bob.blog

Static

I received for review and started a few days ago Ron Martoia's latest book, Static: Tune Out the "Christian Noise" and Experience the Real Message of Jesus

I'm just a couple chapters in, but digging it- the basic premise is that the way we talk about Jesus and our reductionistic take on the Gospel hinders greatly the spread of the real good news.

I think this book followed by McLaren's More Ready Than You Realize or perhaps The Insider: Bringing the Kingdom of God into Your Everyday World would give a great foundation for talking about (and actually doing) evangelism in an emerging church context.

iMonk has done a thorough and thoughtful job of reviewing the book, so rather than spend a lot of time giving you my take, I'll point you to his.

He says "Books that translate the insights of N.T. Wright into the language of non-scholars are proliferating. Ron Martoia’s Static joins that conversation with one of the most readable books you’ll find on the intersection of recent New Testament backgrounds, the meaning of key Biblical concepts and the missional, evangelistic ministry of Christians in a world where fewer and fewer westerners are listening to the claims of Christianity at all.

For someone not aware that there is a serious conversation going on about how to “re-lexicon” and “re-vocalize” the Christian vocabulary, Martoia may sound like heresy 101. For those who know that the work of Wright and other contemporary scholars is exposing the weaknesses in contemporary popular understandings of key Biblical concepts, Martoia won’t be saying a lot new, but he says it very well. In fact, as a beginning book for a person ready to move into some fairly radical examinations of the way we describe Christianity, Static is excellent."

And Bob says it's worth checking out :)

 

Organic Community...

"Sometimes we focus so much on building a 'healthy church' that we forget to tend to the health of people." - Joe Myers, Organic Community

In the short, 3 year history of our little pub church, I've put only two books in the hands of our elders (I need to do more of this, but...). They were Men and Women in the Church by Sarah Sumner and Doug Pagitt's Reimagining Spiritual Formation (now retitled Reimagining Church). After diving into this last night I think I found the third.

Yesterday I received for review and already read about half of Joe Myers' Organic Community: Creating a Place Where People Naturally Connect . His book The Search to Belong was
nothing less than a complete paradigm shift for me in the way that I viewed community and relationships both inside and outside of the church. So... I've been looking forward to this one for awhile.

"When planning for organic community, the question that will move us forward is 'What are we hoping for?' not 'Where are we headed?'"- Joe Myers

 

I won't get too deep into the book in this post, other than to highly recommend it. I started it last night and am already half-way through, and while not the monster mind-blower of his last one (though it may yet prove to be so) I am already thankful for the thinking it has stirred up in me. I feel like books that prompt me not only to hear and absorb what the author is saying, but prove to be a catalyst for further thought about my community, my ministry are few and far between (at least for me, in this stage of life) so when they come along, I like to recommend them.

A big part of the reason I want to get this into the hands of my elders is that in the early years of evergreen, I was the one pushing/describing/imagining what "organic! non-programmatic!" ministry could be. We had a lot of talks about that as we moved from church of the mind to church of reality. But over the last couple of years, as we've grown, our discussions, both as a community and as elders have tended towards the more practical, less theoretical issues of people and decision-making and the day to day ins and outs of community life. It's been a while since we circled back and focused again on the theoretical underpinnings of simple, organic community. It's probably time, and I think this book will be an excellent catalyst for it.

Myers is a great apologist for the way we are doing church, and what he's advocating, though certainly more easily appropriated in a smaller setting, isn't just for small churches. What he's talking about will push you towards some ways of doing things and away from others, but as with his last book, everyone from big church people to house church people would do well to wrap their heads around what organic ministry means.

His chapter on Participation and how and why people choose to participate is alone worth the price of admission for this book. He details where most "recruiting" in church goes wrong, why people resist it, and the real question you need to be prepared to answer when inviting people to participate in something.

There's a lot of thought that's stirring in me through this and I'll post more soon (I really need to STOP saying that and start doing it, I know...)

Check it out- it's cheap on Amazon- only $11

IMonk on Johnny Mac

The IMonk has posted a good interaction with John MacArthur's new book on the emerging church.
An excerpt:

"When he is expounding scripture, Dr. Macarthur is at his strongest. This book contains an excellent study of portions of the book of Jude. Those familiar with Dr. Macarthur’s skill as an expositor and his strong commitment to stay close to the message of scripture will be pleased with this book. Dr. Macarthur does mention that he has covered the Biblical material elsewhere, but this book is more pointed towards the issues of postmodernism, relativism and the emerging church.

When Dr. Macarthur leaves his specialty of exposition, he is a different writer, one far less commendable...

The emerging church is the main target of Macarthur’s polemic. Throughout the book, Macarthur returns to examples of the extreme truth-rejecting, certainty-denying tendencies of the emerging church. Of course, for Macarthur, the emerging church is an entity much like a denomination. Brian Mclaren- the major recipient of critical condemnation in this book- is the epitome of the emerging church, but it is just as well defined by a reference to Rob Bell, a second hand description of Mark “the Cussing Preacher” Driscoll and the outrageous definiton of preaching cited from Doug Padgett (sic).

Anyone who knows the emergent church knows that none of these four persons represents anything close to the entirety of “the emerging church.” While Mclaren is an easy- and deserving- target, it appears that almost nothing is known of Driscoll except Don Miller’s description of him, a description Driscoll has commented on at length in an interview with Michael Horton, and if anything is known of Padgett (sic) or Bell beyond what one could read at Ken Silva’s website, it’s not obvious here. The research level in the book seems deficient for a serious study...

I am not in any way writing to defend what Dr. Macarthur condemns. I am not a spokesperson for the emerging church, though apparently that perception is why I received a copy of the book. Many of those persons he mentions deserve to be criticized and questioned. But many also deserve to be heard more carefully and understood better. The research here is not up to the levels of even modest academic examination of the influence of postmodernism or the truth about the emerging, missional conversation in all its expressions."

As I watch the whole thing from well-within the emerging church I become more and more disappointed with this kind of critique, of which MacArthur's book is only the latest... because at a certain point I begin to wonder when "research [that is] is not up to the levels of even modest academic examination" becomes "bearing false witness." I've seen a lot of people less influential and respected than MacArthur do just that, and now?

But the broad brush is easiest, and labeling someone "outside the truth" guarantees book sales. I mean, who's going to buy the "I generally like them but have a few concerns" potboiler? But plenty of people will line up to hear about the next group that's driving evangelicalism into the ditch- mostly because they seem to like hearing about people driving evangelicalism into a ditch. It's a genre now, with it's own built-in constintuency and that pretty much guarantees more of the same from the publishers.

Only problem is when you feed people a consistent diet of that kind of red meat, eventually they start looking at you with hungry eyes as well. Train people to look for, point out, and divide over every doctrinal difference and eventually you'll say something that will have them turning on you.

It's sad that there are now people who will refuse to buy John MacArthur's book on postmodernism/the emerging church and who seem to be ready to throw him under the bus because of his views/comments on eschatology. Sad... and appropriate (in a Gal 5:15 kind of way...)

Through A Screen Darkly

There have been a few books on "Finding Jesus in the Movies" and such... but to my knowledge (and you can all tell me I'm wrong), none if any have been written by someone like Jeffrey Overstreet, someone who makes a living from his love of film.

