded and exiled parts of ourselves that they're protecting, we will heal them. We will help them transform from extreme, rigid, highly critical, and/or seemingly destructive into our most wise and trusted advisors or into sources of great joy and energy.

They are all good parts forced into bad roles. Such is the faith required to love our enemies, starting with our inner enemies.

The Rest after Christmas

Look for introductions to my other favorite books after Christmas. Peace,

Pastor Clark

Ministries
Learning & Growing Together