2025 Shalem Picks for Contemplative Resources

Active Hope by Joanna Macy & Chris Johnstone
I returned to this book this year for hope in the midst of chaos. Macy and Johnstone offer practices and vision for choosing hope when everything looks hopeless.
-Margaret Benefiel, Executive Director

Aflame: Learning from Silence by Pico Iyer
Iyer provides a rich exploration of the clarity and calm that can arise in quiet retreat.
-Phillip Stephens, Program Director of Nurturing the Call: Spiritual Guidance Program

“For When People Ask” from All the Honey by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
This poem came at just the right time for me and continues to speak to my heart, and for my heart.
-Anita Davidson, graduate of Nurturing the Call: Spiritual Guidance Program and staff member

Calling In: How to Start Making Change with Those You’d Rather Cancel by Prof. Loretta J. Ross
As contemplatives who strive to live out of the compassionate heart, the political divides of our present time can be bewildering and even painful. Writing from the perspective of over sixty years in the trenches working for justice and reconciliation, Professor Ross uses examples from her own life to show how to rise above the cancel culture and build bridges with others, calling them and us, into relationship. As Shalem engages in strengthening the equity within our community, this book offers practical ways to engage in this essential work of building community.
-Jeff Ross, Board of Directors

Comment Magazine
Each issue offers a variety of reflections on a shared theme to engage in the work of “public theology for the common good.” The current issue is about Becoming a Discerning People. The synthesis of these divergent voices helps to expand not only the readers’ understanding of the theme in the current context but also practical resources for individuals and institutions to engage in the work of healing through ministry in our world.
-Jeff Ross, Board of Directors

Crossing the Line: Challenging the Barriers of Race, Religion and Relationships by Dorcas Horst Cyster
In Crossing the Line, Dorcas Cyster offers a spiritually grounded memoir that confronts systemic injustice and traces her white racial identity and cross-racial relationships across church, family, education, friendships, and vocation. With honesty and grace, she explores her internalized oppression shaped by her Mennonite upbringing, the toll of justice work, and the complexity of love in the midst of suffering. It’s a stirring testimony to endurance, transformation, and spiritual resilience spanning the U.S. and South Africa.
-Althea Banda-Hansmann, Co-Leader of Soul of Leadership: South Africa

Embers: One Ojibway’s Meditations by Richard Wagamese
In April of 2023, I took a sabbatical in New Mexico to learn more of Native American spirituality. In preparation for my sabbatical, I came across the writings of Richard Wagamese. Richard’s Native name is Mushkotay Beezheekee Anakwat (Buffalo Cloud). He was an Ojibwe Canadian author and journalist from the Wabaseemoong Independent Nations in Northwestern Ontario. He was best known for his novel Indian Horse, but it is his other books that have had such a profound impact on my life.

Richard’s book, Embers, was the first book I read by him. Embers is filled with everyday reflections. I personally read one selection a day and as I read the book in my lap, I also listened to the audio version. The reader’s soothing voice pairs nicely with the calming words. Richard’s everyday wisdom in Embers holds much peace and hope. Richard explores the manifestations of grief, joy, beauty, gratitude, physicality and spirituality. He shows how to find joy in the everyday things. It is his Indigenous perspective that I find most hope filled. I would also recommend What Comes from Spirit and One Native Life. In a world that is ever changing, Richard’s Indigenous wisdom has truly calmed my soul and grounded me. I recommend it to anyone looking for more grounding from that still quiet place within.
-Rev. Emily J. Kellar, Co-Director of Going Deeper: Clergy Life and Leadership Program

I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger
While on my pilgrimage to Spain I read I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger. Through gorgeously rendered language that finds light in darkness, Enger tells the story of Rainy’s water-bound quest across Lake Superior, where personal tragedy propels him into a larger battle against sinister forces while revealing the enduring power of love and music to sustain the human spirit.
-Julie Pennington-Russell, Co-Director of Going Deeper: Clergy Life & Leadership

Inciting Joy by Ross Gay
In this beautifully written collection of essays, author and poet, Ross Gay, explores the joy which can arise when we care for each other during life’s inevitable hardships.
-Phillip Stephens, Program Director of Nurturing the Call: Spiritual Guidance Program

Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
The beauty, simplicity and timeless, mystical truths in this beloved classic continue to touch my heart. “…It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
-Carole Crumley, Going Deeper: Clergy Life & Leadership staff member

The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World by Iain McGilchrist
This British psychiatrist and philosopher writes about how culture and perceptions have been constrained by privileging certain ways of perceiving and thinking. (I’ve had to persist in reading it, but worth it!)
-Beverly Gibson, Board of Directors

Meditations and Mandalas: Simple Songs for the Spiritual Life by Nan C. Merrill
The words of Nan Merrill are a consistent source of inspiration and solace for me. For decades, her words have reminded me to return to the inner source of strength and comfort. In times like these, her gentle reminders are even more important.
-Patricia Franklin, Board of Directors

Revolutionary Love Project Website
I recommend the website revolutionarylove.org. The Revolutionary Love Project, founded by Valarie Kaur, is an amazing resource for inspiring and equipping people to build the beloved community. The website is full of offerings that teach love of self, others and one’s opponents. I keep returning to offerings from this organization and feel empowered and recharged each time I engage.
-Patience Robbins, graduate of Shalem’s Nurturing the Call: Spiritual Guidance Program & leader for Prayer for the World

A Teachable Spirit: The Virtue of Learning from Strangers, Enemies, and Absolutely Anyone by AJ Swoboda
This is a profoundly accessible and humble book, as it names both our ongoing need for learning and the deep shame that rises up within us as an obstacle. I highly recommend this book to anyone who welcomes a shift in perspective, or who longs to become a student of wisdom.
– Sarah Forti, Co-Director of Crossing the Threshold: Contemplative Foundations for Emerging Leaders

“Trough” from The Sea Accepts All River and Other Poems by Judy Brown
This poem by Judy Brown was inspired by a childhood memory, growing up on the Great Lakes. I have found myself reading it often in these turbulent times.
-Julie Pennington-Russell, Co-Director of Going Deeper: Clergy Life & Leadership