Overstreet has written a book called Through a Screen Darkly, a combination memoir of his love of film and how it began, his journey along the way, and deep insight into what films tell us about ourselves, our world and perhaps even God.

Eugene Peterson wrote a blurb for the back:

"While visiting the dark caves of movie theaters, Jeffrey gives articulate witness to what I too often miss in those caves- the countours of God's creation and the language of Christ's salvation. In these theaters, assumed by many to be unholy temples in a wasteland of secularism, he writes what he sees and hears. I find him a delightful and most percipient companion."

Also from the back cover:

"Jeffrey Overstreet, film enthusiast and movie reviewer, takes readers on a journey that spans the globe. From a desert scene in Mongolia to a galaxy far, far away, you'll explore the power of cinematic journeys to introduce life-changing new insights. While visiting the angels of Wings of Desire and the inquisitive British newcomers of The New World, he'll show you how different characters, different worldviews and different experiences offer pieces of a larger truth. Examining methods and styles employed by Martin Scorsese, Tony Scott, Paul Thomas Anderson, Akira Kurosawa and Krzysztof Kieslowski, he highlights the ways in which art and entertainment can both harm and heal. You'll find excerpts from his conversations with directors Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose), Wim Wenders (Wings of Desire) and Patrice Leconte (The Widow of St. Pierre), and producer Ralph Winter (the X-Men series). What makes some films timeless rather than merely popular has everything to do with the way these artists--whether they know it or not--have captured reflections of God in their work.

Through a Screen Darkly also includes a collection of recommendations for movie discussion groups, links to frequently updated resources for moviegoers, and meditations on how different films echo the ways in which Christ captured the attention and imagination of culture. You may be surprised by Overstreet's revealing encounters with moviegoers and critics in both mainstream and religious circles. He challenges traditional Christian ideas about art, and coaxes the curious toward bold, rewarding engagement with contemporary cinema. "

If you are at all interested in film, or want to explore doing movie groups as a way to build friendships, but the "discussion" part intimidates you, this looks to be a great resource...

The Blogging Church...

If you are reading this, then perhaps The Blogging Church by Brian Bailey isn't for you. I don't know who all reads this blog (who ARE you people???) but I do get the sense that most of you have your own blogs already :)

However, chances are, this might be just the book for someone, or a number of someones, you know.

It was a supreme act of will on my part to get my good friend John Johnson to begin blogging. In addition to being the senior pastor of a big church here in town, and a professor of Pastoral Theology at Western, John is also the head of the DMin program which I hope someday to complete. I felt like he wasn't doing enough, so I pestered him until he started a blog. And while he doesn't update it nearly enough, when he has something to say, it's some good stuff.

Anyway, you probably know someone like John who has a great mind, great thoughts, but not enough people get to appreciate them, because the whole idea of blogging seems a bit faddish, or too technical, or whatever. Maybe you've felt like your church community would benefit from a community blog, or having more of the staff enter the blog-o-sphere. Or maybe you'd just like to see what fun would ensue if your senior pastor tried his/her hand at blogging...

Well, here's the book to give 'em.

I was a bit skeptical at first when this was sent to me- seemed a bit like a bandwagon book. But in reading through this, it's actually a nice mix of a philosophy of blogging, interviews with prominant ministry-types who blog, and good technical tips and tricks for getting up and running as well as doing it right/avoiding common mistakes.

I even picked up a couple of tips here and there, and I consider myself at least somewhat facile out and about on the interwebs.

So- if you are looking for an on-ramp, for yourself or for someone else, to the whole blogging thing, this would be a good place to start, I think...

The book also has a good section on podcasting and a really well-done index in the back (e.g. "RSS- being a responsible reader of, 131-134")

Hidden in Plain Sight

Here's an interesting book... (full disclosure: I was sent this for review)

This is one, that on the face of it, I didn't have much interest in. It seemed to be the standard evangelical publishing "Christian life" book. I put it on the stack and just got to it this morning.

But...

The first thing I noticed when I picked it up is that this guy can write. I don't know much about the author, Mark Buchanan, but one thing he did let slip is that he got his start as a fiction writer- and it shows. He know how to put together a sentence, a paragraph, a page. I thought I would skim, but I found myself reading. That's one point.
Within a page or two, a book I thought I probably wouldn't keep started to mentally work its way onto my shelf. That's two points.
And then a book that I thought would sit on my shelf until a later time, started to work its way from the shelf, down next to my reading chair for some morning reading time. That's three.

Hmmm.

At first, as I said, this book looks pretty non-descript. And here I have to lay blame on the publishers... neither the cover shown on Amazon, nor the better cover on the copy I have really convey either what the book is about or really anything that might grab my interest. The title "Hidden in Plain Sight," makes sense when you read the book, but the sub-title "Seven Old Things That Can Make Your Life New," turns me off more than it turns me on... I'm sure the publishers have test-marketed and focused grouped this and there's probably a sub-section of the church going public who will love it as-is, but...

Anyway, what looks at first to be a pretty normal kind of "live the Christian life to the Full!" book seems to actually be something different. A discussion of seven virtues found in the Petrine Epistles, their resonance and place in the Christians life, interspersed with writing on the life of Peter, juxtaposing what we know about Peter from the Gospels and Acts with what he writes later in life.

"The Spirit of Jesus, the one who rescued us, lives in those who embrace Him. By His Spirit we are made new. But that Spirit does not work out of thin air. He does not conjure newness and wholeness out of mere wishful thinking or stern lecturing. God is a God of means, and one of the chief means He uses are disciplines we embrace and practice. We walk a path of fellowship and worship, humility and attentiveness. We soak ourselves in the Word, ground ourselves in prayer, place ourselves in community. The Spirit takes these things, meagre as they are, and works miracles from them. He receives our few loaves and fishes and multiplies them a thousand-fold. But first we bring our loaves and fishes. This book is about bringing those loaves and fishes- seven, to be exact. It's about seven God-given disciplines so the Spirit can multiply our small effort into more than we can ak or imagine. It's about seven seeds we plant and cultivate so the spirit can bear much fruit in us and through us. It's about seven gifts the bride brings to her dowry and then the Bridegroom uses to perfect her. It's about seven virtues."

As I say, I thought this might sit on my shelf until I was ready to preach through 1st and/or 2nd Peter. Now I'm thinking I'd like to read this...
Even more, I'm thinking of a number of people I might give this book to- those people who are on the middle lane spiritually- definitely past the beginning stuff, needing something a bit meatier to chew on, but who may not make it through something like Willard. I love that he grounds this in a journey through some biblical books as well...

Check it out: Hidden in Plain Sight: The Secret of More

Valentines gift for/from pastors!

Ok... so I just received (full disclosure-for review) the perfect pastor's Valentines gift. That is, perfect whether you are the pastor giving it or receiving it.

What could it be, you ask?

It's My Lover Is Mine: Words And Images Inspired by the Ancient Love Poetry of Solomon.

Words directly from Scripture? Sensual (yet not explicit or prurient) artwork/images? This is a book a pastor can feel downright good about giving as a Valentines (or anniversary, or "just because" gift) to his or her spouse and rest in the knowledge that
1. It will increase their knowledge of Scripture (well, one book of it, at least)
and
2. It will increase their knowledge of each other (in the...uh... "biblical" sense)

And okay, it's probably good for other bible-interested lovers besides just pastors, as well :)

Check it out (Valentine's Day is coming soon!):

living Spirituality...

