Liberating you from bad ideas about God
I posted a review of “Washed and Waiting” by Wesley Hill last week. As part of the review, I invited people to comment on the post. Those who commented were entered a drawing for a free copy of the book.
The winner of the book is….”Flo.”
Thank you all for participating! Keep tuned for another chance at a free book later this week.
I did not want to read Finding our Way Again by Brian McLaren. It is part of “The Ancient Practices Series” of which, I have previously read two other books (the volumes on Pilgrimage and Sabbath). Neither one captivated me. So I didn’t expect much out of Brian McLaren’s introductory volume either. Besides, I have read numerous other books about spiritual disciples, spiritual formation, and ancient practices of mystics and monks, and found little that was helpful.
I was surprised, then, when I had trouble putting the book down. I tried to figure out why as I went along. It could be the short chapters. The book has twenty chapters, and most are only eight pages or so. Short chapters give me the feeling of progression and accomplishment, as well as offer information in bite-size pieces that I can grasp and grapple within the limited amount of reading time I have.
But the book was more than just short chapters. McLaren is a winsome writer. His style is readable, his ideas colorful, and his ability to explain difficult and dry subjects in imaginative ways is almost unmatched in modern Christian literature. He also writes with gentleness and respect, which is refreshing. Whenever he wants to say something challenging or controversial, he does not state it as fact, but asks questions about it. For example, on page 73, after writing some challenging ideas about heaven, hell, and life here on earth, he raises questions about the kingdom of God and the afterlife:
What if we realize that God cares about both this life and the afterlife, that for God, who is not a dualist, they are both just different facets of one reality called life? What if we realize that a phrase like kingdom of God can be understood to encompass both?
When he writes this way, it is hard to disagree with him, because he is not stating anything as fact. He is only asking questions to make the reader think. This method sounds quite similar to another famous teacher I know…
So am I going to start engaging in any ancient practices as a result of this book? Not exactly. I am not a big fan of the ancient practices because for me, they reek of religion. I am not about to start a fixed hour of prayer, a weekly fast, a regimented Sabbath, a sacred meal, or go on a pilgrimage. Yet, as I read how McLaren explained these various practices, I frequently experienced an “Ah-ha!” moment where I felt like I was looking myself in the mirror. I recognized something he was writing about as a practice I already perform in my own life to help me stay connected to God and to other people. His chapter on interpreting the practices in a missional way was among the best (Chapter 12).
The book encouraged me to see that the path I am on as I pursue a relationship with God and others although it often seems lonely and desolate has been walked by millions of Christians before. It may do the same for you.
Other than posting a short blurb on my 4000 books post, I usually do not review books unless they were given to me as review copies. But The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne deserves a blog post. I’m not sure yet if it will gain a place on my Burning Books list, but time will tell.
No matter what you believe about the role of Christians in society and culture, especially in regard to social issues like hunger, poverty, and war, Shane’s book will challenge you to think and act differently. It is the story of how he and some friends entered into one of the worst areas of Philadelphia to live out the love of Jesus among the people who were there. Shane gives plenty of examples about the things they have done and the lessons they have learned along the way.
For example, their community developed a statement of beliefs to show people that they were not a cult, but they also developed a statement of practices to show they were not just believers (p. 125). I would love to see this sort of thing adopted in churches everywhere. We have doctrinal statements, but how many of us have practical statements? If what you believe isn’t leading you to do something for others, what good is it? (That sounds a lot like James 2.) And of course, their community in Philly didn’t just write a statement of practices, they actually practice them. That’s important too.
Here are some of the other ideas that challenged me:
Not everyone is going to agree with Shane, his beliefs, or his practices. There were several things he said and did in the book that made me quite uncomfortable. Like the time they went and threw $10,000 worth of coins onto the sidewalks of Wall Street to make a point about greed (pp. 188-189). I’m still not sure what was accomplished, and it seemed a somewhat wasteful way of using $10,000.
I highly recommend this book. And I, for one, am going to do more than just read it. I am going to start trying to live the Kingdom of God ideas it contains. Read this book. Let Shane challenge you to change.
I’ve read Mark Batterson‘s other two books, In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day, and Wild Goose Chase, and I think both were better than Soulprint. It might just be that I’m a little tired of hearing about how to discover my divine destiny. It seems that ever since Rick Warren published The Purpose Driven Life, every pastor out there is preaching sermons and every Christian author is writing books about discovering who God made you to be and how to live accordingly.
It’s not that I disagree. I believe that each one of us is uniquely created by God to fulfill some purpose within His plan for the world. We are not to copy someone else, but are to learn who God made us to be and how we can live our lives within His Kingdom. Mark Batterson did a good job explaining this concept. And I really appreciated his explanation that there are different seasons in life, and we must be content with the season we are in (p. 25).
The strength of Soulprint is that each chapter is based on an event from the life of David. I like it when books do this, because even if I get bored with the book, I still feel like I’m learning something about Scripture. But other than this, I just couldn’t get into the book. It didn’t help that it is another book written by a popular and powerful megachurch pastor. I really struggle with most of these books since it seems that once the authors get to where they are, they forget the struggles and pain that all of us “lesser” people are dealing with. Most of the stories and illustrations in such books deal with how to handle crowds of adoring fans, multi-million dollar budgets, and rich CEOs who try to push your church around. That just doesn’t connect with where most of us are at.
So if you have never read any “find your divine destiny” books, you could start with this one. Otherwise, I recommend you just move on to actually living out who God has made you to be.
Please Rank this review:
FTC Disclaimer: I was given a free review copy of this book by Multnomah Press.
Imagine if you were a young girl, ripped away from your family, and taken to a foreign country where you were repeatedly raped, 30 or 40 times per day, for months and years on end. How would you handle this?
Tragically, that is the story for millions of young girls around the world.
More than Rice by Pamala Kennedy Chestnut follows the story of one young girl named Gabriela from her abduction in Manila, to a brothel in Malaysia where she is housed with dozens of other girls who are forced into sex slavery. Like other books in this genre, many of the events in the book are painful to read, and will bring feelings of horror and shame at the thought of such things happening to young girls, some as young as 7 or 8.
The story is riveting, fast-paced, and worth reading. I do, however, have one complaint: The story has a happy ending…almost a fairy-tale ending. I know that is an odd thing to complain about. We should all want happy endings for these girls. But I just fear that it did not paint a realistic picture of what happens to the vast majority of girls who are trapped in sex slavery. Most end up as addicts, in prison, or in an early grave.
Of course, the happy ending is only because there were people who cared enough to get involved. So maybe that is the way to read the book. There are millions of girls living in nightmares around the world, but you and I can help rescue them if just do something. And that was ultimately the challenge of the book, as the last several pages include various statistics, organizations, and websites which will provide more information and help you get involved.
So if you want to learn more about the plight of these young girls, and what you can start doing to help rescue them, I recommend this book.
To learn more about Human Trafficking and sex slavery, check out some of these posts: