by Chris Bonas and Jim Robshaw
On a Sunday about a month ago, I was checking the church pews to make sure no one had left anything behind. I found a little book in a seat in the balcony where Jim usually sits. I figured it must be his and picked it up to return it. Jim had already left, and the book looked interesting to me so I took it home. As I read this little book which is full of personal experiences of God’s little intercessions in our lives, I connected with the theme of “is this just a mere coincidence or is this something more?”.
When I did get a chance to speak with Jim, he mentioned that he had left the book behind on purpose, hoping someone would find it, read it, and get something out of it as he had. I, in turn, passed the book along to another friend who enjoyed it thoroughly. We thought we would keep passing the book along, and it occurred to us that many people in our congregation may have similar books that they found meaningful in some way. We asked yet another church member what they thought and we all decided together that we would like to put a bookshelf in Globe Hall where people could leave and borrow books that they found spiritually inspiring or meaningful in some way. One of us suggested that we could sign our names in the front cover and perhaps people at church may want to discuss the book or what they got out of it. Somebody else thought it would be interesting if different people highlighted different things or wrote in the margins. We thought another option could be to write a small note/index card discussing what was helpful or meaningful to us and tucking it in a small jacket in the back of the book.
We hope that many of you will bring in your favorite books or purchase copies of them to leave on the bookshelf. We also hope you will feel free to borrow books from that shelf and sign your name in the front of the book. We do have one problem to solve however… We don’t have a name for the bookshelf yet! We encourage you to stop by the bookshelf and drop a note card in the basket suggesting a name. Oh, and don’t forget to borrow or leave a book!