"As a result of what is too often the large gap between words and actions, some have become extremely suspicious of whether there is even a link between the words Christian and spirituality. In engaging with those who call themselves Christians, they observe hollow and superficial ideologies and practical lives that fail to reflect the face of Christ. A lamentable lack of the reality of love, of authenticity, and the "real" become reasons for avoiding all things and people labeled Christian. This skeptical and increasingly cynical audience still seeks after spirituality, but it begins to abandon any conception of the compatibility of Christian and spirituality.
The more a church functions as an institution preaching its own survival, the less opportunity there is for people to hear the gospel, to experience community life, or to find a loving spiritual home. Entertainment may be there, and the double negative: all or none of the answers to life's important questions could be there, but the reality of holistic, interactive and interpretive living spirituality is acutely absent. Cold, mechanical, forced religiosity or warm, fuzzy superficiality will rightly bring forth suspicion, apathy, ad rejection by those who have valid concerns about what is authentic and true.
Even as Christians today desperately strive for the authentic, they have never been so captured by that which is inauthentic. Thwarted by "shopping" and "shuffle" spirituality, cultural materialism, and the syrupy sweetness of comfortable idealism, living spirituality becomes a mirage, and Christian crediblility wanes."

Living Spirituality

I've begun reading Living Spirituality: Illuminating the Path, which (full disclosure) was sent to me for review...

The author, Dr. Gregory Laughery lives and teaches at L'Abri Fellowship in Switzerland. I've been fairly curious about L'Abri since reading Francis Schaeffer waaaay back when, and one of our elders, Sarah, spent some time there a couple of years back... so it's good to get a taste of what they are about.

And at first reading... I like it.

A couple of thoughts on the beginning of this book.

First, you can tell that this man doesn't live in the States, and probably hasn't in awhile. It's kind of that same feeling you get when you are listening to someone speak and something strikes you as different but you can't quite put your finger on it... and then realize they're Canadian and suddenly the slight accent comes into focus. Or when you are listening to Sufjan Stevens for awhile and trying to figure out why his music feels different than many others'... and you realize one day: it's the total and complete lack of irony. The irony which so pervades our society is missing (blessedly so) from Sufjan.

In the same way, reading Laughery is like listening to someone whose accent you can't quite place- it's just different from much of what comes out of evangelical Christian publishing. It's rare to find something at once both accessible and yet slightly challenging in both language and concept. Usually things fall into the ditch on one side of the road or the other...

Second, this is the book I wish Spencer had written with A Heretic's Guide to Eternity. Laughery's book begins with a discussion of spiritualities around us and presents the reality of the situation: "the rising attraction to cultural and non-Christian forms of spirituality on the one hand, and the impoverishment of Christian spirituality on the other."
And unlike A Heretic's Guide, Laughery doesn't necessarily speak favorably of alternative spiritualities, but for some reason (maybe this is my own personal, emotional bias towards L'Abri), I can hear him say things about "spiritualities that lead to death" and not immediately have my Evang-o-meter start blaring. Maybe it's the stories he tells about the seekers who make their way to L'Abri... there's something in that community that gives them the ability to both attract and challenge those seeking God. I want our community to be like that...

Probably the best of this so far is that he makes statements which resonate deeply with what the emerging/missional church is all about... both the desire to see spirituality be living and holistic and the desire to root that spirituality in the person of Jesus Christ Himself.

A sample: "Living spirituality is a holistic project of affirming life over death. That is, its concerns are diverse and its dialogues many. It goes beyond close-minded exclusivism that sees spirituality as merely a matter that is unrelated to the arts, ecology, music, politics, all facets of life.
Living spirituality explores the intraction between humans and the Spirit of God- with both receiving adequate attention. it is centered on theology, not merely anthropology, psychology or sociology; although each of these are valid considerations concerning the spiritual life. It applies to being and becoming holy; to discovering the truth of God in relation and distinction and all this means; to integrating biblical ideas and culture where possible; and to the necessity of going beyond ourselves- transcending self and finding a new self in recognition of the God who has graciously revealed Himself."

and

"Again, I am not saying that we can or should ignore our feelings. They can often be indicators of a deep longing for love, accurate suspicion and the quest for hope. But neither should we be enslaved to feelings, because they can also deceive us. Therefore, it is important to be able to check them for trustworthiness. To do so we need to be in personal and community dialogue with God, the crucified and risen Christ, the Spirit, the biblical text, other people in community and the world in which we live."

and

"Living and true spirituality therefore is deeply rooted in following Jesus. Walking through the gateway is essential. To follow the crucified and risen one is not a matter of giving a performance, reciting a mantra, or having a religious inclination or feeling. First and foremost, it is a matter of the whole person acknowledging and then bowing before the God who is there, accepting Christ as Lord and Savior, and then receiving the gift of the Spirit."

He's not saying anything others haven't said before- at least so far... but the feeling I'm getting as I read this is that it's something I've been looking for for awhile... something to sink my teeth into that isn't just mental (like much of theology today) and isn't just emotional (like much of evangelicalism today) but lives at the sweet spot of intersection bewteen the two: spiritual, in the best sense of the word.

I don't think this book will be huge... it's just not going to be marketed like that. But it may very well be important to a number of people, maybe even for me.

Check it out:

mystery...

"We talk a lot about the mystery of God, but is God really the greatest mystery we grapple with? Hasn't He revealed to us everything we need to know about Him?Hasn't He already told us His plan for humanity, His desire to be in relationship with us, and how He restored us to Himself through the Cross? Granted, many things about God will remain a mystery, but He will not keep from us the things that are critical to our lives. He has revealed all we need to know about His grace and glory and purpose.
God's nature is not the greatest mystery we face. The greatest mystery we face is our own nature- our struggle with our humanity, our inconsistencies and our insecurities. The most perplexing mystery is not understanding who God is, but why we do the things we do."

-Tim King and Frank Martin, Furious Pursuit: Why God Will Never Let You Go

BreakOut Churches- the book some of you may be looking for...

I was given more than a year ago the book Breakout Churches: Discover How To Make The Leap.

Being in the middle of starting a church, I didn't see it as very applicable to my current context and shelved it...

My big project over the holidays was culling my library and one of the books I'm preparing to sell on Amazon is Breakout Churches. Someone purchased it, but the payment is delayed, so I took the opportunity to crack it open this morning- now about halfway through it, I'm really glad I did and even more, I'm realizing it's probably a book many of you who come to bob.blog might appreciate.

I'm not sure who all you readers are- but there seem to be more and more of you. And I'm not sure why you read this blog, but my suspicion is that some come because of a desire of a feeling of being "stuck" in a pretty conventional church situation, a desire to read about this emerging church thing, and a hope that maybe there's something to this that might help you?

Not sure about that, but...

What I like about this book is that it intentionally eschews talking about the Andy Stanleys and Rick Warrens. In fact- there's nary a giga-church in the bunch. Just a lot of talk about what it takes to move a declining church towards something different- what elements of leadership are present in churches that get stuck, but then overcome that stuckness? What moves them from Good (or used-to-be-good or even not-so-good-at-all) to Great?

Some summary statements about the author's findings in looking at more than 40,000 churches- what are some things that they found made a difference, not in explosive, personality-driven growth, but in turning a church around from a long, slow decline back towards health?...

