The ruthless elimination of hurry (book)

I finished John Mark Comer's The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World the other day. It was a good read, though maybe a tad bit of a stretch on the title tag-line. Still, this is the stuff my life has been about for awhile now. There is a lot of good information, and not just a few quotables. Here is some of what I underlined and want to remember from the book...

(4) "Why am I in such a rush to become somebody I don't even like?  It hits me like a freight train: in America you can be a success as a pastor and a failure as an apprentice to Jesus; you can gain a church and lose your soul.  I don't want this to be my life..."

(6) "What if I changed my life?"

(23) In his book 'Three Mile an Hour God,' the late Japanese theologian Kosuke Koyama put this language around it: "God walks 'slowly' because he is love. If he is not love he would have gone much faster. Love has a speed. It is an inner speed. It is a spiritual speed. It is a different kind of speed from the technological speed to which we are accustomed. It is 'slow' yet it is lord over all other speeds since it is the speed of love."

(31) "...before Edison (invented the light bulb in 1879) the average person slept eleven hours a night."

(35) This whole section "When the history books are written, they will point to '07 as an inflection point on par with 1440.  And, 1440, of course, was the year Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, which set the stage for the Protestant Reformation and the Enlightenment, which together transformed Europe and the world.  And 2007? Drumroll . . . The year Steve Jobs released the iPhone into the wild.  Note: it was also a few months after Facebook opened up to anybody with an email address, the year a microblogging app called Twitter became its own platform, year one of the cloud, along with the App Store, the year Intel switched from silicon to metal chips to keep Moore's law on a roll, and a list of other technological breakthroughs - all right around 2007, the official start date of the digital age."

(37) "...slot machines make more money than the film industry and baseball combined, even though they take only a quarter at a time. Because the slot machine is addictive..."

(39) "Reminder: Your phone doesn't actually work for you. You pay for it, yes. But it works for a multibillion-dollar corporation in California, not for you. You're the customer; you're the product. It's your attention that's for sale, along with your peace of mind. . . . "Never get high on your own supply." . . . "continuous partial attention" is our new normal (Microsoft researcher Linda Stone).

(46) Great story about some African jungle tribesmen who refused to leave too soon because "They are waiting 'for their souls to catch up with their bodies.'" (see whole section)

(47) "...hurry is a form of violence on the soul."

(48-51) Ten Symptoms of Hurry Sickness

(69) Peter Scazzero's line: "We find God's will for our lives in our limitations."

(70) "'No' is a complete sentence." (Anne Lamott)

(71) "...the average guy spends ten thousand hours playing video games by age twenty-one."

(76) "A yoke was a common idiom in the first century for a rabbi's way of reading the Torah. But it was also more: it was his set of teachings on how to be human. His way to shoulder the (at times crippling) weight of life - marriage, divorce, prayer, money, sex, conflict resolution, government - all of it."

(77) What the New Testament writers call 'salvation.' Keep in mind, the Greek word that we translate 'salvation' is soteria; it's the same word we translate 'healing.' When you're reading the New Testament and you read that somebody was 'healed' by Jesus and then you read somebody else was 'saved' by Jesus, you're reading the same Greek word. Salvation IS healing."

(82) "If you want to experience the life of Jesus, you have to adopt the lifestyle of Jesus."

(94) Stephen Covey (of 7 Habits fame) said that we achieve inner peace when our schedule is aligned with our values."

(125) **** "The wilderness (for Jesus, in Matt. 3) isn't the place of weakness; it's the place of strength." **** (and below...)

(126) **** "Notice, Jesus came out of the wilderness with all sorts of clarity about his identity and calling. He was grounded. Centered. In touch with God and himself. From that place of emotional equilibrium and spiritual succor, he knew precisely what to say yes to and, just as importantly, what to say no to."

(132) John Climacus - "The friend of silence draws near to God."

(135) Henri Nouwen - "Without solitude it is virtually impossible to live a spiritual life..."

(140-141) "...mindfulness is simply silence and solitude for a secular society. It's the same thing, just missing the best part - Jesus. (see paragraph following this) . . . (from Andrew Sullivan) "If the churches came to understand that the greatest threat to faith today is not hedonism but distraction, perhaps they might begin to appeal anew to a frazzled digital generation."

(170) Ronald Rolheiser - "True restfulness, though, is a form of awareness, a way of being in life. It is living ordinary life with a sense of ease, gratitude, appreciation, peace and prayer. We are restful when ordinary life is enough."

(184ff) *** "Advertising as we now know it started not on Madison Avenue but in another city: Berlin. With another group of power brokers: the Nazis. They took the ideas of an Austrian psychotherapist named Freud... and used them to manipulate the masses." . . . "After the war, it was actually Freud's nephew, Edward Bernays, who first used Freud's ideas in America. An intelligence officer during the war, he found himself in need of a job. His theory was that if the Nazis could manipulate people in wartime, then surely business owners and politicians could manipulate people in peacetime. He called his new idea 'public relations' and became the so-called 'Father of American advertising.'" [rest of section is needed here - and why I find Capitalism today so deviously evil...]

(186) "Things we categorize as 'needs' - a car, a telephone, a daily multivitamin, electricity, running water - didn't even exist until recently, and yet many people were quite happy without them."

(191) Instead of spending money to get time, we opted for the reverse: we spend time to get money."

(196) "a 'healthy' eye... had a double meaning: It meant that (1) you were focused and living with a high degree of intentionality in life, and (2) you were generous to the poor. When you looked at the world, you saw those in need and did your best to help out."

(200) Joshua Becker - minimalism writer

(204-213) His twelve (suggested) principles to eliminate hurry...

(214) "Remember: the question we should be constantly asking as followers of Jesus isn't actually, What Would Jesus Do? A more helpful question is, 'What Would Jesus Do If He Were Me?' If he had my gender, my career, my income, my relationship status? If he was born the same year as me? Lived in the same city as me? What would that look like?"

(223-244) 20 ideas on how to slow down...

(252) Edward Friedman - "non-anxious presence"

(253) Manifesto: "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life." (1 Thess. 4:11)

(254) "To live a quiet life in a world of noise is a flight, a war of attrition, a calm rebellion against the status quo."

(255) "You're not just fighting for a good life but for a good soul."

Burning highlights

Have I mentioned that I finished 'A Burning in My Bones,' the Eugene Peterson biography written by Winn Collier? 

This was perhaps the best read for me at this time. Or, maybe any time. It's another of those "slows-me-down" books, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Sometimes I felt like maybe I'd read it before because parts were so familiar from reading Peterson's own works. I was reminded of some things I'd forgotten, but also learned some things I never knew (or knew I knew). More than anything, maybe, it made me want to be a pastor again. Not sure if I could muster it, but there's still a bit of a ... burning.

