Session Reading List 2025-2026

WRPC Office
8 hours ago
2 min read

Each year West Raleigh Presbyterian Church elects one class of elders who serve in a three-year rotation on the Session. The Session, along with the Board of Deacons, form the governing bodies of the church. The Session meets monthly and each meeting begins with a devotion led by one of the elders. Most years, the opening devotion has a theme, guiding question or prompt. This last year, the elders took turns sharing a book that has been formative to their life of faith. The list they compiled over the year was far-ranging, fascinating and most of all, deeply faithful.

Knowing that West Raleigh loves to read and that there are still weeks left to add to your summer reading list, we decided this is a list worth sharing. Happy reading!

BOOKS:

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

Recommended by Emily Bryson

A solarpunk novel in which a tea monk and renegade robot team up to search for what humans really need. (Solarpunk is a genre of sci-fi that emphasizes sustainability, social justice and collective action.)

The Heart of God by Rabindranath Tagore

Recommended by Patti Sprinkle

Written by an Indian educator and port, this short book of prayers explores life in all its complexities and joys.

Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman

Recommended by Pam Wilson

Howard Thurman, pioneer of non-violent direct action, interracial dialogue, and spiritual resources, explores how the Bible can be read as a manual of resistance on behalf of the poor and disenfranchised.

The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelho

Recommended by Mark Zaineddin

Internationally acclaimed novel about an Andalusian shepherd boy, who given a prophecy that he will find treasure at the pyramids, crosses northern Africa. After many adventures and meeting strangers who change his life he—no, read it yourself to find the unexpected ending!

Educated by Tara Westover

Recommended by Bob Grant

This memoir tells how education released a woman from a harrowing childhood with a rigid fundamentalist father who rejected mainstream education and medicine.