Tomorrow I'm leading the second round of the Christian book group I started a couple of months ago. Last month's book was The Kingdom Within: The Inner Meaning of Jesus' Sayings by John A. Sanford. It was a good, if heady, way to start a book group. Those who actually managed to read it enjoyed it, especially one woman who had a wealth of ingsights and intelligent questions. I don't think she'd ever been bitten by the theology bug before; it was nice to see her come alive with new perspectives.

This month's book is a new personal favorite of mine, The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming by Henri J. Nouwen. It's a very personal book that grew out of Nouwen's own spiritual life, and focuses on the spiritual lessons he found in Rembrandt's painting, "The Return of the Prodigal Son." No art historian myself, I'm always amazed at how much thought goes into the creation and analysis of paintings; to me they're pretty pictures and not much more, but under Nouwen's watchful eye, the incredible depth of this painting comes to life. He uses the primary figures of the painting and the striking parable of Jesus that inspired it to tease out rich subtleties of our different roles as Christians, and as human beings in general. The book is pretty well regarded in Christian circles, I suppose, because Cokesbury has a downloadable discussion guide for it, to which I think I'll defer. I sort of semi-enjoy making up the discussion notes for these things, but not enough to reinvent the wheel for its own sake.

I love a small discussion group because you can actually get a meaningful conversation going, unlike the free-for-all that often distinguishes larger Sunday School classes. It's fascinating to see what different people get out of a book; it lends credence to the notion that any book you read is not merely the book itself, but is really more a product of the text and the person you are at the time you read it. Haven't you ever re-read a book and found it to be an almost entirely different book than the one you thought you'd read?

I find this to be especially true of the Bible. Some passages have never spoken to me. Others once blazed brightly in my imagination but have since died down. The best ones are those that surprise you--some passage or verse that you've never seemed to come across, or that never held any meaning for you that suddenly leaps off the page and grabs you, and you wonder, "How did I never see this before?"

That's how God is; he sneaks up on you when you least expect Him and fills you with unexpected joy. I think all the best things in life are that way.

What's the next book I should use for the group? What passage in the Bible leapt out at you recently?