Anyway, as I may have mentioned, I read it on my kindle, and it didn't occur to me until well into the book that I could highlight sections, so below are some of my highlights. And don't get me started on how stupid Amazon has made it to retrieve these highlights! Like, why can't we just copy and paste them? Oh, I know, because that's how rich people/companies operate! Grhhhh. 

• (181) "Steve, yesterday, told me [about the view of ministry] and what he experienced here, where I am not trying to do very much, but am looking for what the Spirit is doing. Well, I'm glad he sees that and wants it. I think he knows, at least a little anyway, of how difficult it is -- but more of the difficulty is inward, the struggle to be here, stay out of the way, and to pray without forcing anything -- or running out and contradicting by action what I enter into by prayer." -EP
• (206) "...but if I cannot pray and run and read and write I cannot live." -EP
• (221) Virginia Owens told the group, "I wish someone took my writing seriously enough to want to kill me."
• (225) "Too many Christian ministers get impatient with slow learners and profoundly broken people like me. But Eugene didn't. He stayed around, confident that God would heal and restore and mend." And he did.
• (241) In one of his last courses, Eugene recounted, with his raspy voice, the sad contours of David's final years, how this man with such desire and fervor, such promise and intention, squandered the last part of his life. Eugene paused often. "He would just be very quiet," Cuba remembered. And then, after one long stillness, Eugene offered a single line: "We don't always finish so well." Eugene longed to finish well, to live a faithful life. To be consumed, to the end, by God's fiery love. To become a saint. And to finish the final miles, he would need to return to his quiet home. Eugene needed Montana.
• (264) These five books would be his heart and soul: Christ Plays in 10,000 Places. This is the basic book on biblical spiritual theology, which is foundational to all of the rest. Practice Resurrection. This is the course on spiritual formation using the book of Ephesians as the groundwork. Follow the Leader (later renamed The Jesus Way). This I would describe as a course on spiritual politics using aspects of leadership as they come into being in contrasting Jesus with Herod, Caiaphas, and Josephus. Tell It Slant. This is the course on spiritual direction, which is based on the parables. Eat This Book. This is the course on using scripture as the formative text for spirituality.
• (268) Apart from mentioning Hans Urs von Balthasar's Prayer as the best book on the subject and Edith Stein as a preeminent writer on contemplation, Eugene gave little advice on how to pray.
• (273) To be a pastor, he believed, means one must live with fear and trembling, to cling to hope in God even as she reckons with her own unsteady soul. To be a pastor requires immense humility and self-awareness, clinging to mercy like a drowning man grasps for a buoy. The strongest sign of authenticity in what you and I are doing is the inadequacy we feel most of the time.
• (275) "...a near pacifist but not doctrinaire." -EP
• (275) "Well, I want to be a pacifist," Eugene answered, "but I'm not sure I have enough courage."

There was plenty more I could have, and maybe should have, highlighted, but these are what I managed on this reading. 

Someday I would like to read the five books listed on p. 264 (I've read one, and maybe two, already). Actually, I've been thinking of signing up for a free trial of Audible, and maybe I could listen to them if I decide to do the Assault Bike this winter instead of running. It would be way cheaper, but I've never listened to a book before, so we'll see.

And, there ya have it. Now to decide what to read next. I have on deck: The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by Comer, The Narrow Path and Good and Beautiful and Kind by Villodas, and Where Your Treasure Is by Peterson (plus several others laying around the house and on kindle). I'd like to do one or three more by the end of the year. Guess I better get started...

Hannah coulter

Our son and his wife gave us this book for Christmas several years ago. She wrote on the inside cover: "To the beauty found in things large and small."

For some reason I never got around to reading it until just recently.

I've read snippets of Wendell Berry's works before. I like his writing. I also admire that he's sort of just a normal person living in rural Kentucky and is a farmer by trade. Many of my friends have raved about him personally as well as his books. I suppose I maybe never picked up Hannah Coulter because the title sounded sort of... I dunno... like a woman's book or something. My mistake. I loved it! I'm also told it's a great introduction to Berry's writing if you're unfamiliar.

This book is a novel, and as happens almost every time I read fiction (which is seldom), I tell myself I need to read more of it. Sure, this is a story about a family in a mostly rural setting, but it's so much more. I love books like this that slow me down, and give me plenty to ponder in my own life.

Let me share just a couple snippets to give you an inkling... This is from the beginning of chapter 8:

I need to tell you about my people in their grief. I don't think grief is something they get over or get away from. In a little community like this it is around us and in us all the time, and we know it. We know that every night, war or no war, there are people lying awake grieving, and every morning there are people waking up to absences that never will be filled. But we shut our mouths and go ahead. How we are is "Fine." There are always a few who will recite their complaints, but the proper answer to "How are you?" is "Fine."

The thing you have most dreaded has happened at last. The worst thing you might have expected has happened, and you didn't expect it. You have grown old and ill, and most of those you have loved are dead or gone away. Even so:

"How are you?"

"Fine. How're you?"

"Fine."

There is always some shame and fear in this, I think, shame for the terrible selfishness and loneliness of grief, and fear of the difference between your grief and anybody else's. But this is a kind of courtesy too and a kind of honesty, an unwillingness to act as if loss and grief and suffering are extraordinary. And there is something else: an honoring of the solitude in which the grief you have to bear will have to be borne. Should you fall on your neighbor's shoulder and weep in the midst of work? Should you go to the store with tears on your face? No. You are fine.

And yet the comfort somehow gets passed around: a few words that are never forgotten, a note in the mail, a look, a touch, a pat, a hug, a kind of waiting with, a kind of standing by, to the end. Once in a while we hear it sung out in a hymn, when every throat seems suddenly widened with love and a common longing:

"In the sweet by and by, We shall meet on that beautiful shore."

We all know what that beautiful shore is. It is Port William with all its loved ones come home alive.

And in chapter 20...

I was working at the counter by the sink, not daring to turn around. I was brokenhearted, furious, scared, and confused, crying, and determined not to let him see that I was. I was beating the hell out of a dozen egg whites in a bowl. Why I had started making a cake, I don't know. It was what my hands had found to do, and I was doing it.

And was Nathan sitting over there actually reading the paper? Well, I knew he was holding it up and looking at it. For all I know, he may have been reading it. But I knew too that he was thinking of me. My steadfast comfort for fifty years and more had been to know that I was on his mind. Whatever was happening between us, I knew I was on his mind, and that was where I wanted to be. He was thinking of me, I was sure of that, but he had got ahead of me too. He had dealt with what the doctor had told us even before he had gone to the doctor. And now, in a way too late, I was having to deal with it. Looking back, I can see there was something ridiculous about it. There we were at a great crisis in our lives, and it had to be, it could only be, dealt with as an ordinary thing. Nathan had seen that. For my sake as much as his own, he was insisting on it. But I was too upset to see it then.

My tears were falling into the bowl of beaten eggs and then my nose dripped into it. I flung the whole frothy mess into the sink. I said, "Well, what are you planning to do? Just die? Or what?

