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03.18.11

another must-read book…

Filed under: books — 6:40 pm

Last Tuesday, two of my favorite progressive Christian thinkers (and friends) released new books. 
Rob obviously caused a bit of a stir, so I read his first, but then I dove into Brian Mclaren’s new book “Naked Spirituality“.  Only a few chapters in, it’s already moving me in deep, deep ways.  Like water in the desert.  I’m not sure what you think of Brian and his beliefs, but I can tell you that he is the real deal – in a thousand ways – who consistently helps me follow Jesus.  Here’s a two minute video about the book…

03.16.11

Rob Bell and the controversy about his new book

Filed under: books,God's movement — 10:04 pm

rob bell

I’ve been fascinated, nauseated, angered, and inspired by the drama surrounding Rob Bell’s new book Love Wins.  Not wanting to add to the conflict, I almost didn’t say anything, but one thought has been burning inside me:  I can’t believe how quickly this devolved into us vs. them…who’s in and who’s out?…who’s 100% orthodox (a.k.a. “believes what I believe”) and who’s a heretic (a.k.a. “believes something different than me”)?

It has sounded more like a cable news show where two extremists shout across the table at each other…where the point is not to discover Truth together, the point is to demonize and delegitimize the other side.  Either that, or simply yell louder.

No wonder so many people are disillusioned with politics… and disillusioned with religion.

In the sea of twitter name-calling, gloating, and unbelievable self-certainty, I stumbled upon precious few perspectives that appealed for a more open approach.  Fuller Seminary president Richard Mouw wrote about Rob and the concept of “salvific generosity” and “salvific stinginess” here.  Mathew Paul Turner insightfully appeals for unity here in a really honest post.  I loved Mason’s perspective of “when everyone’s a heretic, no one is” here.  And David Fitch talks about the end of Evangelicalism here.

I wish the Christian community was known for our love of each other, not our militant need to expose what is wrong.  (Especially because it’s so easy to confuse “wrong” with “what I happen to disagree with”).  I wish there was WAY more room for different perspectives, respectful disagreements, curiosity, and learning from “the other”.  To be honest, I’m not always good at this – my fear and pride get in the way all the time – but I want to grow more open and more humble every year.

So, friends, let’s be the kinds of people who are learners in the widest possible sense.  Let’s become experts at finding God’s Truth in the most unexpected places.

“. . all the beauty of the world, the beauty that calls our admiration, our gratitude, our worth-ship at the earthly level, is meant as a set of hints, of conspiratorial whispers, of clues and suggestions and flickers of light, all nudging us into believing that behind the beautiful world is not random chance but the loving God.”

N.T. Wright, For All God’s Worth

02.18.11

It’s Really All About God

Filed under: books — 9:51 pm

All About God

I just finished the wildly inspiring and challenging book “It’s Really All About God” by Samir Selmanovic.  It pushed and moved me deeply.  The spirit of the book can be captured in the author’s words…

“My religion is a witness to the pearl and a community built
around it—never the pearl itself.”

This Muslim/Atheist-turned-Christian-pastor believes that The Almighty GOD is so much bigger and more compelling and more beautiful than any of our attempts to contain or control Him.  And he builds a compelling case for the humility and wisdom to learn from those outside of our own tradition.  This is potentially inflammatory stuff, but Selmanovic handles it with grace and depth.  If you want your view of the God of the Universe expanded, I highly recommend this book.  Here are his own words…

02.16.11

A quote I need today…

Filed under: books,quotes — 12:36 pm

“Do we cry with each other and support each other in the
frustration of our incompleteness or do we give each other the
impression that there is something wrong with us because our lives
are inconsummate and our symphonies are incomplete?

“Do we still take our longings and emptiness to God in prayer or do we
demand that life gives us, here and now, the full symphony?

“Do we lovingly and gratefully receive the spirit of our own lives,
despite the tensions, or do we live in angry jealousy?

“Are we loving against an infinite horizon or is our eros directed
only towards the concrete sweetening of life?”

————–

Forgotten Among the Lilies, Ronald Rolheiser

12.30.10

The Powers That Be (part 1)

Filed under: books,God's movement — 6:44 pm

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This week I was stretched and inspired into bigger thoughts and deeper waters by the classic book “The Powers That Be”.  Brilliant author Walter Wink reminded me of what a radically subversive, courageous revolutionary Jesus was, and I feel recommitted to figuring out how to humbly follow in these footsteps.

