Words Worth A Tree: Readings for Lent, a Booklist for Easter

In the bedroom, by the bed smoothed out in the white matelasse coverlet, on the apple crates, the orange crates, on the wooden boxes stacked to make a nightstand, stack books.

Stacks of stacks of books.

And the girl with the nest of curls in the next room over, she falls asleep with arms wrapped around her mama's worn-matted teddy bear and her mama, she holds on to words to bring the sleeping, words inked down on paper, words on reams of paper, words filling books of a whole woods of paper.

By my bed, I stack words thought worthy of a tree.

About The Word made flesh that lay His life down on a tree. About the back that took the bark to rescue the woman unworthy, a woman like me who took the fruit to the lips and ate of her desires.

I think of this when I mark my page, when I lay words down on the fruit crates split from a tree.

When I turn over and I sleep on the white sheets.

















What's on the nightstand, preparing my heart for Easter....

    Reliving the Passion:  Walter Wangerin's words are poetic, sharp words worth a tree, kindling the heart to the inestimable worth of Christ. Guiding the reader on a forty day passion journey through the gospel of Mark,  Wangerin's words fan a hot flame --- penetrating prose, powerful truths. Highest Recommendation.

Wangerin encapsulates why, though it is not part of our faith community's practice, we are observing Lent:

“But in the economy of God, what seems the end is but a preparation…The disciples approached the resurrection from their bereavement. For them the death was first, and the death was all. Easter, then, was an explosion of Newness, a marvelous splitting of heaven indeed.

But for us, who return backward into the past, the Resurrection comes first, and through it we view a death which is, therefore, less consuming, less horrible, even less real.

We miss the disciples terrible, wonderful preparation.

Unless, as now, we attend to the suffering first, to the cross with sincerest pity and vigilant love, to the dying with most faithful care --- and thus prepare for joy.”

  Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter: A dog-eared, perennial favorite, I annually anticipate the return of this thoughtful, classic book to the nightstand. 72 essays from writers as diverse as Amy Carmichael, Martin Luther, Malcolm Muggeridge, C.S. Lewis, Madeleine L'Engle, this devotional divides into six separate sections: Invitation, Temptation, Passion, Crucifixion, Resurrection and New Life --- and will be a book hungrily returned to year after year.

"If the ultimate, the hardest, cannot be asked of me; if my fellows hesitate to ask it and turn to someone else, then I know nothing of Calvary love."  ~ Amy Carmichael

 Seeing and Savoring Christ : John Piper never fails to be passionate for exalting Christ and his ardency sparks dry wood. This too is annual Easter read for me, pages saturated with Scripture, short chapters that light.

"Christ does not exist in order to make much of us. We exist in order to enjoy making much of him. Christ is not glorious so that we get wealthy or healthy. Christ is glorious, so that rich or poor, sick or sound, we might be satisfied in him."

  Spirituality of the Cross: A columnist with World Magazine, Gene Edward Veith writes of the "way of the first evangelicals," a compelling first-time read for me this Lent, exploring the theology of Martin Luther and the doctrine of the"first evangelicals." This book struck me profoundly on several levels --and yes, it is always all By Grace Alone...

"Without food, we would starve to death. We have to eat to fuel our physical life; otherwise we grow weak and waste away. The only food that can sustain our bodies comes from the death of other living things... There can be no life, even on the physical level, apart from the sacrifice of other life.

What is true for physical life is true for spiritual life -- we can only live if there has been a sacrifice."

 Christ in the Passover: We've celebrated Easter with a Messianic Seder meal for many years, but this year I longed to spend time deeply reflecting on why Christ is our Passover Lamb.




 Devotions for Lent (Holy Bible: Mosaic): A short book of weekly devotionals and Scripture passages, we have been collecting each evening with our Lenten candle wreath, to reflect on these Scripture passages. The devotionals are brief, which is appropriate for family devotionals, and the weekly artwork (six images)throughout and poetry, allow younger children a way of joining in reflecting also. We invested in the affordable family pack of devotionals so that each person has their own copy, and we often revisit a previous Scripture or reflection several nights, letting those truths percolate down into the crevices.

As non-denominational, Protestant evangelicals, this season of preparing our hearts for a deeper appreciation of Mercy, the need of the Cross, the miracle of Easter, the sacrifice on the Grace-Tree that made us worthy... this is a page we linger on long...

I Cannot Do This Alone

O God, early in the morning I cry to you.
Help me to pray
And to concentrate my thoughts on you:
I cannot do this alone.

In me there is darkness,
But with you there is light;
I am lonely, but you do not leave me;
I am feeble in heart, but with you there is help;
I am restless, but with you there is peace.
In me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience;
I do not understand your ways,
But you know the way for me…

Restore me to liberty,
And enable me to live now
That I may answer before you and before me.
Lord, whatever this day may bring,
Your name be praised.


- a poem included in Devotions for Lent, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Photos: words taking up trees... that are taking us to the Tree....
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