Furious Pursuit...

Tonight, my wife's family is here for the holidays... they're all down in the playroom right now, and I'm in my office doing some puttering. I picked up a book I was sent for review and cracked it open...

"Actually, weariness may not be the best word for what we experience from time to time. Let's call it a nagging sense that all is not right between God and us. We sense that our faith should be stronger, that our resolve should be more resolute, that our lives should be more in tune with God's will. And that we should be closer to God than we so often feel.
We speak of God's merciful love and our complete joy in having found it, yet deep in our souls we sense a strange divorce between our faith and our hearts. We can no longer deny the dark chasm that separates what we say about God from what we so often experience. There seems to be an identity crisis between the God we know and the God we profess to know."

There's something about a book that puts the deep, deep thoughts of your heart into words on a page... a book that makes you say "Me too!"

Think I might have to read this book...
Furious Pursuit: Why God Will Never Let You Go

books roundup

Some books I've received for review recently, haven't quite gotten to yet but wanted to make sure I mention...

I actually started Divine Nobodies: Shedding Religion to Find God (and the unlikely people who help you) and was really enjoying it before I got sidetracked... if you are a fan of Donald Miller, I think you should check this one out...

Others-

Furious Pursuit: Why God Will Never Let You Go

Scot McKnight blurbed on this thusly: "“The message of this book can’t be stated often enough: God loves us. Oh yes, he does. Furious Pursuit shows us that God’s love is active and vibrant and on the chase for you and me. Others have said this before, but Furious Pursuit takes us one step further.”

Bring Your Vision to Life: The Guide to Turning "What If?" into Reality

From the Amazon description:"Have you been postponing your passions for a life of reasonable routine? Do you dream of something greater for yourself and others? Are you tired of ending another day knowing that you were meant for something better? Whether small or large, your dreams can begin today. That's the premise of Bring Your Vision to Life. This book will help you explore your recurring wishes of how things could be that, if fulfilled, would make a significant difference in your life and the lives of others. It takes you on a twenty-five day journey through the concrete process of identifying, managing, and achieving a vision. Bring Your Vision to Life asks the question, "what is your vision?" knowing that if you can narrow your deepest God-given desires down to their essence, and plan for their realization, you can bring them to life"

Living Spirituality: Illuminating the Path

From the Amazon Desciption: "At a time when the subject of spirituality means everything, yet nothing, Dr. Gregory J. Laughery offers us a deeply insightful and profound theological meditation that aims to illuminate and clarify the truly spiritual life. Challenging us to think seriously about our orientations towards life or towards death, Laughery perceptively relocates spirituality on the map of Scripture and leads us through it on the journey to our destiny. This bold and thought provoking book will capture our souls, confront our preconceived ideas, and direct our lives to the core of living spirituality."

the adventure of home...

I got stood up for lunch last Thursday (Stephen Black!!!), so I used the time to start Peter Rollins' How (Not) to Speak of God . I was sent this for review and it's been on the pile for a few weeks...

But there's more and more talk about the book- Tony Jones sings its praises, Scott B has some good thoughts here and here.

I'll tell you right off the bat- the guy can write and the guy has things to say. Too early to tell whether I'm down completely, but this has stuck in my head for days...

In the intro, Rollins describes a G.K. Chesterton story where the hero sets off on a yacht from England, only to get turned around, land back on England's shore, but for some reason believes he's discovered a new country. Chesterton said that if you thought the man's primary emotion was feeling foolish, then you don't really get him.

Rollins:
"The hero of Chesterton's allegory overcomes any sense of follishness with a profound joy, as he is in the unique position to experience the wonder and fear associated with discovering something new alongside the comfort and security of having come home."

It's a great picture, and it occured to me... the vast majority of people I look at when I look out at the evergreen community, at least those for whom evergreen really "works" would probably describe that as their feeling in finding our community. Wonder and fear at finding something new/heading off into some uncharted territory and a comfort at being home.

I for one, love that feeling...

Complementarity Without Hierarchy...

I picked up a book I've been looking to get for awhile (thanks to a gift card for the Western Seminary bookstore from my friend John Johnson!)

Discovering Biblical Equality: Complementarity Without Hierarchy by Pierce and Groothius.

This looks to be an encyclopedic treatment of the subject and a serious companion/rejoinder to Piper and Grudem's book, Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism (it's funny- with the former, they've clearly copied the style of the latter- the two look like they belong together on the shelf... very, uh... complementary)

I know that until I committed to rethinking the issue, I had never picked up and read (that I remember) anything on the issue other than texts by Complementarians. Why would I? What I had been taught was the biblical position and so reading anything else from any other point of view was simply a waste of time... and in the back of mind, a dangerous playing with "liberalism."
Of course reading books like Sumner's Men and Women in the Church: Building Consensus on Christian Leadership, and Webb's Slaves, Women & Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis showed me that nothing could be further from the truth.

So, here's my request to all the Complementarians out there. This is HUGE issue for the church right now, and is only going to get bigger in the coming years. One of the problems with debate in the church is that so few accurately understand much less represent the views of those they are in debate with.

I think you owe it to yourself to understand this issue from a variety of perspectives. Owning and actually a reading a book from a perspective other than your own (I know many have done this... this advice is for those who were like me and studiously avoided it...) will be good for you.

Will you commit this next year to doing a bit of reading on this subject? From a perspective other than your own? Even if your views remain unchanged, your understanding of the issue can only be enhanced, along with your empathy for those on the other side of the debate.

quote: The Real Mary

Chris Leo has this good quote from Scot McKnight's just released The Real Mary:

"...Why write a book about Mary? Because the real Mary always leads us to Jesus. When we discover the real Mary, the one who lived in first-century Galilee with Joseph, who I believe nurtured other children, and who struggled at times herself, we also discover someone we can embrace because Mary embraced her son as we are called to do. When you find the real Mary of Scripture, the Mary of the first century, you'll discover that she'll be talking about Jesus and pointing us all to Jesus."

The Real Mary...

Just in time for Advent comes Scot McKnight's The Real Mary...

From the Amazon page:

From Publishers Weekly: In this slim, engaging volume, McKnight (Protestant author of The Jesus Creed) makes the case that the real Mary of the Bible has been hijacked by theological controversies. He begins by noting that Mary has been seen by turns as a compliant "resting womb," a damaging stereotype of passivity, a Christmas figure and a source of "reaction formation" by Protestants, as well as the mother of Jesus. "The real Mary is no offense to Protestants, but rather a woman for us to honor," he insists, envisioning her as an impoverished, bold, gutsy woman of faith. He also portrays her as neither goddess nor supersaint, but as the mother of God. McKnight lends interesting cultural context to Mary's simple and courageous words, "let it be," and unpacks the Magnificat as a song of protest and revolution. He poignantly portrays Mary's gradual knowledge that her son would not be the triumphant king envisioned as Messiah, and makes a somewhat controversial case for Mary having other children. His sections on the immaculate conception and Mary as mediatrix in prayer should help debunk some Protestants' false impressions of Catholic belief. McKnight's lucid, sometimes humorous, conversational style makes this an accessible book for a wide pool of evangelical readers.

Repeat: Read Sumner...

