For the Inward Journey: The Writings of Howard Thurman | 
I had to return this one to the library yesterday. ☹️ I was anticipating being allowed one more renewal, but someone had put a hold on it, so it had to go back. I was a little over a third of the way through, and was reading it more slowly than anticipated, since at least the first sections were very reflective/meditative. But I‘d like to finish it, and will definitely revisit it when I can get it from the library again!
When Jesus prayed, he was conscious that, in his prayer, he met the Presence, and this consciousness was far more important and significant than the answering of his prayer. It is for this reason primarily that God for Jesus was the answer to all the issues and problems of life. When I, with all my mind and heart, truly seek God and give myself in prayer, I, too, meet his Presence, and then I know for myself that Jesus was right.
To domesticate the word;
To safeguard its character,
To purge the violence from its face;
To allow no service that defiles, degrades;
To make it one with truth;
To fill it with the pure intent;
This is to make the word the Sacrament,
The angelos of God.
This is the breath of life that makes man, man.
For there is not a word in my tongue
But lo, Thou knowest it altogether.
I had never heard of Howard Thurman until my EfM group watched a PBS documentary about his life (called “Backs Against the Wall”). Thurman was held by many to be the spiritual center of the American Civil Rights movement, and it‘s said that MLK Jr. carried a copy of Thurman‘s “Jesus and the Disinherited” with him at all times. This book has selections from many of Thurman‘s writings—should be a good intro before I dive into some of his other work.
