"Professional has come to mean a person with a bagful of techniques and fixes, it is not always easy to find a professional who fulfills the original meaning of the word - a person grounded in a profession of faith, faith in the nature of ultimate reality, in the matrix of mercy in which our lives are embedded."
-- Rev. Parker Palmer

One morning, early this past spring, I was seated at a café in Berkeley, enjoying a cup of coffee and an animated conversation with the Rev. Til Evans. I blurted out something about James Luther Adams' essay on Liberal Education and proceeded to say, "Wow, I must sound like a real religious education nerd." "Well," replied Til, "aren't you?"

Nothing like outing myself as a nerd before the caffeine kicks in.

Now that I am far from my own junior high school days, I have learned to embrace my inner nerd and celebrate my intellectual, book-wormy curiosity as a valued part of my professional life. To be educators we must be constantly involved in learning, right? As the fall approaches and you pick up this REACH packet, I am offering, as a "back to school" gift, a few of my recent reading delights for all you nerds out there! Think about sending your own professional growth reading lists to the REACH-L, or working with other local professionals to establish a study group. Many already exist. And remember, an intellectually stimulating peer group can be an important component of a learning plan for a Certificate of Continuing Education or a part of work toward being a Credentialed Religious Educator.

Happy studies to you all!

Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation by Rev. Parker Palmer
- Parker Palmer is slated to present at the Meadville Lombard Winter Institute in February 2002.

Callings: Finding and Following an Authentic Life by Gregg Levoy
- spiritually wise, poetically written.

The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America by Louis Menand
- learn more about John Dewey and American pragmatism.

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
- the perfect complement to any curriculum exploring the Hebrew Bible

all about love: new visions by bell hooks
- more wisdom and beauty from the author of teaching to transgress