This is a repeat blog post- many of you are coming here looking for the latest discussion on Driscoll. I want to encourage you, whatever your position on women in leadership is- read Sarah Sumner's book. It has something in it for everyone :)

Scot McKnight is blogging Sarah Sumner's Men and Women in the Church

You really should read this book...

But start here with Scot's discussion (89 comments so far!!). And here.

Sumner's book (along with Webb) was instrumental in the discussion our elders had during the first year of evergreen's existence on the issue of women in leadership in the church (I know some of you reading this don't understand why this would be an issue... I'm sorry- I don't have time to explain it all right now, but it's NOT because the church is backwards and hates women... though that description does fit a good number of institutions). It really helped us to solidify our position.

So...Here's the deal- even if you think you have your position on women's roles in the churches all figured out and don't feel the need to do any reading on the subject, can I suggest that you read Sumner? A couple of reasons...

1. You probably never read a book on women's roles that was written by a woman who is at least twice as smart as you.
2. You probably never read a book on complementarianism/egalitarianism that took both to the woodshed
3. You don't have it nearly as figured out as you think you do...

So- read Sumner's book. If it doesn't change you at least you will be much, much more knowledgeable on the subject, and you'll understand where communities like evergreen are coming from when we say we really aren't either complementarian or egalitarian.

And if you won't read the book, at least read this post

The Great Giveaway...

"As I have interacted with various members of these [emerging church] groups, however, I have noticed on the one hand a propensity to react against evangelicalism's modernity with versions of Christianity that look similar to classic Protestant liberalism. On the other hand, some emergent and/or self-described postmodern churches look like more extreme versions of self-expressivist evangelicalism. They repeat the drive of earlier evangelicalism itself to be new, innovative, free from history, and experiential. I fear if we're not careful, all of this could lead to the same self-indulgent accomodative Christianity we lament today. And so amidst these developments, I discern a need to define what it means to be the church. Several folk in this group make admirable attempts to bring back liturgy and mystery into our church practices. Many seek to revive community. For me, these are significant moves in the right direction. Nonetheless, I believe the movement will fail if we do not reinvigorate an ecclesiology for our times." -David E. Fitch, The Great Giveaway

Scot McKnight blogging Sumner's Men and Women in the Church

Scot McKnight is blogging Sarah Sumner's Men and Women in the Church

You really should read this book...

But start here with Scot's discussion (89 comments so far!!). And here.

Sumner's book (along with Webb) was instrumental in the discussion our elders had during the first year of evergreen's existence on the issue of women in leadership in the church (I know some of you reading this don't understand why this would be an issue... I'm sorry- I don't have time to explain it all right now, but it's NOT because the church is backwards and hates women... though that description does fit a good number of institutions). It really helped us to solidify our position.

So...Here's the deal- even if you think you have your position on women's roles in the churches all figured out and don't feel the need to do any reading on the subject, can I suggest that you read Sumner? A couple of reasons...

1. You probably never read a book on women's roles that was written by a woman who is at least twice as smart as you.
2. You probably never read a book on complementarianism/egalitarianism that took both to the woodshed
3. You don't have it nearly as figured out as you think you do...

So- read Sumner's book. If it doesn't change you at least you will be much, much more knowledgeable on the subject, and you'll understand where communities like evergreen are coming from when we say we really aren't either complementarian or egalitarian.

And if you won't read the book, at least read this post

Spencer...

Spencer Burke, author of A Heretic's Guide to Eternity, and I are going to talk on the phone on Monday.

Let's say you had the chance to talk to Spencer (and you actually probably do. He seems to be talking to everyone!!), what would you ask Spencer? How would you word it?

Let me know in the comments below...

Oh Spencer, Pt 2

(The first part of my thoughts on Spencer's book can be found here)

I simply cannot believe what I am reading.

I've picked up A Heretic's Guide to Eternity again (don't think I'll link to this any more...)

Oh my sweet... It just keeps getting worse.
Spencer!

The second of three sections starts with some reality checks for the church. Okay- I'm always up for a few of those. Kind of a hobby for me, you could say. These "reality checks" are things like "pluralism" and people finding spiritual input from places other than "the Church" like... The Simpsons or films ike What Dreams May Come. Gotcha. This is reality.

But it's in these "reality checks" that I think we start to get a sense not just of where Spencer is coming from, but perhaps why. He makes this jaw-dropping statement: "Today, the church just doesn't have that kind of control. It may still offer catechism classes, 'discipleship' courses, and Christian maturity growth tracks in an effort to exert some control over the spiritual formation of congregants, but the reality..."

Hold up. Say what now?

Did he say "in an effort to exert some control over the spiritual formation of congregants"???

from Exiles

"How did the contemporary church get to be like this? How did we end up with armies of church leaders who resemble corporate executives and act as if church is a global business? How is it that the subversive, radical nature of the life of Jesus has been so domesticated that we find ourselves in our current position, with Christians living in ghettos and losing touch with our most dangerous memories?... We have preferred the adorable alabaster Jesus to the flesh-and-blood radical Messiah. We have imprisoned Him in a stained-glass cell and want only to worship Him, never to follow Him."

-Michael Frost, Exiles

Colossians Remixed...

We begin a series on Colossians this Sunday, walking verse by verse through Paul's letter to the community of Jesus followers at the Greek city of Colossae.

To prepare, I'm reading Brian Walsh and Sylvia Keesmaat's Colossians Remixed:Subverting the Empire

In it, they wonder what would happen if a letter like this was written to us today, at the beginning of the new millennium? What if we took the exact same themes that Paul wrote to them (believers in Colossae) then, and wrote them to us (Believers in Western society), now? They say:

"This isn’t such a novel way of approaching an ancient text. In fact, when rabbis read the Torah to the Jews of the Diaspora, they did precisely this kind of thing. Recognizing that their congregations did not understand Hebrew, the rabbis would have to translate the text as they read. And their translations were not literal. Rather, they would update the text, apply it to the changing context and put it into contemporary idiom. The result of such interepretive exercises were called targums, extended paraphrases on the text."

Here's their targum, their paraphrase for today of Col 1:1-14, our text for this week...
Rehearing Colossians 1.1–14 in the Context of Disquieted Globalism

Brian and Sylvia, disciples of Messiah Jesus by the grace of God, to the covenanted community of faithful brother and sisters in Christ in the totally wired world of the new global economy.

Oh, Spencer...

Spencer, you're killing me here...

(Warning- this started off as a short, breezy commentary on a couple things from Spencer's book. A few hours later, my fingers are tired from typing and I'm cussing. Read on at your own risk and don't say I didn't warn you. I didn't intend to open up a can of Driscoll, but...)

Still reading a Heretics Guide to Eternity. Still not liking what I'm reading. I can see where this seems to be going, and it frustrates me. It frustrates me because I spend a lot of time arguing with schismatics that the emerging church is not rife with heresy and heretics (in the actual non-cool meaning of the word), and those same schismatics are going to make hay with this book...

I realize that's not Spencer's fault. He's just honestly trying to describe his ideas. But at this point, with all the criticism of the emerging church and the inability of the critics to differentiate between individuals and the whole, Spencer's book equals a whole lot of 'splainin' for a whole lot of us... A lot of us who see good in the emerging church, but definitely do not reside in its outer reaches of doctrinal revisionism. Yes- there are some who have lost the plot, who seem to have come up with some creative reasons why we don't need to make disciples of all nations. But they don't describe the vast majority of us who are trying to contextualize salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ for a postmodern, post-Christendom world.

