Book Review: Traveling Mercies

Hey friends,

As mentioned a couple of posts ago, I have been blessed with some extra free time lately to read anything I so choose. And so I've got myself a Goodreads account (at my librarian wife's suggestion) and a summer reading list, and started going to town. Let's see if we can beef up the book reviews section of the J-Blog here!

I wanted to start with some books that I read a long time ago, and haven't come back to since. Anne Lamott's Traveling Mercies hopped right off the shelf, begging for a second go around. I read it in college actually, in my introduction to religions course. This was how our professor introduced us to Christianity (something I was at least a little familiar with), and I am eternally grateful that he did!

If you're like me, and you grew up in the kind of rigid mindset that Christianity has to look like it does on TV or in the news or how everyone thinks that Christianity is going to look, then Traveling Mercies is like drinking an incredibly refreshing glass of water. For starters, Lamott writes in the same voice/style as what's going on in my brain, and for that we should pray for her! But I can relate, and that's half the battle when reading isn't it?

I don't think Lamott's upbringing was standard for most Christians, or at least certainly not for me. But I love it anyway. I loved to read lilly pads and see how Jesus was hard at work in Lamott's life, trying to find his way in like a cat that followed her around for days. I love that Jesus can heal and refresh all of us, including the drug addicted alcoholics who struggle with eating disorders. Those, he can turn into a great spiritual voice in our generation.

What I can appreciate is that this book isn't quite as controversial today as it probably was in 2000, and by that I mean I think the Church as an institution has grown up a bit in America. Or at least I hope it has. The things that caused my college classmates to bristle at this book when we read it seem like every day occurrences now, as though we're trying to adapt our way of thinking to what Jesus is asking from us in this time and in this place. I hope we're always ready to adapt our way of thinking to what Jesus is up to. One of my favorite scenes in the book is when the 7 year old Sam (Anne's son) leans his head out of their broken down car to curse at the people who are cursing at them. Life is real. Sometimes cars break down and the F Bomb is the only appropriate word to hit your tongue. Jesus is real. I think he wants to meet us where our life is at its most real, difficult, and challenging. It only makes sense that we try not to be fake around Jesus.

Anyway, if you're new to Christianity, this is actually a great place to start. And if your particular stream of Christianity could use a bit of a refresh, it's equally awesome. Pick it up today!

I love my job.

I've seen this done with a lot of things, but I like this video a lot. Enjoy it youth workers!

 

Recovery Part Two: The day of silence

Hello friends,

The day of jubilee was amazing. What followed, however, was downright refreshing. I had been saying that I would enjoy spending time after this first year in Seminary reading whatever I felt like, whatever I wanted, whatever I felt would be helpful/inspirational to my own spiritual growth and to my ministry.

Now, this is actually earth shattering personal growth. If you look at the top of the blog here, where I post the four categories that get the most attention, you will notice that book reviews are in dead last. I don't typically choose to read. I actually hate reading most days. But all the same, after this first year, with well over 3,000 pages of material that professors were requiring me to read, I wanted to read a few thousand of my own.

And so Saturday, I accomplished only two things. I read almost an entire book (book review tomorrow if I can get my act together!) and I bathed myself.

That was it.

It was glorious!

Sometimes you have to just put the breaks on. The danger of course (if you're anything like me) is that once the breaks go on, they never come off. But this feels different. I feel ready to go next term in seminary where I'll be taking two classes a term instead of just one. But before you can jump into that, you have to leave some room for regeneration and recovery. And that's exactly what I did.

It turns out that God was the same way. He made the idea of a Sabbath a law. You have to rest. You can't work all the time. It's not good for you. You need to take a brake. And yet, at least in our culture, we have the easiest time in the world ignoring the voice of the Shepherd, even if he's leading us to still waters. We want to be productive. We want to have meaning in our lives. And we feel that our self-worth comes from all that we do. It doesn't. Our self worth comes from his love in us.

So if you haven't done so in a while, take a day of silence. Take a day where absolutely NOTHING gets accomplished, other than your own spiritual/emotional fulfillment. I promise, the to-do lists will still be there when you get done. Turn off the TV. Turn off the phone. Don't even think about looking at e-mail. Just relax. And while you do, thank God that he not only allows all of this, he commands it of you!

Godspeed,

Jason

Recovery Part One: The Day of Jubilee

Hello everyone!

Before we dive into things, if you still read this blog in spite of my near constant leaves of absence, then you deserve a medal. By all means, download the image above, print it out, and hang it on your refrigerator!