I couldn't turn around. I heard him fold the paper. After a minute he said, "Dear Hannah, I'm going to live right on. Dying is none of my business. Dying will take care of itself."

He came to me then, an old man weakened and ill, with my Nathan looking out of his eyes. He held me a long time as if under a passing storm, and then the quiet came. I fixed some supper, and we ate.

 Phew... even typing it now brings a tear to my eye. Which happened often, for a variety of reasons, while reading this. I found it powerful good. It made me feel good, and, as someone said in a movie once, "It made me want to be a better man." What more could anyone ask...

The church of us vs. them

I finished David Fitch's book 'The Church of Us vs. Them: Freedom From A Faith That Feeds on Making Enemies' a couple weeks ago. I liked it. I thought it really helped inform his latest book (Reckoning With Power), and in many ways I found it much more helpful. I don't know if I was just out of the loop at the time, or if this was another 'covid casualty' (it came out in 2019) but I am surprised I didn't hear more about it. It was really informative as to how and why Evangelicalism is struggling so. Ultimately, I liked this book!

Anyhew, here's part of the blurb from Amazon:

Claiming that the church has lost itself in the grip of an antagonistic culture, David Fitch takes a close look at what drives the vitriol in our congregations. He traces the enemy-making patterns in church history and diagnoses the divisiveness that marks the contemporary evangelical church. Fitch shows a way for the church to be true to itself, unwinding the antagonisms of our day and making space for Christ's reconciling presence in our day-to-day lives. He offers new patterns and practices that move the church beyond making enemies to being the presence of Christ in the world, helping us free ourselves from a faith that feeds on division.

Below I will share just a few highlights for my own purposes...

For some time he's been a proponent of the evils of "ideology." I admit, I never fully understood what he meant. On pp. 30-33 he says:

"...belief minus practice equals (almost always) ideology."

"One sure 'tell' that a distinctive has become a banner is that it stops referring to anything real that affects how we live on a day-to-day basis. Instead, it is now a symbol for who or what we are against."

"They gather people around an idea that no longer has definite, concrete meaning. It does not refer to anything specific. Instead, people can fill that in themselves and rally around it."

"Can this banner make sense apart from describing who or what the banner is against?"

P. 115

"After returning from the refugee camps, Tom saw that the missionary's way of thinking about salvation misses the point [the need to make 'a decision' for Christ]. If Jesus Christ is now ruling over all things, then peace, forgiveness, reconciliation, healing, and renewal are breaking out wherever he is recognized. It's not necessarily that people are going to hell if we don't get to them in time; rather, it's that all these people and places are missing out on the greatest possible news in this world of pain, sin, hate, evil, and violence. I must go and be present in their lives so that I can point out to them, when it is obvious, that Jesus is at work in their brokenness and that he comes to save and heal."

"Proclaiming the good news does not make enemies. It reveals enemies."

PP. 144-145

"To say Jesus is Lord is to say he rules over the whole world. His politics is the world's politics too; they just don't know it yet."

"Jesus does rule over the whole world, but he rules through his presence becoming manifest through the witness of the church."

P. 149

"The way God works to change the world is first to inhabit a people with his justice, showing the world what it looks like, and then engage the world, challenge the world, and invite them to do the same." 

***P. 152

"All this means that the difference between Christians and the world is not a spatial one; it's an eschatological one. It's not an us-vs.-them difference. It's a matter of timing. There are not two spaces: the space of the ones who are 'in' and the ones who are 'out.' Rather, the church is already where the world is heading; the world just doesn't know it yet. We are living the kingdom ahead of time. We are the first fruits of a harvest that shall be fully gathered in the future. We are against no one. Despite appearances, the world is not our enemy. We are just ahead of them. This church is the space beyond enemies, the church beyond us vs. them."

***PP.155-156

"The answer to these questions requires that we again distinguish between making enemies and revealing enemies. The very presence of Christ disrupts a social context and reveals enemies. Jesus acknowledged as much when he said, 'I have not come to bring peace, but a sword' (Matt. 10:34). But the sword, we remember, is not a violent sword but the sword of his Word. His very presence, accompanied by his persuasive Word, reveals enemies for the purpose of making space for the unwinding of antagonisms, for presence, healing, and restored relationship with God and one another."

"Antagonisms, chaos, hate, vitriol, and violence are all signs of the enemy at work. They are the source of his power. And yet Satan disguises it all in the name of piety and self-righteousness. But Satan is revealed in the unanxious presence of the living Lord."

"One night, amid the flames and bullets, the violence and hate, the members of Koinonia Farm asked themselves, Is it time to leave? Clarence Jordan answered, 'Shall we go off and leave them without hope? We have too many enemies to leave them.' Jordan was saying, ironically, the enemies of Christ have been revealed through our presence. Now that we know they are enemies, we cannot leave them. We must invite our enemies into reconciliation, forgiveness, restoration, and being loved. This is the way God shall heal the world. This is the space beyond us vs. them."

P. 163

"We will move from churches as efficient and effective organizations to churches as patient places that cultivate the kingdom."

As you can see, there is A LOT of good stuff there. Good, and for me at least, quite difficult. So difficult, in fact, that I'm going to need a huge dose of grace and presence with the Lord to ever be able to muster this myself.

Thus... the need for... the church.

How to know a person (overview)

I finished 'How To Know A Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen' by David Brooks a couple weeks ago. Overall I thought it was a good book and I like his writing. If anything, though, it sort of faded at the end, or at least could have been a tad shorter. Still, I'm glad I read it and think it an important topic.

The blurb from Amazon starts out...

As David Brooks observes, “There is one skill that lies at the heart of any healthy person, family, school, community organization, or society: the ability to see someone else deeply and make them feel seen—to accurately know another person, to let them feel valued, heard, and understood.”

And yet we humans don’t do this well. All around us are people who feel invisible, unseen, misunderstood. In How to Know a Person, Brooks sets out to help us do better, posing questions that are essential for all of us: If you want to know a person, what kind of attention should you cast on them? What kind of conversations should you have? What parts of a person’s story should you pay attention to?

Driven by his trademark sense of curiosity and his determination to grow as a person, Brooks draws from the fields of psychology and neuroscience and from the worlds of theater, philosophy, history, and education to present a welcoming, hopeful, integrated approach to human connection...

 As for the contents...

PART 1: I SEE YOU

Chapter 1: The Power of Being Seen

Chapter 2: How Not to See a Person

Chapter 3: Illumination

Chapter 4: Accompaniment

Chapter 5: What is a Person?

Chapter 6: Good Talks

Chapter 7: The Right Questions

PART 2: I SEE YOU IN YOUR STRUGGLES

Chapter 8: The Epidemic of Blindness

Chapter 9: Hard Conversations

Chapter 10: How Do You Serve a Friend Who is in Despair?

