Category: Books

Books is a section where I post something related to my personal reading. It’s great learning from others.

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God Is Not Mad at You

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Brian Zahnd is a pastor in my hometown of St. Joseph, Missouri, and he is about the same age as me. In his newest book, Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God, Brian takes on some issues that have been mysterious and troubling for me, and countless others.

The violence of God in the Old Testament and the stark contrast to the Jesus of the New Testament, along with how we understand the Bible are things that have been concerns for conscientious followers of Christ for long, long time.

Zahnd compares the role of the Bible to that of John the Baptist, as sent by God, inspired by God, but not God. It tells the story of Israel coming to know their God, and it’s a process. It’s a layered puzzle beginning with the Pentateuch, and furthered by the prophets, gospels, and epistles.

Historically, assumptions were made along the way. One was that God was like the other deities that demanded blood sacrifice and genocide; but that doesn’t at all fit with its revelation of Jesus who called for us to love our enemies. Did God change? Or did Jesus reveal him more completely?

The author goes on to say that the Bible is not the perfect revelation of God; Jesus is. Theology is not a system. It is a person. It is not found in abstract thought or in a book. Perfect theology is found in Jesus.

So, someone has at last put into print what so many of us have believed in our hearts, but perhaps could not find the right words to express. For me, reading these words was a relief. Belief in a God who encouraged genocide was distasteful as is those who cherry pick scripture to condone violence are equally distasteful. An even greater relief is that, as Steve Brown is fond of saying, “God is not mad at us.”

This understanding helps the pieces to fit together a bit better for me as I keep looking to for the pieces of a faith that is real and fits into everyday life, a faith that is beautiful, and not something I have to make excuses for. 

 I recommend, Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God, and look forward to finishing it.

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Don’t Let Anyone Should on You (Personal Version)

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crossroadsThat’s what Elle Luna’s mother used to tell her. Elle is the author of the book, The Crossroads of Should and Must, a book I own, and will soon read.

What does it mean when someone says, “You should…?” Let’s take a peek at what is implied by those words.

  • I know what is best for you.
  • You should live up to my expectations.
  • You should follow convention.
  • You are on the wrong the path.
  • I am intruding into your life, uninvited.

Most of time, “should” and the other word that begins with s-h have an eerie similarity about them. They stink! “Shoulding on people” is disrespectful, presumptuous, wrong-headed, unloving, selfish, narrow-minded, and demoralizing. “Shoulds” are usually exhortations to do something that is simply wrong for you.

Is there ever a time to “should on someone?” Yes, but it is very rare. You had better have earned a lot of relational capital, and you had been have done a lot of listening first.

People need to discover things for themselves. Even when some shoulding seems to in order, it is a rare thing to find someone who will actually welcome or respond to any statement that begins with the words, “you should.” There must be a readiness factor to receive and act on truth that falls outside of our general way of doing things.

Telling a grown person what to do is rarely appropriate. Maybe in severe situations when is person is on a path of self-destructive behavior, and intervention is the only move left.

But, almost always there is better way to influence people than to should on them. It seems like just loving people as they are, staying faithful in the relationship, and joining them on their personal journey is the best way to influence people. Love is the most powerful motivator and change agent.

On more thing. If it is wrong for someone else to should on you, it is very, very wrong to should on yourself.

Usually, inner expectations are even more intense than those others try to force on us. Probe your heart, talk to God, discuss issues with others, then do that which is right for you in that situation.

We don’t need to be running from responsibility. But we also need to be wary of anyone, including ourself trying to stamp out our life with some dam cookie cutter.

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When Someone Dies

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when someone diesThis is a book that hardly anybody wants to talk about. That alone makes it important. We don’t like talking about death or “having our affairs in order,” and we really don’t like delving into financial and personal business matters that involve the likes of the IRS.

When Someone Dies by Scott Taylor Smith really does live up to its subtitle, “The Practical Guide to the Logistics of Death.”

My parents’ advanced age and failing health caused me to inherit a new responsibility, understanding their “affairs” so I could take of that stuff when necessary. Their procrastination in doing these things reminded me of my age and caused me to want to make this stuff as easy as possible for my family. So, a few years ago, I dove in. I typed out how to pay the bills and access accounts. Then I went over it with each family member. Just months ago, we did our Healthcare Directive, Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare, and Durable Power of Attorney for Finances. We used Legal Zoom and found it very satisfactory and saved hundreds of dollars in attorney’s fees. It cost around a $150.00 for each of us to do all three documents.

After reading, When Someone Dies, I found even more things I could dl to help out my family. Did you know that you will need to purchase several copies of the death certificate through the funeral home because you will need it for several transactions? Did you know that social security checks need to be stopped immediately or you will need to repay the money? Did you know that creditors can only collect from the estate and if those funds are exhausted, they have no legal recourse?