The reason for such an extended absence of course is the work load of seminary in the third term. By this point in the year, I had spent about as much energy in school as I think I could handle, and was literally struggling to keep afloat. The reading load for this last class was intense. The paper that was due took me through familiar feelings of self-loathing, followed by lightbulbs, followed by a cutting room experience, followed by submitting the paper and walking away from it all. The problem this time was that after submitting the paper, there was another final coming. This term felt like being at the ocean after a hurricane. The waves just wouldn't stop coming.

But all of that said, Thursday, it all came to a close. As I walked away from the final exam, I was fairly convinced I could probably have done better. But it didn't matter. It was done. Thursday I drove home and felt at least 35 pounds lighter, crawled into bed, and let the break begin.

The break begins with a concept that I've talked about before here on the J-Blog, the day of Jubilee! I actually stole it from the great Television show The West Wing, where the white house staffers throw a day of jubilee after accomplishing a feat of tremendous effort and accomplishment. You can't have a day of jubilee because you summoned the strength to vacuum the carpet. No, this event can only follow completing an event that would have killed a lesser person. It seemed uniquely suited for the end of a term of seminary.

It's not really different than any other day. Yesterday, I started by going to work. But I went to work with a bounce in my step, because it was the day of jubilee. I met with folks and taught them how to use the new video cameras we got, but I did so with an extra dollop of gratitude because today was the day of jubilee. We hung out with the kids at Chick-Fil-A and got into a spitball war when we got home, but I didn't let it bother me when they soaked my shirt with cups of water (man, what a weird job I have) because it was the day of jubilee. Yesterday was made even more special by family who had come in from out of town. We celebrated at my parents house on the patio with way too much food. It was a great day of jubilee.

My message I suppose in all of this is to remember to take the time to celebrate big accomplishments. I think too much in our culture we're moving on to the next event in our mind before we've really stopped to think about what we've accomplished. So don't let that happen to you. Take a few moments and have yourself a day of jubilee, celebrate the accomplishments in your life by even just having a normal day highlighted by celebration. It does wonders.

Tomorrow, we'll break down the day of silence!

Welcome back!

Engaging Emotion

Good afternoon bloggers,

Tell me if this sounds familiar. You are at a Christian conference or concert or something, and a speaker is beginning to land his message. His whole desire is to get those in the audience to make a life commitment to Jesus, to offer themselves fully to the God of the Universe and to fall on his grace. And then, out of nowhere, you begin to hear a orchestra playing really sappy music. The strings would ebb and flow in time with the speakers dramatic dialogue and reading of scriptures. And then at last, as the orchestra reached its climax, the speaker would invite everyone who wanted to dedicate or rededicate their lives to Christ to come down to be prayed for/with. Teary eyed teenagers would rush the stage, overwhelmed with emotion.

And typically, I the cynical youth worker, stand in the back of the room with my arms crossed, disgusted at what I'm witnessing. Not that kids are committing their lives to Christ, that's always a welcomed and exciting thing. What disgusts me is that someone has manipulated what we in the audience are feeling. The song, the tone of speech, the lighting, the atmosphere, are all designed to convince the listener to have an emotional reaction to what's being said. When I see it happening, I almost always ask myself if Jesus needs this kind of manipulation on our parts to win the hearts of teenagers. Shouldn't Christ alone be enough?

Emotion is part of the Christian experience, for sure. But for me, it was the part I wanted to rely on least. I mean, as a big, tough, good looking, macho guy (stop laughing) admitting that you have feelings is almost seen as a sign of weakness. Plus as a leader of students, I don't want to be the kind of guy who manipulates emotion. It's there, but I just don't talk about it or think on it too much.

Marko, as is often the case, had a great post yesterday about spiritual auto pilot. I'll admit, I was about to write about the same thing today. I think I made it through the whole Lent and Easter season without truly engaging who God is in my own life. I mean, I do a lot of reading for work and for seminary. But I wasn't in it. My heart wasn't in it. I wasn't engaging God emotionally.

And while I don't think I'll ever be on board with people who manipulate the emotions of teenagers (or other audiences for that matter), this morning I've spent some time reflecting on what it looks like to love God with all my heart, not just with my mind and soul and strength. What does it look like to own up to my sin-stained heart, and to offer it to Jesus just as it is? Even claiming to love God is an emotion response, one that my stereotypical reasoning Presbyterian mind doesn't want to open up to.

And so this week, I'm going to engage in my emotional response to God. What suggestions do you have for engaging emotions? How about teaching youth to engage with God emotionally?