Chapter 11: The Art of Empathy

Chapter 12: How Were You Shaped by Your Sufferings?

PART 3: I SEE YOU WITH YOUR STRENGTHS

Chapter 13: Personality: What Energy Do You Bring Into the Room?

Chapter 14: Life Tasks

Chapter 15: Life Stories

Chapter 16: How Do Your Ancestors Show Up in Your Life?

Chapter 17: What is Wisdom?

 

I have since begun reading Johann Hari's 'Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention - and How To Think Deeply Again.' Based on the introduction I wouldn't be surprised if these two books have quite a bit in common. 

Life together

I finished Dietrich Bonhoeffer's  Life Together in the wee hours of the morning (I couldn't sleep). It was originally published in 1939 (German), and was published in English in 1954 by John W. Doberstein.

And... I gotta be honest... I'd heard a lot of hype about this work over the years. I expected to really like it (and not just because it's only 122 pages). I WANTED to like it! Maybe it was my foul mood, or the archaic language, but it did not match the blurb on the linked Amazon site in my opinion. I was disappointed.

As someone else summarized, "He aims to describe the nature of Christian community through five concepts and devotes a chapter to each: Community, The Day with Others, The Day Alone, Ministry, and Confession and Communion." That's an apt description.

Certainly it is not without any substance. I thought this sort of set the tone for not only this work, but Bonhoeffer's life in general:

"Bonhoeffer was born in a family of seven children in Breslau, in what is now East Germany. He grew up, however, in Berlin, where his father, a noted physician, was the first to occupy a chair of psychiatry in Germany. From his father, as he wrote in his last letter from prison, he learned, what characterizes all that he wrote, an insistent realism, a 'turning away from the phraseological to the real.' For him Christianity could never be merely intellectual theory, doctrine divorced from life, or mystical emotion, but always it must be responsible, obedient action, the discipleship of Christ in every situation of concrete everyday life, personal and public. And it was this that led him in the end to prison and death..." (8)

 This clip from pp.26-27 under the heading 'Not an Ideal but a Divine Reality' also hit home for me:

"Innumerable times a whole Christian community has broken down because it had sprung from a wish dream... He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial... God hates visionary dreaming; it makes the dreamer proud and pretentious..."

 

Meh, I don't know, it's not that the book was bad... it was just so difficult to read. I'll also admit that my expectations were likely a tad high as well. So, I'm glad I read it, but I'm also glad it's been moved to the 'finished' pile...

The 2023 reading list

I read or re-read 18 books in 2023. That's probably more than I've done in awhile. While some were excellent, all were good. I don't know that I could even venture a 'top 5' because what I might recommend for one person might not be good to another. I would recommend all of them to someone though.

So, here's the list, which is just kind of nice to look over for me personally as I think back on the time I spent with each of them...

• Learning Humility, Richard Foster
• Critical Limits, Isaac Horwedel (PhD dissertation)
• Tattoos On The Heart, Gregory Boyle
• Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton
• The Lakota Way, James Marshall III
• Tortilla Flat, John Steinbeck
• Aesop's Fables
• The Jesus I Never Knew, Philip Yancey
• Rethinking Life, Shane Claiborne
• Revelation for the Rest of Us, Scot McKnight & Cody Matchett
• Mission Is The Shape of Water, Michael Frost
• Cannery Row, John Steinbeck
• An Arrow Pointing to Heaven, James Bryan Smith
• Black Elk Speaks, John G. Neihardt
• A More Christlike God, Bradley Jersak
• Dopamine Nation, Dr. Anna Lembke
• A Different Way, Christopher A. Hall
• Faith Like A Child, Lacy Finn Borgo

 I already have a stack ready to go for 2023, which includes my newest four (Christmas presents). I'm actually excited to get to work on them. I can't say I've anticipated reading like this in quite some time - maybe ever! It's weird, but a good feeling nonetheless.

A more christlike god

Oh, my... 'A More Christlike God' by Bradley Jersak is a wild book. And I mean that in the most inspiring, enlightening, and positive way! Honestly, it was a bit long and detailed in parts for my taste, but that was likely necessary not only to undo much of what many of us have been taught, but also to paint this more beautiful picture of who God is, and what the Gospel message is. Some really, really good stuff in this 2016 book. Just the last chapter is worth buying the entire thing (ch.14)!

Here is the snippet from Amazon:

What is God like? A punishing judge? A doting grandfather? A deadbeat dad? A vengeful warrior? 'Believers' and atheists alike typically carry and finally reject the toxic images of God in their own hearts and minds. Even the Christian gospel has repeatedly lapsed into a vision of God where the wrathful King must be appeased by his victim Son. How do such 'good cop/bad cop' distortions of the divine arise and come to dominate churches and cultures? Whether our notions of 'god' are personal projections or inherited traditions, author and theologian Brad Jersak proposes a radical reassessment, arguing for A More Christlike God: a More Beautiful Gospel. If Christ is "the image of the invisible God, the radiance of God's glory and exact representation of God's likeness," what if we conceived of God as completely Christlike--the perfect Incarnation of self-giving, radically forgiving, co-suffering love? What if God has always been and forever will be 'cruciform' (cross-shaped) in his character and actions? A More Christlike God suggests that such a God would be very good news indeed--a God who Jesus "unwrathed" from dead religion, a Love that is always toward us, and a Grace that pours into this suffering world through willing, human partners.

I will likely be sharing more in later posts, but here are a few notes I want to include for myself:

• The Bill Maher quote on p.10, tied with the concept of the cruciform God on p.13ff.
• Definition of 'Spiritual Director' (p.34) - "Spiritual Director refers to a mentor relationship that assists with spiritual development. Ironically, the best directors are non-directive listeners. They ask insightful questions that lead 'directees' to self-discovery, contemplative awareness and clarity for their life journey."
• Several places where he refers to God 'being in charge, but not in control' (because he doesn't do control). Also the idea that God is equally all-powerful, but not in a controlling way.
• God's wrath was another big topic. One note from p.199: "Wrath is a metaphor for the intrinsic consequences of our refusal to live in the mercies of God." Lot's of good and interesting stuff on this.
• Jersak totally blows some of our man-made atonement theories out of the water too. Most notably penal substitution. (p.294) "Jesus was saving us from Satan, sin, and death; not saving us from God."
• He titles chapter 14 'A More Christlike Message,' and it is outstanding! He details "two version of the gospel" -- The modern/legal/retributive understanding vs. the ancient/healing/restorative understanding. This is also presented in his use of 'The Gospel in Chairs' which was originally composed by Orthodox priest, Father Anthony Carbo, but has been recreated and adapted by both Brad and Brian Zahnd. You can find several places on Youtube of this presentation and it is worth watching! Here are the two listed in the book (both a bit dated, but the same basic message): Brian Zahnd; Bradley Jersak. 

