I usually publish a blog about my favorite books I read during the year. This is that post, but it is also more than that. I decided to embrace my inner-Oprah and make a list of my general favorite things. Mine won’t be selling on Amazon as a promotional item or anything like that, but it was fun for me to come up with the list and think of it in those terms. So here is my list of favorite things from 2022. These are the ideas and sounds that have shaped me this past year. I’m looking forward to see what’s to come in this next year. Until then, enjoy my favorites of 2022.

My Favorite Books in 2022

Nonfiction

Allen, Lenard – In the Great Stream: Imagining Churches of Christ in the Christian Tradition

Alter, Robert – The Art of Biblical Narrative

Beck, Richard – Hunting Magic Eels: Recovering an Enchanted Faith in a Skeptical Age

Brown, Brene – Dare to Lead: Brave Work, Tough Conversations, Whole Hearts

Byas, Jared – Love Matters More: How Fighting to Be Right Keeps us from Loving Like Jesus

Carty, Austin – The Pastor’s Bookshelf: Why Reading Matters for Ministry

Davis, Ellen F. – Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible

Hart, David Bentley – That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation

Kleon, Austin – Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

Kugel, James L. – The Bible As It Was

Manning, Brennan – The Ragamuffin Gospel

Merritt, Jonathan – Learning to Speak God From Scratch: Why Sacred Words Are Vanishing – And How We Can Revive Them

Newport, Cal – Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World

Rhoads, David M. – Mark as Story: An Introduction to the Narrative of a Gospel

Scarlata, Mark W. – A Journey Through the World of Leviticus: Holiness, Sacrifice, and the Rock Badger

Schlimm, Matthew Richard – 70 Hebrew Words Every Christian Should Know

Shroyer, Danielle –  Original Blessing: Putting Sin In Its Rightful Place

Wright, N. T. – The Day the Revolution Began: Reconsidering the Meaning of Jesus’s Crucifixion

Wyckoff, Mallory – God Is

Devotionals

The 1662 Book of Common Prayer: International Edition

Every Moment Holy: Volume 1

The Message Devotional Bible

A Rhythm of Prayer

Fiction

Lewis, C. S. – Out of the Silent Planet  & Peralandra

Vandermeer, Jeff – The Southern Reach Trilogy

Poetry

Gorman, Amanda – Call Us What We Carry

Loder, Ted – Guerrillas of Grace: Prayers for the Battle

Children’s Books

Evans, Rachel Held and Matthew Paul Turner – What Is God Like?

Kennedy, Natasha and Ben Myers – The Apostles’ Creed For All God’s Children

Pecinovsky, Teresa Kim and Khoi Le – Mother God

My Favorite Music in 2022

General

One by Sleeping At Last

Out Beyond Ideas by David Wilcox and Nance Pettit

Sticks & Stones by Kings Kaleidoscope

Victoria’s Secret by Jax

We Don’t Eat by James Vincent McMorrow

Worship

Another in the Fire by Hillsong United (and also the lofi version by ssxnt)

Be Thou My Vision by Celtic Worship

The Blessing by Elevation Worship

In Christ Alone by Celtic Worship

Come Thou Fount by Celtic Worship

Graves Into Gardens by Elevation Worship

Here Are My Hands by A New Liturgy

In Jesus Name (God of Possible) by Katy Nichole

The Lord’s Prayer by Greg LaFollette

Most Merciful God by Greg LaFollette and Taylor Leonhardt

Romans 11 (Doxology) by Andrew Peterson

Softly and Tenderly by Greg LaFollette and Alisa Turner