The author is an attorney who was neither knowledgeable nor prepared for many of the things he had to deal with after his mother’s recent death. The book is incredibly well organized with outlines, summaries and a logical progression, so that it is easy to skim and focus only on issues pertinent to your situation.

If you have elderly parents or if you need to get your act together, I highly recommend it. Actually, doing this stuff and leaving practical instructions behind is itself a legacy of love and kindness.

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Benediction

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benediction“Dad” Lewis, the owner of the hardware store in town, does not have many weeks left. He is dying of lung cancer. He has always been a man of few words who was not known for his compassion.  His faithful wife is worn out and exhausted from taking care of him. So, their fifty-something daughter comes back to the little Colorado plains town to help out. They have a son, too. He is gay… and estranged, living somewhere in Denver, they think. The widow lady across the street is raising her young granddaughter who Dad loves having around. The mother and daughter team, known as the Johnsons are lovely ladies with an interesting past. The preacher is an idealist who incurs the ire of almost everybody in his life when he speaks honestly from the pulpit.

Their lives are intertwined. They seem like simple people, but are actually a mesh-mash of so many experiences and opinions, they are complex, pulled in different directions, like we all are. The little plains town of Holt, Colorado seems like a dead end, but is incredibly rich with community. The characters speak in a simple, rural, but slightly quirky and insightful manner that cuts to the chase and makes you smile.

It is fast read about people that seem so real they remind me of me. They face issues as real and as a contemporary as those of anyone in a big city or anywhere would eventually have to confront. It’s humorous, touching, and a little bit salacious. Holt, Colorado seems so far away and yet very close.

Kent Haruf is my favorite novelist and is also the author of The Tie That Binds, Where You Once Belonged, Plainsong, and Eventide. They are all great stories!

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Thin Blue Smoke

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thin blue smokeI am seriously moved, definitely warmed and inspired as I just finished a new novel by Doug Worgul, entitled, Thin Blue Smoke.

These characters got into my heart and let me know I still have a heart. They’re real and flawed. Some of them have had some really bad breaks in life, but those bad breaks did not set their destiny; one human being caring about another did.

Having stumbled upon a review while surfing my Facebook updates, it was the context of Kansas City barbecue that intrigued me because I love barbecue and spent a good many years living just north and later, just south of KC. A downtown hole-the-wall barbecue joint is a connecting point for many of the characters in the story.

Food, friends, and faith are all meshed in a raw and real way to keep you eagerly reading. I was sucked in with a mention of my hometown in the first paragraph of chapter one and later references to obscure northwestern Missouri locales, all of which were familiar to me.

Worgul is a former features, book and magazine editor for the Kansas City Star, the author of two non-fiction works, and a bona fide barbecue expert. He writes so beautifully and warmly that you know this man knows something about people, God, relationships, redemption, and barbecue. It’s not preachy in the least and is not a Christian book, in any conventional sense, but its message of love and redemption through relationships is, perhaps, the most beautiful I have ever read.

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Provocative

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thinkingI have hit an awesome chapter in Richard Rohr’s Falling Upward and I am trying to unpackage it.

Every time God forgives us, God is saying that God’s own rules do not matter as much as the relationships that God wants to create with us. (pp. 56-57)

I always thought of forgiveness as being like taking a Mulligan, something bad will not be held against me. But there was always an inner compulsion to try to keep the rules and a deception that somehow I could. While I always said the relationship was based on forgiveness and grace, I embraced another mental track that upheld the importance of the rules for acceptability by God and even for me to accept myself.

In fact, when I abandoned all hope of any real significant rule-keeping and begin to grasp the absurd, scandalous nature of grace, a whole new motivation perked up within me that had nothing to do with earning acceptance and everything to with knowing I am accepted and loved no matter what.

Jesus is never upset with sinners (check it out); he is upset with people who do not think they are sinners. (p. 59)

He must have seemed like a crazy man. People must have been telling him all the time, “Don’t you know who this is?” Yet, He kept infuriating the “righteous” and endearing himself to the “sinners.” Christians have turned it all around by condemning “sinners” and exalting the “righteous,” earning their reputation for being judgmental.  

Much of organized religion tends to be peopled by folks who have a mania for some ideal order, which is never true. So they are seldom happy or content. (p. 60)

Our minds force us to try to make sense of things, so we form systems and theologies, but they are too confining for reality and even for our own personal experience. Usually, that means we try harder to defend our point of view, but reality always violates it. Isn’t it better to live life as an adventure, rather than having to figure out how every thing fits in our system and trying to squish it in.

Salvation is not sin perfectly avoided, as the ego would prefer, but in fact, salvation is sin turned on its head and used for our favor. (p. 60)

Normally we think of personal sin as a haunting evil curse, but it has many wonderful functions.
It causes us to think that maybe God knows what he is doing and wants to keep us from hurting ourselves and others.
It tells us that we are not focusing on something positive in our lives, and are, instead, opting for a substitute or prostitution of some good gift.
It helps us reach the end of ourselves and get ready to embrace grace.