A friend loaned me this book but I may have to break down and get my own copy. There are apparently a couple companion books in this series as well. This is life-changing stuff as far as I'm concerned, and well worth the time and money spent.

Mission is the shape of water

I agreed to be on the launch team for Michael Frost's new book Mission Is the Shape of Water (I had the time, and felt quite honored to do so!). What that meant is I was able to read it a month before it was released, then I need to post an Amazon review when it comes out on September 15, 2023. I am posting now because you can currently pre-order it from the above link for only $9.99.

As for the book, I thought it was typical "Frosty" (meaning 'really good'). I have read several of Michael's books, and like the way he writes. He sort of writes how I think.

Honestly, I have never been good with history. In that regard, MITSOW was a great overview of the history of missions from the beginning of time up until now. It is full of interesting stories, facts, and figures. However, the best thing about this book is how, after reading the way God has worked through people over the centuries, it actually left me feeling super excited about where the church is headed!

I will likely be posting some more from my 10+ pages of notes, but here's one little snippet to give you an idea what the book is about:

"Ask a bunch of people what Christian mission looks like. They might say it looks like evangelistic preaching or church planting or hosting a feeding center. They might mention running a crisis accommodation facility or providing emergency relief after a hurricane or furnishing medical care in a poor country or advocating against sex trafficking or teaching in a Christian school. But would they mention desecrating religious idols or establishing a city in Africa for freed slaves or starting an ashram or making beer or photographing mass murder or adopting children ordered as human sacrifices or hauling a printing press through the jungle? Would they imagine that being a missionary could look like becoming an explorer or a governor or a prisoner or a student activist? All those shapes of mission are described in this book. Each shape was used by God to achieve his purposes in that time and place. Each of them is told here, not so you can emulate them, but so you can broaden your imagination on what shape God is calling you to take hold of."

 

Revelation for the rest of us

I finished this book a couple weeks ago. It was so good, and in a similar vein to Shane Claiborne's 'Rethinking Life.' 

There's really not a better way to describe Revelation for the Rest of Us: A Prophetic Call To Follow Jesus As A Dissident Disciple than how Amazon does it...

See how the Book of Revelation can be read as a book of discipleship, challenging Christ-followers everywhere to live as hopeful agents of resistance and transformation.

The last book of the Bible frustrates and frightens many people with its imagery and apocalyptic tone. Popular interpretations rely on fear and politicization and often lead to pride and alienation of others. Is this really how we were intended to read John’s Revelation?

In Revelation for the Rest of Us, Scot McKnight with Cody Matchett explore the key message of Revelation and how it:

• Calls us to be faithful and hopeful witnesses to Jesus.
• Stimulates our imagination to see the world through the eyes of God and excite our faith.
• Challenges us to stand against the militarism, economic exploitation, oppression, and injustice of worldly authorities.

McKnight addresses the popular misconceptions about the book, explaining what John means in his use of the images of dragons, lambs, and beasts; and how the symbolism of Revelation spoke in the days of Rome and still speaks powerfully to the present day—though not in the way most people think.

You’ll learn to see the Book of Revelation in a fresh and hopeful new way. Drawing from the latest scholarship, the authors present an understanding of Revelation for anyone interested in deepening their personal study of the Bible and strengthening their faith as dissident disciples who can discern the presence of "Babylon" in our world and learn to speak up, speak out, and walk in the way of the Lamb.

I will say, it got a little "heady" in the middle, and I had to stop and just read through the book of Revelation itself as a refresher. I recommend doing that before starting the book! By the end the authors are very pointed and clear about exactly what/who they are referring to though. They hold nothing back and I appreciated the candor.

Basically they're saying Revelation is not about some fictitious "end times" and we need to get over how it's been misinterpreted for the past 50 years or so by fear-mongers and publishing companies (trying to sell books and movies). Revelation records a timeless battle between two cities: Babylon and new Jerusalem, and John is showing us the way to live as followers of Jesus in the present "Babylon."

They describe a dissident as "someone who takes a stand against official policy in the church or state or both, who dissents from the status quo with a different vision for society... a person of hope, someone who imagines a better, future world, and then begins to embody that world." (pp. 15 & 17)

Babylon became for Jews and early Christians the most graphic image, metaphor, or trope for a city filled with arrogance, sin, injustice, oppression of God's people, and idolatry. And Revelation shows us the two opposing forces: They call Babylon "team dragon," and the new Jerusalem "team Lamb." 

The only secret you need to reading Revelation, they say (p. 97): "this book is about the Lamb's final, complete defeat of the dragon and its Babylons and the establishment of new Jerusalem... The book is not about finding joy in unbelievers getting their comeuppance, but about the defeat of the dragon and the systemic evils in Babylon." 

In a nutshell, on p. 185:

How does one live in a world that is

anti-God,

devoted to opulence,

consistently opposed to the way of the Lamb,

full of itself and intent on being impressive,

protected with the might of its militarism,

aiming to become the international power,

living on the precipice of constant internal betrayals,

driven by economic exploitation of anyone and everyone,

structured into a mysterious hierarchical system of power and honor,

and at the bottom of it all is driven by arrogance and ambition?

If you are like so many Americans who have given in to christian nationalism and your politics has replaced your faith, you best hold onto your butts if you want to tackle this book. Shoot, I don't even consider myself such, and I found myself challenged, but in a good way! 

If you want to take your faith in Jesus seriously though, I recommend reading this book so you can begin to see the beauty and hope found in John's Revelation and the life of a Jesus follower.

Rethinking life

I finished Shane Claiborne's 'Rethinking Life: Embracing the Sacredness of Every Person' several weeks ago. I'm half way through my second book since then, and realized I haven't said much about it. So, here's a bit of an overview.

As you can imagine, if you're familiar with Shane, this book comes from his heart in addressing relevant topics in the world today. This paragraph from the intro sums it up nicely:

I began to realize that it would be more accurate for those of us who consider ourselves pro-life to call ourselves "pro-birth" or "anti-abortion." Sometimes we have been more concerned with life before birth than after birth. It is a strange thing to live in a world where we can be pro-military, pro-guns, pro-executions, and still say we are pro-life so long as we stand against abortion. But, alas, that is where we find ourselves.

He then gives us a picture using Scripture, church history, and personal stories about how we, as Christians, might actually address so many issues at hand today - war, gun ownership, the death penalty, racial injustice, abortion, poverty, and the environment. His overarching question is: What does love require of us?

The book is full of facts and figures, so it's not just an opinion piece. One other thing I liked was how he went through a list of theological and civic giants - from people like Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, John Chrysostom, and Martin Luther, to Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. - and told not only of the great things they did, but also some of their not-so-good. He had two points: 1) We need to be truth tellers, and 2) We need to learn that we can embrace the truth people speak while simultaneously rejecting the untruth they speak (rather than just "canceling" people entirely).

