Bell: Repainting?

Rob Bell is a popular contemporary figure in the Christian arena. I’ve managed to get around to his first book, “Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith” and must admit I found myself disappointed. I’m just not sure he did much painting, and as for repainting, well, I just don’t see it. It’s an enjoyable read, but I felt like I’d already read the book in other places. I think I’d feel differently if I read this book about five years ago, but it wasn’t even published until 2005. In this new era of Christian writers seeking to be relevant/postmodern/generous in orthodoxy, this one just blends in with others who I personally think are either A) better writers or B) people who actually make me think.

I recognize that this review has started off harshly, and I should note that there are moments I appreciate (especially Bell’s approach to the torah Old Testament as it relates to what Jesus did in the New Testament) and I would readily recommend this book to a friend wanting to know more about Christianity and what it might look like to be a follower of Christ.

And can there possibly be a book that has any more paragraph breaks?

They’re all over the book.

One sentence.

And another paragraph.

And the same thing.

Over and over.

"Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger"

This summer, I’ve been volunteering at the Clothes Horse at Trinity. The Clothes Horse is a ministry where donated clothing and household items are available free of charge to Trinity graduate and divinity students. With two others at the Clothes Horse, I read Ronald Sider’s book “Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving From Affluence to Generosity.” Overall, I enjoyed the book, even if it’s repetitive and contains too many numbers. Since moving to the northwest suburbs of Chicago, I have become more and more challenged by how I view money, specifically as it relates to the church. I want to be generous. I want to give graciously and live in a way that allows for greater generosity. I want to fight poverty, and I am bothered that children are dying as I write this because they don’t have food or clean water or their mom had unsanitary birthing conditions. Perhaps I should be more bothered by the fact that getting bothered only lasts for two minutes and I don’t actually change anything to give more to the poor. I’ll stop typing this, go to bed, and tomorrow will be another day where I think entirely too much about myself and barely at all about anyone else. But I still have this tug, this tug to do something more for the poor and oppressed, to make my theology reflect the priority given to this area in the Bible, to fight injustice and poverty and oppression.

Ravi Tackles Atheism

It’s no secret that I love Ravi Zacharias. Goodness, I think everyone should love Ravi Zacharias. He’s one of the most articulate (and brilliant) speakers I’ve ever heard, he is one of the reasons I still call myself a Christian. He spoke at Taylor University during a time when I was really trying to sort out what I really believed. Could a person be intelligent and still be a Christian? Ravi made me believe it was possible, and I am even more convinced of this today than I was on that chapel morning several years ago.

I download Ravi on my iPod every week (I currently have over 200 podcasts just waiting to be listened to…), and I find Zacharias most compelling as a speaker. But I still like his writings, and I read them with eagerness. His book “The Real Face of Atheism” is a nice introduction into a Christian approach towards atheism. As always, I appreciate how Zacharias resists being overly heady. While some may disagree with me on this one, Zacharias loads his talks and his books with multiple artistic and aesthetically-focused examples and illustrations. Ravi is often quoting poetry and seems as familiar with Wadsworth and Dostoevsky as he is with Chesterton and Lewis. Indeed, “we are neither just brains floating around nor just hearts bounding about” (p. 15). Amen to that.

How Can I Carry You?

The other day at work I had a two-hour supervised visitation with a dad and his son. Usually, supervised visitations are anything but interesting, but something was said this time that really caught my attention. The three of us had gone to the nearby park and on the walk home, the little boy would run and hop and skip and hold his father’s hand. As we passed a construction zone, the wind picked up and blew the chains locking the gate in the fence. The boy was scared and ran ahead. As he ran, he said, “Daddy, pick me up.” As his dad approached, the boy ran further ahead, but again told his dad to pick him up. This happened three times, and then the dad said:

“How can I carry you if you keep running away from me?”

I think I stopped walking for a second as I wondered if God ever says the exact same thing.

We want God to protect, shelter, guide, and carry. But we’re not always so good at actually stepping aside to let him to those things. We try to find out security in anything other than God: money, food, power, sex, greed, education, friends, entertainment, business. We try again and again to make little gods before the true God and end up even further from where we need to be going. We keep running in the wrong direction and refuse to be carried.

"Will in the World"

When I was in high school, I dreamed of spending a semester at Oxford, studying C.S. Lewis and William Shakespeare. That dream never happened, but I still wish it had. Maybe it still will. I recently completed Stephen Greenblatt’s acclaimed book “Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare,” and it made me want to study Shakespeare even more. Greenblatt clearly knows the entire Shakespearean canon, and excels at blending the life with the works. In some ways, the book is challenging simply because there is so little that is verifiably known about Shakespeare. Greenblatt tries to patch together some theories (and is clear that some things he writes simply may not be what actually occurred) while drawing from Shakespeare’s works to gain additional insights. As I read, I kept wishing that I knew more about the works, knew more of the characters and settings, and was familiar with the many quotes from the plays. But I did the best I could and decided to add some Shakespeare works to my ever-growing reading list. And after I do that, perhaps I’ll head to Oxford for some extra study.

Need I Say More?

Rock Climbing

This past weekend, Joy and I went again to Wisconsin to do a little rock-climbing. Well, I did a little rock climbing, and Joy kept the dog company, which was probably the harder task. We went with a guy I've been painting with who knows all about climbing and has all the gear. We arrived to Devil's Lake on Friday afternoon, did some climbing, camped overnight, and went to the rocks again on Saturday. I've wanted to rock-climb for some time now, and was glad to get the opportunity, especially with someone who won't laugh at me when I get up 3 feet and then say, "Uh, what do I do now?"

On Friday's climb, I went up an easy route, and wondered how on earth the people around me went up straight rock. On Saturday, I was a little more daring and bold, and while you shouldn't look for me on the cover of "Outside" magazine anytime soon, I thought I did pretty well. I felt rugged, that's for sure. Well, until I watched some of the other climbers, and then I felt silly. But it was my first time, I had a good time, and I definitely want to go again. That's what matters, right?