Book learning

As I reflected on my resignation from the Uniting Church the other day (perhaps as I was rereading the letter) I realised how those brilliant moments of clarity so often in my life have come during or upon reflecting upon reading something in print. 

Davis McCaughey's commentary on the 'Basis of Union' and Andrew Dutney's reflection on Church Union were the two key works that said 'The Basis of Union isn't for me'.  When my old minister filmed my testimony a few years back, again and again my words were, 'I read this book, and it changed me' or 'I read these two books that really changed the way I thought about how God works, and it made him more real to me', and to add emphasis they spliced in images of those books.  Me, and books.  When people asked me how I went with the flood recently, one of the first things I would say was, 'The books were okay', and how to keep them dry is one thing that up my mind in case it happens again. 

Going to college is a temptation as well as a privilege - I am surrounded by so many great books, yet know I only have 5 subjects this semester; the temptation is ever present to read something completely unrelated, and I often do, if only to give myself a break from what I am studying for credit.  At the moment it is on baptism - 'The Waters That Divides', on the business of infant or believer's baptism.  I used to be strongly behind believer's baptism, but at the moment I'm coming more and more toward seeing infant baptism not merely as a valid choice, but as a choice I myself might support.