Wink’s central insight is that Greater forces than we can see are shaping the present world and dictating the future. “The Powers That Be are more than just the people who run things.  They are the systems themselves, the institutions and structures that weave society into an intricate fabric of power and relationships.  These Powers surround us on every side.” When the Apostle Paul tell us that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and powers…” (Eph 6:12), this is what he was talking about.

And Wink believes that Jesus’ Mission wasn’t to just rescue individuals from these Powers, but to actually redeem and restore the Systems themselves.

“The spiritual task is to recall the Powers to their created purposes in the world.  But this can scarcely be accomplished by individuals.  A group is needed—what the New Testament calls an ekklesia (assembly)—one that exists specifically for the task of recalling these Powers to their divine vocation. That was to be the task of the church, “so that through the church (ekklesia) the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities [“principalities and powers”] in the heavenly places” (Eph. 3:10).  And the church must perform this task despite its being as fallen and idolatrous as any other institution in society.”

This is the kind of mission I’d love to give my life to.  What if God really is bigger than the forces of Consumerism and Racism and Nationalism and Materialism, and what if He actually wants to use you and me to topple these powers?

And what if God has so much more in mind for our Government, Wall Street, the school systems, Church denominations, and every other institution on earth?  How might he call you and me to wade into these dangerous waters (with our ekklesia, of course!) and not give up until they have “recaptured their divine vocation” to serve the common good?

“The gospel, then, is not a message about the salvation of individuals from the world, but news about a world transfigured, right down to its basic structures.”

A few thoughts tomorrow about how Wink suggests we do this…

12.13.10

Pushing down into the heart of WHY

Filed under: books,God's movement,leadership — 3:47 pm

Here are two fantastic meditations on the importance of figuring out WHY we are doing what we do, rather than simply the WHAT.  Both matter.  Honestly, I found these deeply challenging.

(1) Richard Rohr (From Daily Meditations):

“We’ve got to know the true source of our truth.  In my attempt to work inside of earthly institutions for some small degree of justice, am I just fighting for my little “Richard Rohr truth,” or am I really in touch with the great truth that Jesus calls the reign of God?  I’ve got to know that it’s not just what I do but why I do it and where it comes from.  I think the sequence of Jesus’ words about himself is significant.  He is first Way, and only then Truth, which is finally Life (see John 14:6).

“Without prayer, we’re trapped in our heads, our opinions, our righteous selves.  Maybe we’ll be doing the right thing, but from an egocentric place, not a place of unitive consciousness, the place where all things are one.  In other words, we’ll be doing our own agenda instead of God’s.

“When people are doing God’s thing, they have freedom—they can laugh at themselves, they can take humiliation and non-success because their own reputation is not at stake.  The mature believer will probably look more like a holy fool than a do-gooder or a ‘saint.’”

(2) Mark Sayers (from his blog series about surviving ministry through your 20s)

12.08.10

genius-ing ourselves into a corner

Filed under: books,creativity,music — 4:29 pm

For a long time, I’ve loved Amazon recommendations.  Every time I go to their website, they say “Hello, Aaron.  Here are some things you might like…” And they’re often right!  I’ve found many new books this way.  Apple does the same thing with Genius recommendations: “Fans of Arcade Fire also bought…” Based on the music I like, they help me find similar music.  My aunt is the same way.  Once she hears you love something, licorice for example, she will buy you Twizzler-related gifts for the rest of your life.

amazon.com

This is helpful, but I’m worried about the downside:  Does being a “known customer” keep my world small?  Are all these genius recommendations actually building walls around what I already know…keeping new ideas, fresh art, and challenging influences out?  Is our brilliant technology creating little ghettos for each of us to stay in and perpetuate?

mac

For example, even my iPod is too smart.  The more I listen to an artist, the more often their song comes up on shuffle.  (There’s some debate on whether apple’s shuffle is “100% random” or not, but my experience makes me think “not”.)  So even when I’m trying to explore the small pool of music I have on my iPod, I keep getting pulled back to the same Sufjan song that I’ve listened to a million times.

What we already like and know is becoming the Death Star’s tractor beam – pulling us away from exploration and back to itself.  (This lame analogy made possible by Henry’s current obsession with Star Wars.  May the force be with you…always.)