All in all, I really liked this book. I'd heard some of the stories before, but in true Shane fashion he forces us to face the facts and left me feeling a bit more hopeful about a way forward. 

Here's the Table of Contents:

Part 1: The Foundation for Life

1. Life is Good
2. Every Person Bears the Image of God
3. Sin Destroys Life
4. God is Like Jesus
5. Jesus Died to Save Us from Death
6. The Early Church Was a Force for Life

Part 2: Cracks in the Foundation

1. We exchanged the Cross for the Sword
2. We Spread the Gospel through Force
3. We Theologized Hate
4. We Decided Some Lives Matter More Than Others
5. We Believed America Was Exceptional
6. We Chose Pro-Birth over Pro-Life

Part 3: Repairing the Foundation

1. Be a Truth Teller
2. Practice Proximity
3. Be a Force for Life
4. Protestify
5. Give Birth to a Better World

These books are making me thirsty

Why are there so many books? Probably because people like me keep wanting more. And I don't even read that much!

Yesterday I was introduced to another one I'd like to get (Dopamine Nation), and it reminded me of one I wanted awhile ago, and there are a couple others I've been wanting, and....

Here's the current list:

• Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence, by Dr. Anna Lembke
• Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention - And How To Think Deeply Again, by Johann Hari
• Revelation for the Rest of Us: A Prophetic Call to Follow Jesus as a Dissident Disciple, by Scot McKnight and Cody Matchett
  
• Rethinking Life: Embracing the Sacredness of Every Person, by Shane Claiborne
  
• How to Inhabit Time: Understanding the Past, Facing the Future, Living Faithfully Now, by James K.A. Smith
  

I could probably go on, but that's enough for now.

The lakota way

Some books I read because they're informative, some because they're interesting, and some simply make me feel good. The Lakota Way by Joseph M. Marshall III clicked all three boxes. I really liked it!

I bought it because Richard Foster recommended it in his Learning Humility. It was an easy read and I thoroughly enjoyed the stories and lessons for living, along with the Native American history and wisdom on ethics and character. I hope to give a copy to the oldest grandson on his next birthday.

I suppose it was extra interesting to me since we watch a lot of GRIT TV (old westerns). Not that we watch it a lot, but that's mostly what we watch when we do have the TV on (for lack of anything better). Once I learned the Lakota are what we whites refer to as the Sioux, things started to add up as far as names and places on some of the shows.

What's really wild to me is just how recent so much of it is. I mean, Europeans only started migrating west - invading their territory - 100 years before my parents were alive. So in a relatively short time these people's lives and culture that had existed forever was completely taken from them. It's also sad to hear how the "Christian" church played a role in it as well.

Anyway, this is a great collection of stories illustrating the twelve core qualities crucial to the Lakota way of living: bravery, fortitude, generosity, wisdom, respect, honor, perseverance, love, humility, sacrifice, truth, and compassion. I'm going to miss reading from it each day.

Two sets of books, or three

I have two book lists (which doesn't include the ones I want to get for my everyday daily reading). 

1. John Steinbeck books:

• The Winter of Our Discontent, 336 pg
  
• Cannery Row (1 of 2), 185 pg
  
• Sweet Thursday (2 of 2), 249 pg
  
• The Pastures of Heaven, 240 pg
  
• In Dubious Battle, 274 pg
  
• The Wayward Bus, 271pg
• The Log From the Sea of Cortez, 320 pg
• Tortilla Flat, 174 pg

2. Native American books:

• The Lakota Way, Joseph M. Marshall (256)
  
• Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Dee Brown (512)
  
• Black Elk Speaks, John G. Heihardt
• First Nations Version of the NT
• Think Indigenous: Native American Spirituality for A Modern World, Doug Good Feather (176)
  
• The Wisdom of the Native Americans, Kent Nerburn (216)
• Neither Wolf Nor Dog, Kent Nerburn (304)

I'm thinking of visiting a used book store to see what I can find first. I'm not overly interested in long books, but if I can get them cheap enough... maybe.  

Okay... some others I am interested in more of the daily reading variety (which I would prefer new):

• The Bono book (Surrender)
  
• The new Shane Claiborne book (Rethinking Life)
  
• The new Scot McKnight book (Revelation for the Rest of Us)

 

Finding god in all things

The last chapter in Trevor Hudson's dandy book 'Seeking God' uses the above title. It's a great wrap-up for what was an astounding book (to me).

Hudson sees five interwoven threads that characterize the tapestry of the new life Jesus has made available to us:

1. deepening intimacy with God;
2. growing belonging within God's family;
3. gradual transformation into compassionate image bearers;
4. reception of power from beyond ourselves; and
5. an inner assurance that we are held safe in God's love forever.

 I really like how he phrased these. I also look forward to reading through the book again in the hopefully not-too-distant future to refresh my memory of how they come alive.

Chapter 8 then lays out his means of contemplating this love of God, and how to find him in all things.

First, is remembering gifts from God you have received.

Second, notice how God dwells in everything that God has created.

Third, imagine God working creatively on your behalf in everything around you.

Fourth, receive God's love in every good gift you enjoy.

Just a few other tidbits I gleaned from the chapter:

On p. 195 he refers to a correspondence of his with Dallas Willard. Trevor is taking about his lifelong struggles with discontent and disappointment (which I really relate to). Dallas responded with a note that included this challenge at the end:

"What things do you really enjoy? Things that have nothing to do with family, work, or religion. I want you to write me about three sources of pure joy that you know from your own experience..." (And imagine that God actually wants you to enjoy them too).

Hudson then continues this thought on p. 196: (and I love this)

"Being discontent and introspective does not mean that God has done badly by me, or that there is something wrong with me, or that I am inferior in any way. So, over the years, I have been asking for the grace to know more deeply that when God looks at me, God says, 'Trevor, I did good in creating you. Feel my delight in your existence. I continue to breathe life into you. I dwell in you. Know that you make me smile.'"

Oh, man, do I need reminded of that.

Finally, on p. 197 is this simple little exercise:

"One of the best ways to connect our sources of enjoyment with God's presence is to notice the gifts received through the day. Usually the best time to do this is just before going to sleep. Simply, we can ask the Lord to help us to see what we have really enjoyed through the day."

--

Yep, I loved this book. It seems I have similarities with Hudson, and his writing really resonates with me. The simple exercises, sensitive way of viewing our relationship with God, all of it... really touched my heart. I'm glad I read it.

Having the mind of christ - conclusion

"So now what? How do these core truths become the paradigms we live from and the lenses through which we look at the world? In this conclusion, we will first explore our confusion about what it means to believe, then we'll look at a couple biblical examples of what faith looks like in real life, and finally we will lay out a practical model for taking small, concrete steps of trust that result in real transformation." (p.153)

I was intending to conclude my reading of Matt Tebbe and Ben Sternke's book 'Having the Mind of Christ: Eight Axioms To Cultivate A Robust Faith' with a nice little sum-up. However, the conclusion itself is packed full of good stuff! The title is "Acting As If It's True."