Godspeed,

Jason

Book/Movie Review: Blue Like Jazz

Hello friends,

On Saturday, Sarah and I went to see Blue Like Jazz. I had read the book a long time ago, when I had first started out in youth ministry, and so I was really excited to see the film version. Plus, Donald Miller's A Million Miles in a Thousand Years is one of my favorite books, and it deals a lot with the creation and process behind the movie. A few people have asked me to share my thoughts about it, and so I've been collecting said thoughts and decided to share them here.

First things first, at just about every event I've been to for the last year or so, there have been pre-screenings offered of the movie. I avoided them like the plague. For starters, as a song writer and creative type person myself, I don't think it's super fair to see someone's creative work before it's finished. Also, the Skit Guys were always playing at the same time, and those dudes are hilarious. But probably most importantly, I like seeing a movie in the theater. I like the experience. The popcorn, the sticky floor that you try your hardest not to think too much about.

To summarize my thoughts of the movie in a word: Awesome. I think it did an INCREDIBLY accurate job of depicting what an alarming percentage of our students go through when they go to college. Doubt. Trial. Denial. Fear. And somehow in it all, faith. Honestly, the moment it's available to me on DVD, I'm planning on sharing it with our high school students. This is stuff they need to know.

I had seen some reviews before I went to the movie that said that Blue Like Jazz was a bit critical of the church. That's true, it is. But we need to be honest, especially those of us who work in the church, there's a lot to be critical about. We don't get anywhere by pretending our junk doesn't exist. We don't get anywhere by practicing some kind of cultural monasticism, living in our own little Christian bubble and claiming to have nothing to do with those who are on the outside. We get somewhere (if not everywhere) by being honest. And this film is a heaping bowl of honesty.

I think one of my favorite lines from the movie/book is "Sometimes, you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself." In the movie, Don loves Jesus because he watches his friend Penny love Jesus. In the theater, I fell deeper in love with Jesus by watching the passion and the skill and the direction of Donald Miller, Steven Taylor, and all the folks who worked on this project. And truthfully, isn't that the best compliment that can be given of art? It made me fall in love with my Creator more.

If you get a chance, go see it in a theater. Not only does the sticky floor enhance the experience, but these guys put a lot of work into this thing, and should experience the success that comes from a cloud of people invading their local theater.

Eight thumbs up.

First Thoughts: The Influence of the Bible

Hello friends,

It's no secret that I write my Veritas talks and sermons about as close to when they are delivered as I can. And so, starting what I can only hope will be a tradition, on Wednesdays I will be offering this series called First Thoughts, as I'm sitting down to write the VeriTalk for the evening. If you are a regular attender of Veritas, and would like to weigh in, please feel free to do so!

We've spent the last few weeks talking about Influences, and whether we are an influential kind of people or whether we are easily influenced. At a few different points along the way this week, we asked what the most influential things were in our lives, and at a few different points along the way the response came back that the Bible was very influential.

Really?

If the Bible is really that influential in people's lives, why is it that I see so very few students carry it with them to youth group (let alone other places, but let's start here...)? Why is it that so many students (and adults for that matter) so often misquote some of the most basic passages? Why is it that so many people spout off phrases that they are certain are in the Bible, but are in actuality not contained within its pages?

One of two possible explanations must be true: Either the Bible is not as influential as we claim it is, or some people misunderstand how to best use the Scriptures.

If the Bible is a book that is only used by those of us who work in ministry, as a kind of centering text for our teachings and sermons, then the problems above make sense. Why would I bring my Bible to youth group? J is just going to read it for us anyway at the beginning of his talk and then not come back to it again. I misquote the Bible because really the only time I hear it is during one of J's sermons, and I misquote what he says all the time anyway!

But that can't be why the Bible exists, can it? Just for pastors and youth workers to have something to base their talk on?

If we affirm that the Scriptures are the Word of God, then we have to affirm that the Bible actually contains teachings on how to best live our lives. Think about it: If God created the world, and knows how it works, and then hands us a book of his teachings, wouldn't we do well to know it as well as we could? Wouldn't it make sense to turn to it often, and allow it to influence us as much as possible?

Even more than that, the Bible is not a owners manual that we consult whenever something goes wrong. Several of the authors of the Bible indicate that their aim is to display the love and grace of Jesus Christ as plainly as they can, that we (the reader) might fall in love with him. The Bible is a collection of love letters from the God of the universe. The Bible is a constant reminder of where we stand with God, what our relationship looks like, and how much he is willing to give in order to win us back to him.

And so tonight we examine how the Bible can become more influential in our lives. How do we best use this book? How can we approach the Bible without it feeling like homework? What does the Bible say about itself? And most of all, how can we live the Bible in the world and culture we find ourselves in today?

Tune in tonight at 6 to find out!