The problem is, without these recommendations, how do we even begin to search for something new when the amount of info out there is so vast?  I’m not really sure!  Most of the exciting new books or band I’ve come across have been from my friends…but let’s be honest, we probably became friends partially by talking about shared books or music.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about this. First, do you worry about “genius-ing yourself into a corner”?  Second, how do you personally get out of the idea/art ghetto?  Help us!

10.30.10

some stuff I love…

Filed under: books,life — 9:03 pm

Phil

(1) The weather getting colder. Fall came blowing into Chicago this week with “the biggest storm the midwest has seen in 70 years”.  And behind it was some of my favorite weather:  sunny and cool.  If I could wear some kind of light jacket every day, I’d be a happy man.

(2) Watching Modern Family and Mad Man. Shauna and I have been absolutely loving these two shows.  Modern Family makes us laugh the way The Office used to, and has shown me an inspiration for my future:  I want to be Phil Dunphy.  The sharp wit…the incredible social skills (or should I say skillz?)…I plan on morphing into Phil a little more each day.  But Mad Man has been our favorite.  We’re new to the show, but have quickly worked our way into the middle of Season 3.  Nearly every night is a rush to put Henry to bed and then find out what our favorite smoking scoundrels are up to.  Great show!

(3) Learning Stuff. For some reason, I can’t read or learn enough right now.  I’ve been tearing through a number of books over the last month and soaking up as many ideas as possible.  Most of the books have been about the future of faith (The Next Evangelicalism, Almost Christian, and The Next Christians), but others have stretched me also (Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle was pretty intense, Mobilizing Hope is inspiring, and The Much Too Promised Land is the most engaging book I’ve read about the middle east conflict in a while.)  A couple other stinkers, but no point mentioning those…

iPhone 4

(4) All-you-can-eat sushi and the iPhone 4. These two aren’t related…other than both being capable of making all your wildest dreams come true.

(5) Seeing Shauna become more and more who she was made to be. In the last month, I’ve been able to watch Shauna in all her glory:  1) Captivating people on her book tour with the poetry and wisdom of her words, and 2) Throwing dinner parties that can only be described as “glorious”.  Whether she’s speaking, cooking, writing, being interviewed, doing Q and A, setting a perfect table, dreaming up an incredible menu, or sharing her story, Shauna has a way of building a bridge and inviting people into the journey with her.  She makes big rooms feel small….small people feel big….and the whole world look a little more beautiful.

Here are a couple event pictures and a fun dinner video…

book signing

speaking at Catalyst bfast

10.26.10

Releasing the Church (and me?) from Western Cultural Captivity

Filed under: books,God's movement — 7:49 pm

In 1990, 82% of the world’s Christians lived in Europe and North America.
In 2005, it was 39%.
By 2050, the trends suggest 29%.
(And this doesn’t take into account that by 2050 a majority of North America Christians will be non-white.)

The Next Evangelicalism

But in spite of the fact that Christianity is a wildly diverse global family, American Christianity still appears to be overwhelmingly led by white, Western men who operate out of white, Western values.

Soong-Chan Rah, in his powerfully bold book The Next Evangelicalism, calls this “the Western, white captivity of the church.”

As I’ve been reading it and quickly agreeing with what’s wrong with the church in America, I’ve been forced to look reality in the eye:  I am a white, Western male who lives a comfortable life in the suburbs.  I go to a Western, mostly-white church led by a white, Western male.  Most of the books I read and most of the music I listen to are created by white, Western males.  I am part of the problem.

There’s nothing wrong with being a white, Western male, of course.  God made me this way, of course.  But this is the question:  Do I use my life to reflect the wide diversity of God’s global family…or just keep things pale?  Do I build bridges and give voice to other cultures and perspectives…or just hog the microphone?  Am I learning from wildly different voices and histories…or just listening to other people like me?  These are tough questions that are beginning to shake me.

Because this feels so fresh, I almost decided to not blog about all this.  I don’t want to be flippant and write about something I’m not actually living.  But maybe it’s better to declare these intentions and invite you into the journey.  Are you in the same boat?  Then join me.

Or maybe you’re way down the road in all this.  Then please help me! What books, ideas, conversations, practices, art, and communities do I need to immerse myself in?  What has helped you in your journey out of what Soong-Chan Rah calls “Western Cultural Captivity” and into the wide reality of the rest of the world?

10.19.10

Paper books or E books?

Filed under: books,life — 12:35 pm

iPad

I’m here on vacation – with lots of time to read – straddling the great book divide.  This seems to be the week where I officially move to reading from a screen…OR defiantly run back to the world of paper.  But I’m torn!

