21-Oct Thoughts on the book club

I'm not certain if we will have enough members to meet in Nov. I am looking for someone to organize the club over the next few months (or indefinitely) while I have work travel.

August 4th Book Selection

This posting is the first for the Mount Carmel Baptist Church (MCBC) Evening Book Discussion Group. This group meets at Mount Carmel Baptist Church in Chapel Hill, NC. http://www.mount-carmel-baptist.org/

As facilitator for the group, I encourage all discussion group members, MCBC attenders, and friends to post your thoughts about books we're reading, suggestions for books, related topics such as information from other study groups reading books we've selected, movies made from the books, and so on.

Hopefully, as this blog becomes active, I'll be able to distill discussion topics from our online discussions, and we'll enrich our meeting experience.

For the August 4th discussion group meeting, we've selected an excellent book offering insights into Mother Teresa: her history, the start of the Missionaries of Charity, and her spiritual life. The book is "Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light - The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta" by Mother Teresa and Brian Kolodiejchuk.

We learned of this book after noticing that it was selected as the June 09 book for the CBF Missions Education book club. This book club has a study guide available on their web site:
http://www.thefellowship.info/Resources/Missions-Education/book-clubs

Some of my initial reactions to the book:

• I'm blown away by the complete devotion of Mother Teresa (MT) to Christ. This is my first real exploration of the life of a Catholic saint, and her level of devotion and obedience is challenging me to explore my spirituality and what it means to "take up your cross".
• The letters between MT and her superiors, counselors, and other church authority are educational for anyone outside the Catholic religion. This correspondence gives insight into some of the structure, bureacracy, and processes of Catholic "religious".
• The careful deliberation of those in authority and the need to test the authenticity of callings can be instructive for anyone regardless of religious affiliation.

I'm approximately a third of the way through the book and am looking forward to what looks to be more details on the Missionaries of Charity and MT's mystical experiences.