More on the book itself-

Two ways to ruin a word...

I'm reading an advance copy of Spencer Burke's Heretic's Guide to Eternity, and though I'm not very far into it, I wanted to make a point about language...

There are two great ways to ruin a useful word.

quote of the day...

From Michael Frost's (so far excellent) Exiles:

"Which are the Christian community's most dangerous stories? Surely they are the stories of the Incarnate One. The stories in the Gospels, far from being soothing bedtime stories for baptized children, are the most dangerous element of Christian experience. They are radical, daring, unsettling, disturbing, even frightening. Our memories of God's human manifestation will continue to peturb us, inviting us to an alternative set of values that transcends our normal allegiance to post- Christendom society. The Gospels are replete with stories that shake us out of our preference for the level-headed, reasonable memories that the church often presents to us. Jesus is not level-headed, nor is He reasonable. Just when we imagine we have Him figured out and boxed in, he wriggles free, confounding our formulas and simplistic explanations. Let's face it: the Gospels aren't bedtime stories at all. Far from sending us drifting off to a carefree sleep, they trouble us, forcing us to reassess the deals we have done with the spirit of this age."

You should get this book... :)
Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture

magic...

Every once in awhile, the movie studios all get the SAME EXACT IDEA.

"Let's make a movie about.... A giant asteroid!" And so three movies about giant asteroids hurtling toward earth...

"Let's make a movie about... A volcano!" And so Pierce Brosnan races Tommy Lee Jones to the lava flow.

Next up?

Actually, (finally!) a positive confluence... similarly themed, but oh so better than generic disaster picks and big budget eye candy.

Old time magicians!

Now, before you shout "next" and click on to the next blog, hear me out...
Check these-

The Illusionist:

"A supernatural mystery that combines romance, politics and magic, The Illusionist is the latest film from the producers of the Oscar winners Crash and Sideways. The film stars Academy Award nominees Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti as two men pitted against each other in a battle of wits."

And then in October...

The Prestige:

"From acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan (“Memento,” “Batman Begins”), comes a mysterious story of two magicians whose intense rivalry leads them on a life-long battle for supremacy full of obsession, deceit and jealousy with dangerous and deadly consequences. Bale and Jackman will play rival magicians in turn-of-the-century London who battle each other for trade secrets. The rivalry is so intense that it turns them into murderers."

Yeah! Love stuff like this...

One of my favorite books recently was Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, a book about... old time magicians!

And... I was in Powell's recently (Biggest Bookstore in America! And one of the best perks of living in P-Town) and picked up, by chance, a novel called Carter Beats the Devil... about an old-time magician caught up in the death of Warren G Harding. I am loving this book. And since you can get used copies on Amazon for $.68, maybe you should check it out too...

Helpful and not so...

From Driscoll's Confessions...

Helpful:

"I hit a particularly low point one day when a young couple knocked on the door of our home... We considered them friends until they came over to tell us they had left the church. They complained that since the church had grown a bit bigger and things were a bit busier, my wife and I had become less available to them...
We were stunned. We needed couples like this to help the church survive, not jump ship just because my wife could not drop everything to take this woman out to tea whenever was convenient for her. The odd thing was that they transferred to a megachurch in the suburbs, which made no sense because they would get no closer to that pastor and his wife than they had to Grace and me. Yet they knocked on our door unannounced to tell us we were not doing enough for them. It seemed obvious that they wanted us to bend over backward and promise to do anything to make them happy in order to keep them in the church...
In retrospect, this was a hard lesson, one that I have had to learn many times in the various seasons of our church. As a church grows, it also changes. And as a church changes, so does the accesibility of the pastor and his family. As the pastor gets busier with new people and responsibilities, some people are displaced and are not as close to the pastor as they had been. Displaced people are prone to expect the pastor to ensure that their access to him and his family will never change. If the pastor agrees to these demands, he will keep the disgruntled people but not reach any new people because the mission will shift from reaching the new people to pleasing the old people."

A good differentiation to keep in mind, I think...

Not so helpful:

"We continued to meet on Sunday nights until Christmas, when some of the arty types started complaining that there was a preaching monologue instead of an open dialogue, as would become popular with some emerging pastors a few years later. This forced me to think through my theology of preaching, spiritual authority, and the authority of Scripture. I did an intense study of the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament commans regarding preaching and teaching. In the end, I decided not to back off from a preaching monologue but instead work hard at becoming a solid long-winded, old-school Bible preacher that focused on Jesus. My people needed to hear from God's Word and not from each other in collective ignorance like some dumb chat room."

There are so many false antitheses here, I hardly know where to start. How about a quote from DA Carson, well-known critic of the emerging church? What was it he said? Oh yeah... "Damn all false antitheses to hell, for they generate false gods, they perpetuate idols, they twist and distort our souls, they launch the church into violent pendulum swings whose oscillations succeed only in dividing brothers and sisters in Christ."

Preach it D.A.!

Let me say this strongly-

New Frost book coming out...

If you've spent any time at all around the ol' bob.blog, you have probably read my ravings about "The Shaping of Thing To Come" by Frost and Hirsch...

(You really should read this book...)

I got an email from Mike Frost telling me about his new book that's coming out next month, Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture and while I haven't yet read it, I'm fairly sure I can recommend it :)

Here's the write up on Amazon:

Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture presents a biblical, Christian worldview for the emergent church—people who are not at home in the traditional church or in the secular world. As exiles of both, they must create their own worldview that integrates their Christian beliefs with the contemporary world. Exiles seeks to integrate all aspects of life and decision-making and to develop the characteristics of a Christian life lived intentionally within emerging (postmodern) culture. It presents a plea for a dynamic, life-affirming, robust Christian faith that can be lived successfully in the post-Christian world of twenty-first century Western society. This book will present a Christian lifestyle that can be lived in non-religious categories and be attractive to not-yet Christians.
Such a worldview takes ecology and politics seriously. It offers a positive response to the workplace, the arts, feminism, mystery and worship. Exiles seeks to develop a framework that will allow Christians to live boldly and courageously in a world that no longer values the culture of the church, but does greatly value many of the things the Bible speaks positively about. This book suggests that there us more to being a Christian than meets the eye. It explores the secret, unseen nooks and crannies in the life of a Christian and suggests that faith is about more than church attendance and belief in God. Written in a conversational, easy-to-read style, Exiles is aimed at church leaders, pastors and laypersons and seeks to address complex issues in a simple manner. It includes helpful photographs and diagrams.

Whoa- all that PLUS helpful photos and diagrams! :)

Seriously though- Mike Frost is one of the most articulate, most challenging, most thoroughly biblical writers on the missional church out there...

The new book is coming out in paperback, so it won't cost you an arm and a leg. Check it out when you get the chance:

prayer book...

Someone wrote asking me about the prayer book I take on my morning walks with me...
For years now I have been using two books, both by Kenneth Boa, both of which take Scripture and re-word it into 1st person prayers. They are both titled "Face to Face- Praying the Scriptures Back to God" and though Volume Two is my favorite, I love them both and highly recommend both...

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry Church...