I love the feel of real, paper books.  I love the tactile experience of opening the Amazon package, reading both covers, and diving into the pages.  The texture of paper matters.  The font matters.  The smell matters.  And I always read with a pen to mark up my favorite sections and take notes in the margins, actively interacting with the author.  I’m a slow reader (and Shauna would say that I read the most boring books!), but I love to read.

However, last Friday I took the train to/from the city, and rather than bring a backpack with a couple books and my trusty pen, I just pulled my iPhone from my pocket and chose one of a dozen great books in the Kindle app.  Did I enjoy it as much as a real book?  No way.  But it wasn’t as bad as expected and I ended up spending two hours reading when I otherwise wouldn’t have. That’s no small thing!  I also found the highlighting feature pretty easy to use and MUCH easier to read later (than flipping through a book).  

Honestly, it feels just like the move to an iPod.  I really miss the experience of opening a CD and looking through the artwork – and .mp3s don’t sound as good as a CD – but I listen to SO MUCH MORE music now than I ever did with my disc-man.  I’d never deam of going back.

So how much am I willing to compromise the experience to gain convenience?  (Wow, writing it that way sounds terrible!)  Let me try it this way:  Am I willing to give up some of the reading experience in order to read more?  Can I give a little style to gain a little substance?

Honestly, I’m not sure.  What do you think?  Have you made the move yet?  Why or why not?

10.01.10

A beautiful and challenging quote

Filed under: books,God's movement — 7:54 am

CS Lewis

Through our conversation this week about “Our God”, I’ve been reminded of a passage from one of C.S. Lewis‘ books that really messes with me. I find this paragraph both stretching and profoundly inspiring because it creates SO much room for the Story of God to be bigger and messier than my understanding and categories. For C.S. Lewis, God’s grace is HUGE!  What do you think about this…

“The world does not consist of 100 per cent Christians and 100 per cent non-Christians. There are people who are slowly ceasing to be Christians but who still call themselves by that name. . .There are other people who are slowly becoming Christians though they do not yet call themselves so. There are people who do not accept the full Christian doctrine about Christ but who are so strongly attracted by Him that they are His in a much deeper sense than they themselves understand. There are people in other religions who are being led by God’s secret influence to concentrate on those parts of their religion which are in agreement with Christianity and who thus belong to Christ without knowing it.”

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

09.20.10

what is the capital-S Story?

Filed under: books,God's movement — 9:43 am

N.T. Wright, in his brilliant book After You Believe, writes that the main theme of the scriptures is…

“…the reconciliation of heaven and earth as God the creator deals with all that frustrates his purpose for his world and, through his Son and his Spirit, creates a new people through whom his purpose – filling the world with his tangible presence – is at last to be realized. 

To be formed by this capital-S Story is to be formed as a Christian.“

09.13.10

Packing for the tour…

Filed under: books,life — 8:02 am

This morning at 8am, Shauna leaves for her “Bittersweet” book tour.  Although she’ll never be gone for more than four strait nights, she has 36 events in 17 cities in 13 weeks, so this is quite a nutty season.  As her biggest fan, I couldn’t possibly be more excited for her…but as her husband, I’m really going to miss her!

If you’re interested, the tour itinerary is HERE.  Maybe she’s coming to your town!

Before heading to the airport, I asked her a couple questions about the tour and how we can support her in this season.  Here’s what she said…

08.07.10

the land between

Filed under: books,God's movement — 11:19 am

The Land Between

Yesterday, at The Global Leadership Summit, Jeff Manion gave one of the most spiritually challenging and moving messages I’ve ever heard.  Really.  In a few short minutes, he pastored over 70,000 of us through the question of “Okay, you’re not where you were, but you’re not yet to where you will be.  You’re in that confusing land between.  Now what do you do?”  You could have heard a pin drop.  And since I’ve been in an “in between” land for a while now, this message especially wrecked me.  (And I had to try to sing afterward!)  Check out this line:

“The space in your life that you most resent is the very soil where God wants to produce the crop we so desperately desire.”

Can I recommend, as strongly as I know how, that you check out these ideas?  If you’re not in the land between right now, you probably have been (or will be).  You can download a free chapter of his new book (“The Land Between”) here or buy it here.  You can read all the notes to his Summit talk here, or join a live webcast with Jeff about these ideas here.  And may God meet you in this confusing, scary, in between place.

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