Hi All !!!!

I am often asked what I am reading, so here are a few titles I am working through at the moment:

Corrosion of Character by Richard Sennett.  I am also ordering his release from 2006 The Culture of the New Capitalism. 

These books hold within them a major pastoral concern for me.  Gone are the days of pyramid-like corporate structures in which individuals knew their place and planned their futures.  Modern corporations provide no long-term stability, benefits, social capital, or interpersonal trust. This is wounding individuals, families, and the Church.   God's sheep are wracked with anxiety, insecurity, stress, and relational strains. 

The work environment in the world of post-modern capitalism is one where we have to constantly prove our worth by competing with other workers in a fiercely competitive workplace where your experience and degrees become obsolete quickly.  Workers are used up for what they can add, and then thrown away leaving devastation behind.  Yet, we are supposed to work as teams and in harmony!

Downsizing, rightsizing, outsourcing, and other global pressures are having a profound impact on our personal spiritual and emotional lives, as well as on our family and church relationships.  I believe marketplace ministry is a key concern and outreach because the work world today is so unstable, uncertain, and stress filled that as Sennett says, human beings are finding it difficult to conceive of a life narrative.  God is our answer as He writes our life story!

Healing the Eight Stages of Life 

A good read to find healing of painful past and present experiences.  Written by Roman Catholics, but accessible to people of all Christian denominations.