Every person who is thinking through issues of Church and culture needs to read this book. Between doing nothing in culture and fighting unwinnable culture wars, Merrill finds a middle ground, a third way.
Especially helpful to me was the section on the mythical "good old days." Those who believe in the notion that America was once a "Christian Nation" and solving our problems means getting back to that place would do well to read this short, challenging, highly engaging book.

Da Vinci II: studio lines up the next blockbuster - Britain - Times Online

Link: Da Vinci II: studio lines up the next blockbuster - Britain - Times Online.

Angels and Demons was the reclusive author’s third novel after he gave up his job as an English teacher. It tells the story of Langdon’s brush with a shadowy secret society, the Illuminati, and his frantic quest for the world’s most powerful energy source, in the company of a beautiful Italian physicist whose father, a brilliant physicist, has been murdered. The formula may sound familiar to fans of The Da Vinci Code, his fourth book, which has become a publishing phenomenon, selling more than 45 million copies. It concerns Langdon’s brush with a shadowy secret society, Opus Dei, and his frantic quest for the Holy Grail in the company of a beautiful French cryptologist whose grandfather, the Louvre’s curator, has been murdered.

:)

We all have better things to do on Good Friday...

...than argue about books, but I'm trying to be more of a "do it and forget it" kind of guy, so here goes.

Got this in the ol' comment box:

Bob, it saddens me that you would actually consider using this book as part of official curriculum at your church. Just in reading the introduction it's clear that what Brian is presenting is not Christianity, it's neo-gnosticism. He's presenting a false gospel about a humble, marginalized, jewish peasant, not the glorified, resurrected king and creator. The idea alone that Brian has some-how managed to come up with something new, some "secret message" that for the last 2000 years we've all missed is absolutely absurd.

When did the church decide that it was no longer fashionable to call heretics what they are?

Briefly:
1. We have no official curriculum.

2. Having gotten about halfway through the book, I can confidently say this is, without a doubt Christianity and as far from "neo-gnosticism" as one could get.

Brian is not presenting secret knowledge as the key to salvation. He's explaining why Jesus spoke in parables. He's explaining the use of the words "secrets of the kingdom of heaven" that Jesus HIMSELF used.

3. The idea that we need to make a choice betwen seeing Jesus as "a humble, marginalized, jewish peasant" or "the glorified, resurrected king and creator" is a ridiculous false dichotomy. If you read the Gospels and don't see both, your eyes are closed.

4. Brian neither claims that he has "found" a new message or anything secret. He's simply saying what I'll bet you say all the time, Jon- evangelicalism has lost the plot when it comes to what Jesus was saying- minoring on the majors and vice versa.

"Heretic" is a nuclear bomb of a word, implying someone is not only going to hell, but dragging others with him. You should probably be careful about busting it out in so cavalier a manner.

the Secret Message of Jesus... 3

"The story is familiar: the religious and political-military powers collaborate and negotiate and reach an elegant final solution: Jesus will be crucified as a rebel. He will be nailed to a Roman cross- the visible symbol of the Roman principality and power, the instrument of torture and execution that is the end of all who stand up against Rome.

The crush Him and His movement. And it appears that Jesus has failed.

This is the scandal of the message of Jesus. The kingdom of God does fail. It is weak. It is crushed. When its message of love, peace, justice, and truth meets the principalities and powers of government and religion armed with spears and swords and crosses, they unleash their hate, force, manipulation, and propaganda. Like those defenseless students standing before tanks and machine guns in Tiananmen Square, the resistance movement known as the kingdom of God is crushed.

But what is the alternative? Could the kingdom of God come with bigger weapons, sharper swords, more clever political organizing? Could the kingdom of God be a matter of what is often called redemptive violence? Or would that mythology corrupt the kingdom of God so it would stop being "of God" at all and instead become just another earthly (and perhaps in some sense demonic) principality or power? Perhaps the kingdom could come with the flawless, relentless, irresistable logic- a juggernaut of steamroller counterarguments to flatten every objection. Or would that mental conquest be as dominating as military conquest, reducing the kingdom of God to a kingdom of coercive stridency?

What if the only way for the Kingdom of God to come in its tru form- as a kingdom "not of this world"- is through weakness and vulnerability, sacrifice and love? What if it can conquer only by first being conquered? What if being conquered is absolutely necessary to expose the brutal violence and dark oppression of these principalities and powers, these human ideologies and counter kingdoms- so they, having been exposed, can be seen for what they are and freely rejected, making room for a new and better kingdom? What if the kingdom of God must fail in these ways in order to succeed?

Perhaps at this moment, we are getting a brief and fragmentary glimpse into one of the deepest mysteries of the kingdom of God. In this light, perhaps the death and resurrection of Jesus shimmer as the most profound sign and wonder of all, showing the scandalous truth that no human system can be trusted, that all -isms are potentially demonic and idolatrous "graven idelogies."...
What if our only hope lies inthis impossible paradox: the only way the kingdomof God can be strong in a truly liberating way is through a scandalous, noncoercive kind of weakness; the only way it can be powerful is through astonishing vulnerability; the only way it can live is by dying; the only way it can succeed is by failing?"

In my opinion, this is absolutely some of the best writing Brian has ever done. This passage will, I'm thinking, serve as a wonderful introduction to our Good Friday service...

This pasage will also get Brian imself crucified (hopefully just metaphorically). In holding up one aspect of the atonement, he opens himself to those who will look for any excuse whatsoever to tear him down.

You know, it's not that I buy everything Brian sells, and it's not as though he doesn't make me raise an eyebrow now and again (he's appearing here in PDX later in conjunction with Marcus Borg. I think he'll be the most "conservative" guy on the stage, but I think it's a dengerous thing for him to do right now... and I think giving Borg the benefit of Brian's "fame" is a mistake...) But on the atonement issue, I think we have to be free to explore different facets of it without footnoting every single sentence will all the other facets so that those who wish us ill have no openings... that's just too much work.

But there's something else at work in this book , I think. I seem to see in the ways that Brian is describing Jesus and his methodologies, some insight into how and why Brian has conductied himself these last few years...

"Instead, he climbs out on a limb and hands them a saw, in parable teasing them, in overt statement taunting them, in public demonstration inviting them to retaliate, in provocative statement tempting them to misinterpret."

At any rate, you need to check this book out. It's good. I still haven't finished the New Kind of Christian trilogy, having gotten bogged down in book 2. There will be no bogs with The Secret Message of Jesus, I'm thinking...

Amazon reviews...

Ok... so who wants to help a brother out?

Here's a little dream of mine... to be a Top 1,000 reviewer on Amazon.

I've moved from the high 300,000's to just over 5,000.

But I could use some help.

Whaddaya think?

If you click here you can see all my reviews. If you click through to each, scroll down and find the review, you can click "yes."

As in "yes my review was helpful." All my reviews are helpful. You can just take my word on that...

Do as many as you have the patience for. Let me know you helped me out.
The first person who votes for every one of my reviews gets to name our next child, due May 5th.

So get votin'!!!

Luke Commentary

As I've been preaching through Luke, the two most helpful books/commentaries for me have been the Moody Gospel Commentary on Luke and NT (Tom) Wright's short little book, Luke For Everyone.

The Moody Commentary is scholarly, concise and utterly usable. It doesn't give me preaching points and illustrations nor does it get bogged down in the minute details. It simply provides clear, well written exegetical information, background and meaning. At this point, it's my go-to book when a chapter proves to be a tough nut to crack. The Moody Commentary rarely fails to give me not only good insight, but pretty unique insight as well. I find myself appreciating it's "take" on the Scriptures more than any other commentary I've picked up.

