One of Thousands

There must have been thousands of commencement addresses given across the country in the last few weeks with more coming in early June. I was invited to give one at Concordia University Ann Arbor earlier in May. It was based on some other writing I had done. I share it with you here.

Congratulations. This is a big day. A big celebration. A big ending. God is good! But as every commencement address will be quick to address, commencement is about beginning, not ending. Something new is starting, commencing, not finishing.

One of the best things about this day is that now you can commence reading things you want to, not things you have to. The books, articles, websites you read are now up to you, not a syllabus or a professor.

Don’t be that guy: I never picked up a book after I got done with college. This is not a time to stop reading just because no one is pushing you; it is a time to commence developing your own plan or system. In the few minutes we have together, I’d like to share some encouragement with you about reading.

Be clear on this: readers are leaders and leaders are readers. Read lots. But take the long view. One of the best ways to read lots is to read a little bit every day. Over the course of sixty or seventy years if you read a little bit every day, it will add up to lots. Here are a number of simple ideas.

Read the news. This is better than watching the news. There are still newspapers, especially neighborhood ones. There are unlimited websites and other sources. Read a variety of sources. World, national and local. You need to know what is going on in your community, your nation and in the world. You need to “read the culture” in which you live. Reading the news instead of watching it will help you to be more thoughtful about the data.

Read old stuff. In his book, A Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership, Stephen Sample encourages people only to read books at least fifty years old. He reasoned that we should let history sift out books that are not worth reading since time for reading is limited. Let generations before you sort out what is of lasting substance. This is good advice. I wish I had followed it more.

Read new stuff. This is important not because of what’s new. We know there is nothing new under the sun. Read new stuff so that you are aware of what’s now, what and how are people thinking now in this time, in our milieu. This will help you converse with your contemporaries.

Read hard stuff. Don’t worry if you read books that you can barely understand. Such challenge will keep you sharp. You won’t remember everything about it, that’s true of every book you read, but you will be sure to walk away with a well-earned nugget. A friend of mine, your commencement speaker last year, is a smart guy who reads really challenging books. He suggested one to me but warned me, “It is pretty hard stuff. You might have trouble with it.” Of course, I took up the challenge. It was long, arduous, technical, and indeed over my head. But I walked away from it with a life changing nugget. (The book was by Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition, in which she made the point that the only way to “undo” an action is forgiveness.)

Read varied stuff. Check out a book on the human genome. Enjoy one about the Civil War. What about something on economic theory or the geology of the Australian outback? One of my favorite books was one on manners, Miss Manners Saves Western Civilization. It is especially important to read books that take positions antithetical to what you think or that are in a field totally unknown to you.

Read novels. Classic ones. Not so classic ones. Fun ones. Novels will expose you to storytelling and people. You will learn how people live, think, and feel. Novels will teach you the psychology of people. If you are going to be a leader of people, you need to understand them and their stories. Reading novels will help you “get people.”

Read poetry. Poetry must be read slowly, deliberately. Reading poetry is more like sipping a glass of wine than drinking a cold light beer. 

Read leadership books. Much of what makes you effective in the home, at work, in the community and in the congregation hinges on your ability to lead. Leaders come in all sorts of styles, personalities, and approaches. Learning how to lead will help you extend effectiveness as you live out your vocation. For instance, doctors often limit their effectiveness not because they are not experts in their field, but because they cannot lead an office or a practice or a surgical team. 

Read more than one book at a time. When you have multiple books on your desk and night stand, you are more likely to experience a serendipitous insight.

Read in community. Start a book club. In the book How to Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds, Alan Jacobs points out that there is no such thing as thinking for yourself. Thinking is always a community experience. One of the richest experiences in my life is a book club I have been in for over two decades. We have read books I would have never chosen, and through collegial conversation I have come to think better about some things than I ever would have otherwise.

… and of course… Read the Bible. Aggressively. Plan to make it through the entire Bible at least once a year. Of all the reading we do, reading Scripture is of first importance. Luther insisted on teaching people to read for this particular purpose. Reading the Bible is not about learning doctrines and theology—it is about meeting Jesus. We meet Jesus in his word.

One more thing.

Read the funnies. In this day and age we need a laugh now and then.