I'm just going to do a list and see where it goes...

• "We believe something when we act as if it were true." - Dallas Willard
• "You can live opposite of what you profess, but you cannot live opposite of what you believe." - Dallas Willard
• "We treat beliefs as though they have magical power, as though merely believing something makes it so... The truth is, merely believing Jesus is Lord no more makes him Lord of my life than believing Kim Jong-Il is the leaders of North Korea makes me his follower... The belief itself is not the surrender. The important question, therefore, is not what you believe. The important question is what you decide to do, moment-by-moment, on the basis of what you believe." - Greg Boyd
• "Biblically speaking, then, believing in God is not so much a matter of agreeing with the facts about God. Instead, it is active, personal trust in God. To believe is not to trust something, but to trust someone." (followed by an interesting differentiation between covenants and contracts on pp.156-157)
• "People enter into covenants because they trust one another; people enter into legally binding contracts precisely because they don't." - Greg Boyd (p.157)
• "Simply put, to believe in God is to trust what God says about reality, and to act, on the basis of that trust, in allegiance to God's authority. The evidence of our trust is embodied action." (.157)
• "This is often the pattern in the Gospels: Jesus invites someone to trust him for healing or deliverance by acting as if healing has happened... In other words, there aren't two things here: faith and then action. There's just one thing: faithful action." (p.159)
• **A MODEL FOR ACTING AS IF IT'S TRUE (pp.160-167):
• Compassionate awareness - "being free to be curious about your reactions without judgment or justification. It's the ability to stand at a distance from our own thoughts, feelings, and perceptions, and the stories we tell ourselves about them, rather than identifying with them or trusting them to tell us the truth about ourselves and others."
• Creative Alignment - "noticing the automatic stories we tell about ourselves, others, and God, and bringing them into the light of the gospel... You know you're engaging in creative alignment when you feel a sense of freedom and joy in your life with God, rather than anxiety or striving." ("You are free to not know what to do and show up anyway."** p.163)
  
• Cooperative Action - "simply a reasonable response to the truth proclaimed in creative alignment. This is where we imagine what it would look like practically to act as if the truth is true. If this truth is more than just nice words to help me feel better, if it's actually a description of reality, how do I trust that reality with my body, in my practical actions?"
• **The following are a few practical questions that often help people imagine what cooperative action could look like:
• If I truly believed this good news, what would I do that I wouldn't have done otherwise?
• What would this truth empower me to do in a new way? What would it empower me to start doing, or stop doing?
• How would my engagement in this relationship change if I truly believed this good news? Can I respond in a new way this week?
• What sorts of habits has this lie formed within me? How do I being to walk in the freedom that this truth offers me?
• What godly habit can I begin to cultivate in light of this truth?
• How can I share what I'm learning with someone else?
• "This highlights one last important aspect of this model: it's best practiced in community." (p.167) 

So, yeah, that's quite a conclusion. I almost feel like that could have been an axiom in itself! Anyway, overall, I am thinking this is one of those books I need to read again. Maybe more than once. It packs a lot, and there's a lot to swallow. Or maybe I'm simply that slow on the uptake. Either way, I'm glad I read it and would recommend it to anyone that wants to have a more robust faith.

***

 Psalm 119:30

“I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I have set my heart on your laws.”

 

Embodied participation

Axiom #8 in Matt Tebbe and Ben Sternke's book 'Having the Mind of Christ: Eight Axioms to Cultivate A Robust Faith' is: GOD TRANSFORMS US THROUGH EMBODIED PARTICIPATION.

This is another one of those really good chapters that I totally agree with, but it's been difficult to put into practice lately. So, I drank it in, but didn't highlight as much as some other chapters. These are the spots I did highlight:

• "How does God actually transform us into the likeness of Christ? That's the question that our eighth and final axiom answers: God transforms us through embodied participation. This means that we grow in our capacity to receive and give God's love not merely by thinking or believing correctly, but rather by trusting Jesus in our bodies, taking concrete steps of faith in our actual lives and relationships." (p.134)
  
• "When we view practices through the new lens of Axiom 8 we're able to see practices as experiments of trust (which is what we've been calling the practices at the end of each chapter). These embodied experiments of trust are concrete ways to let go of control and open our lives up to deep participation in God's life, reducing the resistance to God's grace flowing in and through our lives." (p.138-139)
• (In discussing the Sermon on the Mount) "Putting Jesus teaching into practice, then...
• is not an external performance for God, but an embodied participation in God;
• is not merely imitating the behavior of Christ, but also inhabiting the life of Christ;
• is not piling up 'shoulds' in hope of attaining eternal life in the future, but truly sharing in God's eternal life in the present by taking concrete steps of embodied trust."
• "Putting the teachings of Jesus into practice, then, is much more like learning piano than studying for a multiple-choice math test. Learning to live in communion-in-love with God and others is more like learning to dance than writing a research paper. As we submit our bodies to the rhythm of Jesus' teachings, we grow in our capacity to receive and live in God's love, which begins to permeate our heart, soul, mind, and body, drawing us further and further in, creating a virtuous cycle that changes the trajectory of our lives and transforms us into a new kind of people." (p.141)
• A couple places where they talk about developing new neural pathways - teaching our brain/body new ways of doing things (the son learning to dribble left-handed, persistence in piano lessons, etc.).
  

 

This was a difficult chapter to read. Not because I disagreed, but because I do believe it's true! Yet, still, it's just so easy at this stage of life to passively sit on the sidelines wallering in the muck and mire. It's not a matter of not knowing, but knowing full well I'm not doing... and not knowing how to get unstuck. I need to develop some new neural pathways... somehow. I guess I'll start by trusting the Spirit to make that into a prayer request...

***

Matthew 7:24-25

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock."

Reckoning with power

"Jesus saw power better than anyone who's ever lived. He did that because in order to love people well he had to discern how power was at work in their lives. The seventh axiom, then, is that God's love always reckons with power." 

This chapter in Ben Sternke and Matt Tebbe's book 'Having the Mind of Christ: Eight Axioms to Cultivate A Robust Faith' is, shall we say, quite powerful!

They begin with this profound quote from Obery Hendricks Jr....

"An important goal of [Jesus'] ministry was to radically change the distribution of authority and power, goods and resources, so all people - particularly the little people, or 'the least of these,' as Jesus called them - might have lives free of political repression, enforced hunger, and poverty."

 A couple quotes from the authors:

• "God's power isn't the power to control, but rather the power of love: God's desire and activity of uniting in covenant loyalty the entire created world and working for the flourishing of the entire cosmos. God's power is God's love, and as such it always reckons with the real-life effects of how ungodly power works in the world."
• If we are going to love each other as Christ loved us (John 15:12) and not fall prey to the dead faith that does nothing to address the inequalities and injustices that power differentials create in our world, we must learn to see, through the ministry of Jesus, how God's love always reckons with power."

