Book Review: the furious longing of God

I received this book in a network thing I am subscribed to, and, when I first saw the title, I thought it read: the furious longing FOR God. Only when I got into the book did I realize that my misreading of the title was very good. I have been having this personal thing going on where I want to be better in my devotion and pursuit of God. That, in and of itself, is not a bad thing to go through. In fact, in going through this "thing", I have encountered some healing and growth.

Long story short, my perception of pursuing God was exposed (to me) to be this personal quest that I controlled and labored over. Actually, this "thing" I was dealing with (at the time) was much deeper than I originally thought. I do want to have a closer walk with my creator, I do want to be more "spiritual" (whatever that means), I do want...(ad nauseum). The big truth I am learning (with much help from Brennan Manning's book) is that God has a "furious" wanting and longing and love for me. What this means is, that my initial "want" or "thing" or "whatever" started out being more about me than what my response to God's love really should be centered on. What I have been learning is that my response becomes greater and larger as I learn more about the love of the Father. In this way, my quest for this "whatever" was exposed as a mere selfish motivated quest...and I am so grateful. I am currently experiencing some very rich moments with my Creator; some very humbling realizations about my role in His Creation. One day, I may divulge more on these experiences and the healing and emotion I am experiencing (then again probably not, it is mine and I am guarded when it comes to self exposure believe it or not).

So, enough about me, this is supposed to be a review on a book. When I read a book (esp. about a Christian theme or idea), it rarely gets straight to an issue or an idea, but rather spends a large amount of time and effort in an attempt to be literary (counterfeit, usually) or culturally relevant while spiritually deep (my thought drifts toward many of the glamorized "Christian" hip resource networks of late...uh oh, wait...oh well). For me, a book that is simple in concept and development is the best (Henri Nouwen and Eugene Peterson are my favorite authors for this reason). Brennan Manning has written not only a very direct and simple concept book, but in it has demanded a very layered and deep emotional response (my experience). One of the simplest prayers, "Abba, I belong to you" has (over the past couple of days, anyway) driven my prayer life and triggered the beginning of some very deep healing. All in all, his description and framework for God's love is very well scripted and constructed. This book has become very special for me. I will be reading it again soon, and it may (like Henri Nouwen's In the Name of Jesus and The Way of the Heart) become a book I read a few times each year.

I highly reccommend it. And if you don't like it or it is very "ho hum" of a read for you, you haven't allowed the words to penetrate your heart...then again, I am very biased because of my immersion into the book.

We went to Arizona

Last month, but it was a great getaway and relaxing weekend. I have pics on my FB page if you are interested...

These words caused a stir...

So I was reading from a Henri Nouwen book I have read about 30+ (no exaggeration) times and came across a statement that provoked me. Here it is:

"Dealing with burning issues without being rooted in a deep personal relationship with God easily leads to divisiveness because, before we know it, our sense of self is caught up in our opinion about a given subject. But when we are securely rooted in a personal intimacy with the source of life, it will be possible to remain flexible without being relativistic, convinced without being rigid, willing to confront without being offensive, gentle and forgiving without being soft, and true witnesses without being manipulative."

Wow. Read that slowly like 20 times. This has provoked me to respond and look into my life at my reactions, at my actions, and my philosophies in dealing with the creation. I am so challenged, I want to commit about blogging through each one of these statements he makes above and how I respond and theologically frame the response. I don't know if I will do that or not, but I certainly want to take the personal journey.

I believe as followers of Jesus, we should be extremely hopeful and challenged by this small statement. I know I am more hopeful.

Taking risks,
n

BOOK REVIEW: Simply Christian by NT Wright

I have recently finished the book by NT Wright, Simply Christian. I enjoyed this book, but there are a few things in it I found a bit boring. Don't get me wrong, I believe the guy's content is extremely strong: the good bishop knows his stuff (and no, I am NOT interested in debating or talking with anyone regarding his views on justification or theology).

I began this book with hopes of practical application of knowledge, and that is probably where my disconnect came from...he spends quite a bit of the book on historical contexts and explanation. This is needed, especially in an entry level book of practical apologetics. But personally, I found his application f prayer and worship absolutely wonderful. His chapter on prayer is one of the best chapters on the wholeness of prayer theology I have read. Furthermore, I was extremely pleased with how he described and contextualized his words on worship. I would highly recommend any pastor or spiritual practitioner read these two chapters at the very least...wonderful!

He also tells some intriguing stories and has some great analogies for spirituality (a water spring underneath a concrete city for one). Plus, he is very understanding to the U.S. reader in his wording and sentence construction (he is in England, and English writers mainly write, like any other writer, from within their world and thereby causes a bit of a disconnect with other cultures in the reading).