The Secret Message of Jesus... 2

I am seriously enjoying Brian's new book, The Secret Message of Jesus. I think this is going to become a staple of spiritual exploration groups for evergreen. There's a quality of Brian's writing and thought that's hard to describe, but even beyond that, he's doing a masterful job of describing the message and methodology of Jesus in way that this sem. grad is finding compelling, but that I'm also sure would connect with and be intriguing and accessible were I just starting out on the road to knowing Jesus. When this becomes available in paperback, I'm buying copies for our booktable.

Lots and lots of interesting quotes and thoughts, but here's one that grabbed me for a different reason:

"Again and again, Jesus seeks to lure covert systemic evil out of the shadows and into the light where it can be named, exposed, and expelled. He does so in a number of ways. Sometimes he directly confronts it- such as when he goes into the temple and turns over the money changers' tables, when he calls the religious leaders hypocrites and wolves disguised as sheep, or when he intentionally and publically heals someone on the Sabbeth, inviting the fury of the religious elite. Their violent and hateful reactions show their true character and confirm Jesus' assesment of them. Sometimes he makes ambiguous statements, easily misunderstood, exposing his neck, so to speak, to those who will take the chance to slit it-- such as when he said the temple would be destroyed and he would rebuild it in three days. His critics interpret his statements in the worst possible light and again, in their ugly response, show what they're made of and what drives them."

Hmmm... I wonder if Brian (intentionally or not) is talking about more than Jesus at this point...

The Secret Message of Jesus...

One of the defining moments of my "journey" was hearing Todd Hunter point out the fact that when Jesus preached the Gospel in Mark chapter 1 ("Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!"), he couldn't have been talking about the cross, a sacrifice, etc.

Now, those things may have become integral parts of the Good News, post the death/burial and resurrection of Jesus... but it was intriguing to me to start the process of asking; So what Good News did Jesus preach?

Brian McLaren's new book seems to be trying to answer that question. His stated goal is to produce an accessible book, one which someone who has questions about who Jesus was and what He said could pick up and benefit from.

But like Brian always does, he's going to challenge the paradigms of everyone who already has it all figured out.

So far, it's great.

"What if we have developed a religion that makes reverent and honoring statements about Jesus but doesn't teach what Jesus taught in the manner He taught it? What if the religion generally associated with Jesus neither expects nor trains its adherents to actualy live in the way of Jesus?"

Check it out...

Book Review: Men and Women in the Church

I loved this frustrating book, mainly because it challenged me. Our community worked through the issue of women in leadership and found this book an extreme help- I've bought it for my elders/pastors and recommended it to many people.

Sumner, with a high view of scripture, takes both the egalitarians (women can fill any role in the church/no difference whatsoever between the sexes) and the complementarians (women can fill any role in the church but pastor or elder/creation order determines roles) to task. Both sides have much to learn from this book.

Contrary to some reviews, it's not fuzzy. It's simply non-linear. I seriously doubt Sumner would consider herself a "postmodern," but in many ways she writes like one, introducing a subject, moving on to another relevent issue, circling back to the first subject... the book reads like a series of circles, but ultimately gets us where we need to be- a discussion of the biblical texts dealing with women in ministry. It was amazing to realize that something I was reading had been "set up" by something else 2 chapters earlier. I can see how if you want a straight-forward, scholarly approach this would be maddening, but it was one of the things that helped make this book so appealing to me.

This book was instrumental in helping me reassess my position on this issue. If you want a biblical framework for thinking through the issues of headship, women in leadership and interpretation of tough passages like 1 Timothy 2, this is an excellent book.

Too Christian, Too Pagan

This is a book you should check out...

The idea that Christians should somehow wall themselves off from the world is, thankfully, on the wane. This book provides a great vision for the way forward, a paradigm for truly being in the world, but not of it.

The problem, as Staub points out, is that when we really live as Christ did, we'll seem too pagan for "religious" people, and probably too Christian for the non-religious.

That's okay- the good news is that by being a true friend to non-Christian friends (not just someone who's being a friend in an effort to convert people, but also not a friend who never influences people spiritually) is what God really wants. Staub walks through the benefits and the pitfalls of this type of living and comes up with some real gems along the way.

cheerful, brainless tourists on a packaged tour of the Absolute...

"Why do we people in churches seem like cheerful, brainless tourists on a packaged tour of the Absolute?
...
"On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies' straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping God may wake someday and take offense or the waking God may draw us out to where we can never return."

Annie Dillard, Teaching A Stone to Talk

N.T. Wright on Jesus

"The longer you look at Jesus, the more you will want to serve Him in His world. That is, of course, if it's the real Jesus you're looking at. Plenty of people in the church and outside it have made up a 'Jesus' for themselves, and have found that this invented character makes few real demands on them. He makes them feel happy from time to time but doesn't challenge them, doesn't suggest they get up and do something about the plight of the world. Which is, of course, what the real Jesus had an uncomfortable habit of doing.

...In fact, the Gospels themselves, which set out to tell their readers about Jesus Himself, go about this task in such a way as to say to their readers: the ball is now in your court; the true Jesus is summoning you to follow Him to a life of discipleship."

-NT Wright, Following Jesus

Body Prayer

I'm in Hillsboro, getting ready to meet with our worship pastor, Rich. We meet on Tuesdays to connect, debrief last week, think about next week...

Anyway, I think I need to get him a copy of Doug's new book, Body Prayer (I received an advance copy a couple of days ago.. can I just say that- Doug, you remain my hero for oh, so many reasons!).
In looking it over, it appears to be a fantastic resource not only for one's private devotional life, but for an entire community. Each chapter is a different type of prayer, with a short explanation, an actual prayer and a "prayer posture"- a way to stand or gesture to use as you pray this particular prayer that will help you experience it and say it and pray it in a more tactile way.

I could see us (or communities like us) making great use of this book, praying in many different ways, with many different stances.

I think it would be a good resource to get for those in your communities who help craft the experiential elements...

check it out

Amazon reviews...

Doug had briefly posted a bit about reviews for his preaching book on Amazon. There weren't too many that had been written and I think he was (understandably) trying to stir up a bit of traffic. (He took it down, most likely because the negative comments were starting to pile up... sheesh- lighten up people!)

Anyway, this works well for me- My review of Preaching Re-imagined has now become a "spotlight" review and all the positive votes (boo to you 4 meanies out there) are propelling me ever closer to my goal of Amazon Top 1,000 Reviewer!

Want to help? Go here, and spend a few minutes clicking through the reviews, finding mine and voting "yes!"


It's my love language.





You want me to feel loved, don't you?

The Gospel According to Anne

The queen of the occult has been gone awhile. What's Anne Rice been up to? Getting healthy, finding God—and writing her most daring book yet...

In two weeks, Anne Rice, the chronicler of vampires, witches and—under the pseudonym A. N. Roquelaure—of soft-core S&M encounters, will publish "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt," a novel about the 7-year-old Jesus, narrated by Christ himself. "I promised," she says, "that from now on I would write only for the Lord." It's the most startling public turnaround since Bob Dylan's "Slow Train Coming" announced that he'd been born again...

more here

For Kelly... :)