I thought this bicycle illustration was a great way to show how power works (p.122):

"...those who benefit from cultural power rarely understand the work it does for them. Much like riding a bicycle with a 20-mph tailwind, cultural power pushes those with power in a way that makes it invisible to them. When you have a tailwind, you don't feel the wind because you're moving with it. But those trying to pedal their bicycle into a 20-mph headwind know for sure how much the power of wind impedes their progress. It's difficult for those with a tailwind to feel how that power helps them, but it's not at all difficult for those with a headwind to feel how power creates struggle in their lives. God's love sees and reckons with these power dynamics and works to bring about justice and peace in our world."

The rest of the chapter is on how this reckoning-with-power works. First showing how Jesus did it, then how God's love reckons with power today. There are three ways this is done, and, as they say, they aren't three distinct activities, but three facets of one impulse...

GOD'S LOVE RECKONS WITH POWER BY...

1. Recognizing power
2. Redistributing power
3. Redefining power

 

This is definitely one of those chapters I need to revisit. There's a lot here, and much I'm not able to put into words yet. Good stuff. I will leave you with this final though from p. 130:

"To love like Jesus we must ask: Who in our world lacks power and privilege, and how do we faithfully inhabit God's love in the way of Jesus on their behalf?"

 ***

John 15:12-13

"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends."

The same through us and in us

"The main thing God gets out of your life is not the achievements you accomplish. It's the person you become." - Dallas Willard

This was another chapter in Ben Sternke and Matt Tebbe's book 'Having the Mind of Christ: Eight Axioms to Cultivate A Robust Faith' that had some really great points, but also some question marks (for me). 

The title of this chapter is "GOD DOES THE SAME WORK THROUGH US AND IN US."

I like the idea, and most of what they had to say. My concern was their seeming dismissal of leaders who seemed to do good work, but then failed in some way (moral failure, left the faith, etc.). They tried to differentiate "fruit" and "ministry." As they say, ministry is just service, which can produce good results. But fruit is the work of God's Spirit in and through someone. I guess I'm not comfortable saying that just because a Christian leader "fell away" at some point means everything they did prior (or even during or after) was void of God's Spirit.

Anyway, the crux of the chapter...

• "In some ways, we've all managed to disconnect the work God does through us from the work God does in us, as though they don't really have anything to do with each other. But they have everything to do with each other: what God does through us God also does in us..." (p.105)
• "Our problem, though, is not that we don't do anything when we're disconnected from the vine; it's that we scramble around trying to do a lot of things, regardless of whether we're connected to Jesus or not... It's a lot of activity, maybe even productivity, but it doesn't result in lasting kingdom fruit." (p. 106)
• "It's only by submitting to God's work in our lives through repentance and trust that we can become those God can work through to bring blessing and healing to others." (p.109)
• "As Dallas Willard pointed out, the problem with giving pearls to pigs  is not that the pigs aren't worthy of your precious pearls, it's that pigs don't need pearls! Pearls aren't helpful for pigs...."(Matt. 7:6) (p. 110)
• "God is not interested in getting us to do better things; God is interested in being with us and calling us into partnership and participation in the life God shares with us. So our focus isn't on doing great things for God, it's on joining God in God's work." p(111)
• "When we take in the entirety of Scripture, we see that God's mission isn't a project that God uses people to accomplish, because in many ways God's project is people! God is creating a people to live together under the lordship of Christ, flourishing in every way, becoming fully and deeply human together as we learn to love one another as Christ loved us..." (p.112)

Again, this was a helpful chapter for me. I can maybe even appreciate that they tried to address Christian leaders who had fallen away. Personally, I'm just a little uncomfortable saying that someone who "lost their way" (or whatever you want to call it) was never on the way to begin with (which is what it seems like they were saying). I dunno... maybe it just hit a little too close to home for me.

Still, that quote from Willard at the beginning... that's worth remembering! As is the point of the chapter.

***

 John 15:4-5

Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

God cares about it more than we do

Axiom #5 in Matt Tebbe & Ben Sternke's book 'Having the Mind of Christ: Eight Axioms to Cultivate A Robust Faith' is entitled "GOD CARES ABOUT (ALL OF) IT MORE THAN WE DO."

I must confess, this chapter is a bit of a challenge for me. I mean, I like the idea, and hope it's true... but it's a difficult reality for me to grasp. In other words, I have my doubts. And I'm not saying they are wrong. It's just a difficult concept for me.

Anyway, here are some tidbits I did appreciate:

• "For some reason we think that spiritual progress is marked by lack of struggle in life... this is simply not the case. Spiritual progress is learning to confront the struggle in a new way so that we don't struggle with the fact that life is fraught with struggle." - Martin Laird
• "What if we could trust that God is at work, even when we are unaware of it? What if we could relax, knowing that it isn't all up to us to make discipleship or growth or transformation happen?" (p. 87, and it is/would be great if true!)
• Ballroom dancing analogy: "...learning to be vulnerable but not passive..." (p. 89)

• "It's important to note that the mistake I made was not that I wanted to be serous about following Jesus and participating in God's mission. Neither was my mistake creating a plan for growth involving spiritual disciplines. Wanting to follow Jesus was evidence of God's work in my life, and making a plan was a wise way to respond. The mistake I made was thinking it was all up to me to stay connected to God. I assumed I cared more about it than God did. I believed God was mainly just waiting and watching to see how I did, and I wanted to perform well. So it never occurred to me to bring my spiritual apathy to God, or my frustration with myself, or the shame I felt when I failed. God was the last person I wanted to talk to about these things because God was the person I was trying to impress... I believed that I cared more about my spiritual life than God did." (p.93)
  

• "But the good news for those of us who are serious about life in God's kingdom is this: God cares about (all of) it more than we do. There is nothing we can do to make God love us any more or any less, and our life in God isn't a performance for God, it's communion with God..." (p.93)
• "You don't have to convince God to help you grow as a disciple of Jesus. In fact, your desire to grow was planted there by God in the first place! God isn't a disinterested bystander in your life. God is the very ground of your being, closer to you than you are to yourself, intimately concerned with your life and flourishing and shalom... God is already more involved than you realize... The good news is God is doing plenty, because God cares about this stuff and about you." (p.94)
• There is another good 'Experiment of Trust' involving Psalm 44 and shifting our prayer from "Why aren't you doing something?" to "Jesus, I trust that you care about this more than I do. Show me how you're at work in this situation." (p.101)

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Psalm 44:23-26

Awake, Lord! Why do you sleep?
    Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever.  

Why do you hide your face
    and forget our misery and oppression? 

We are brought down to the dust;
    our bodies cling to the ground.  

Rise up and help us;
    rescue us because of your unfailing love.