Finally, our church community (ALC) is reading through this book in our current series, Desire. We are taking the topics of beauty, truth, relationships, and justice and wrapping them in the context of God and culture in a way to where we lean into these topics from a spiritual point of view rather than socialize or degrade these deep spiritual leanings with "just" the cultural strain of hope.

As with any book I read and keep, this one has many underlines and highlights and personal remarks. I would encourage anyone who follows (or wants to follow) Jesus to pick this up and give it a read. It isn't very long at 250 some odd pages.

i dont read newspapers very much...

...but this morning I read USA Today (ya know, the colorful national newspaper). I am sitting at a hotel restaurant called "en fuego" eating breakfast (see picture) and reading this newspaper. I haven't read a newspaper since the last time I was in a hotel, and I am pretty sure it was USA Today.

Anywho, I noticed some things: section A (the main news part most people read) is 8 pages, section B (the business/money section; also a grown up page) is 8 pages...here's the interesting part, section C (the sports section, which is the first section I go to) is 14 pages, and the Entertainment section, section D, or life section as they call it, is 14 pages. Now, I remember the time when turning to the Life section of the USA Today was a joke...reading even the national sports section seemed lacking. HOWEVER, this is the meat of this paper, now. I never noticed this before...maybe it has been this way a long time. BUT...the quality of the sports section and entertainment (ok, LIFE) section is much better than the last time I remember.

Could it be that the sports and life sections of the package are what most people want to read? Sports and entertainment give us the fantasy of not dealing with the world news and business sections; they (sports and entertainment) are much more fun to read.

So, all of that to say, I think we are world news"ed" and money sectioned out as a culture...we want more fun.

Just a random thought as I eat at en fuego on this not humid Arizona morning at the hotel...

You're welcome,
N

A Wordless Answer

In college, I worked at a restaurant serving tables. Tips were a pretty big deal. If I had a good night, the sore feet didn't hurt as bad and the smelly clothes seemed to diffuse their aroma. However, if I didn't make the money I needed, my feet were under severe torture and my clothing had a pungent stench.

The reality was this: my experience determined how I felt, reacted, and treated others at the end of the night. I believe we all have been guilty of this type of reaction at one time or another.

So what are the alternatives? From where do we form our response to life? What do we do with the environment that carries with it both the hope of spring life and the stink of winter death? Why do I ask questions that have layers deeper than a short article can answer?

The simplest response I can offer is this: we respond to these questions not by a verbal answer that is memorized and rehearsed, but by a lifestyle that provides the answer. In this answering lifestyle we find a very haunting, yet potentially freeing, framework that is very revealing. In essence, when my answer (or lifestyle) is formed through the lens of my environment, I am in free fall. I am confined to the atmosphere that is ever changing; a slave to the process. There is no gravity with that answer. I am, therefore, compelled to search out other lenses for which to form my answer (or lifestyle).

In my experience, this journey was one of faith. For me, the complexities of how to live life (or answer the big questions) were very confusing. I have within me this desire to set things right, to make things attractive, to discover truth, and to live with people. My framework for developing these things was certainly flawed. So, therein began my desire to see things through a different lens. I found that my faith was a lens through which these desires could be grasped by looking to God. But, as Tom Wright says in his book, Simply Christian, I found that looking at God was much like staring at the sun.

In the journey around faith, you will find your answer to be much more life giving than by looking through any other lens. Whatever you decide, your answers to the big question will not use words, but a reaction. May your reaction be formed through an answer of Christ's love, and not a droll "spur of the moment" counterfeit.

Really!?!

Jesus asked a lot of questions to those who followed him. One question, in particular, has always fascinated and, at the same time, irked me quite a bit. The question is: “Do you love me?”

Linguists and theologians and scholars all have great interpretations and perspectives on that question, but my initial reaction (as a leader of artists) is not tied to any of those interpretations and perspectives. No, my initial reaction is, if I could borrow a Weekend Update (SNL) line, Really!?!

I am quite shocked Jesus would ask this question; think about it: the first followers of Jesus left their homes, became unpopular, were considered national threats, and, in the end were all the victims of capital punishment (and John was the only one not of them that wasn’t executed, but he was boiled and exiled, that lucky dog). With the knowledge of what these people sacrificed, and with the knowledge of their impending doom, Jesus has the audacity to ask, “Do you love me?”

Why didn’t Jesus ask, “How many people are taking you seriously as you follow me?” Or, “How much are you going to accomplish”, or “Can you show me some results?” As a person that leads a community of artists, my questions are usually based around the end result (success or failure) of what our community is doing.

The thing about this question that is haunting and beautiful, is that Jesus continually points out the one thing needed as we follow: love for God. Loving Jesus shows our world of loneliness and despair the need for the heart of God, both in action and reflection. Henri Nouwen says, that there is an enormous need for people to know the heart of God, a heart that forgives, that cares, that reaches out and wants to heal. Jesus knows that, and he is constantly asking the question: Do you love me?