Religion

It was the first book that inspired all the others to follow.

Around 2003, Rebecca Littlejohn, pastor of First Christian Church, stumbled across a copy of poet Kathleen Norris' book titled, Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith, which takes common religious words — "Christ," "salvation" "evangelism" — and applies them to her own personal struggle with understanding what it is to be a Christian.

And each anecdotal story helped to give these misunderstood terms a fresh, new meaning.

"Our ridiculously fallible language becomes a lesson in how God's grace works despite and even through our human frailty," Norris writes in Amazing Grace. "We will never get the words exactly right. There will always be room for imperfection, for struggle, growth and change. And this is as it should be."

Upon reading Norris' insights, Littlejohn wanted to share and discuss it with others.

"It was just such a great book for a book group," she says. "At the time we weren't really thinking about what we'd do after finishing that book. But we decided to keep going."

And thus the Ecumenical Book Group was born.

Now, 11 books later, the group will soon be reading from its latest selection, Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder, which details the inspirational life of infectious disease specialist Paul Farmer.

The Ecumenical Book Group is made of members from a variety of local congregations and denominations — Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians and Catholics — who gather Tuesday afternoons with the goal of spiritual and intellectual growth.

"We read books that we know would be good for us but might not get through on our own," Littlejohn says with a guilty laugh. "We're kind of a support group for readers.

"But with the books we read, it isn't just about the writing, it about the issues the writing raises."

Such is the model for many faith-based book groups. Though they may follow separate avenues, most hope to reach the same destination of greater spiritual awareness and a deeper understanding of their own faith.

"When you get right down to it, book clubs, no matter what kind they are —are about conversation," says Bonnie Seymour, director of the Public Library of Anniston-Calhoun County. "Any good reader can read a book, but it's more fun to talk about it and to share ideas.

"That's what really enhances the experience of reading."

But like the selections they covet, all good book groups have to start somewhere. Whether they are created out of a need for intellectual stimulation or as a catalyst for spirited fellowship, faith-based book clubs must make a few decisions in order to define just what kind of group they're going to be.

"The first big order of any book club is —who's going to participate," Seymour says. "It's important to decide the size of the group, where you're going to meet and if it's going to be strictly a social event or something a bit more academic."

Though they've only met once, members of the St. Marks Book Club had little doubt the kind of club they wanted to be.

Dot Ping, who essentially coordinated the club, wanted choose novels by Christian authors that would stir conversation among the participants while also challenging them to see the world from a modern Christian perspective.

"Our lives just get so busy sometimes that we don't have time to dedicate to the spiritual side of our being," Ping says. "Sometimes we need a reason to engage that side and that's definitely our goal."

The first selection for the St. Marks Book Club was When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin, a heartwarming story about love, faith, friendship and redemption. And whereas the Ecumenical Group meets every week to discuss their nonfiction selections chapter by chapter, the members of St. Mark meet monthly to discuss the book as a whole.

Either way, Ping believes that there is great value in people of faith reading something other than their Bibles.

"I feel like we may be able to relate our own lives to the themes and messages of these novels," Ping says. "And if we can relate better, we might have a revelation we don't get from reading the Bible."

For Littlejohn, choosing the group's next title is often a "great struggle." Though she has certain criteria, such as avoiding works of fiction, the main focus is finding books that are both challenging and accessible.

"It has to be readable," she says.

And everyone don't always agree, because they are a group of committed Christians, members always seem to learn from one another, Littlejohn says.

"There is a faith-based common interest about understanding our world — not just about the church in the world but about the whole world," she says. "There's a common understanding that God is interested in and loves the whole world and God wants us engaged in the whole world."

St. Mark Book Club

August —When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin

September —The Shack by William P. Young

October —The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

The group will meet 6.p.m. Wednesday at the church

For more information, e-mail Dot Ping at dot312@hotmail.com or call St. Mark United Methodist Church at 831-4509

The Ecumenical Book group

Fall selection — Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder

Group meets Tuesdays, starting Sept. 9, at noon at First Christian Church

For more information, call 236-1316