Coupla completely unrelated book reviews

From the top of my reading stack:

When I saw Chosen: An Autobiography sitting at the top of the "new releases" shelf at the Trinity Bookstore, I grabbed it last week during the store's 40% off clearance sale. (See note about why the store had 40% off new releases, below.) Chosen is the life story of Michele Guinness, a Jewish believer married to an Anglican priest. The book is veddy British, containing lots of references to places (WH Smith's in Newcastle) and things (nappies) that communicate life on the other side of the pond. And oy! the book is so Jewish. Guinness begins with the story of her grandparents' arrival in England, and continues through her life-changing encounter with the Messiah to her recent semi-retirement from a communications career and life as a ministry wife.

Guinness is an engaging storyteller with a relaxed, meandering style to her writing. This meandering style made the book slow going, even for a speed reader like me. If I wasn't so personally invested in the subject matter, I probably would have tossed it aside before I'd hit the guts of the book, which really started to gel after page 100 or so. I'm glad I did hang in there. Her observations about life in the church put words to the kinds of things I've experienced:

Over the centuries the simple Hebrew rituals that Jesus knew and loved were buried beneath a vast historical mound of Christianized adaptations and addenda, so that like the Communion service, they are no longer recognizably Jewish.

"That was very nice, thank you," a man said at the door, as he left a Passover service Peter and I had led at a church in Yorkshire. "I didn't know the Jews use our psalms."

Only my husband's firm grip on my arm saved the poor, innocent man from a throttling.

I think the pace of this book might move too slowly, and stay too close to the surface of things for younger audiences who've cut their teeth on the focused spiritual memoir of Anne Lamott or Donald Miller. But those interested in Jewish evangelism or in listening to the voice of an outsider trying to make sense of Christianity will find Chosen a worthwhile, lawn-chair worthy read on a couple of warm spring Saturday afternoons.

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I also read through the Christianity Today Study Series volume entitled Faith and Pop Culture, published by Thomas Nelson. (In the interest of full disclosure, let the record show I received a review copy from the publisher after I signed up to be a part of their book review blogger program.)

This 127-page volume offers small groups an eight-session opportunity to explore how faith intersects with popular culture. Sessions focus on movies, books, sports, TV, "family-friendly" entertainment as a genre, violence as entertainment, the influence of Christians in the entertainment industry, and the spiritual nature and cost of our ravenous hunger for entertainment.

Each session begins with a brief, relevant article from a past issue of Christianity Today magazine. The mag features strong, solid writing from the core of evangelicalism, and the articles in this study are meant to raise questions, not give answers. The introduction to the study guide suggests group members read the articles before the group gathers for discussion, but the articles are short enough that a group could take 5-10 minutes at the start of their time together to read the material while they munch on a snack.

The session instructions include a couple of options for ice-breaker activities, followed by some probing discussion questions designed to get your group talking about the issue on the table. There is space for interacting with Scripture together in each session, as well, before getting into the core material for each session.

There are a lot of questions in the core"Let's Explore" section of each session. There's no way a small group could talk their way through all the questions in this section of each session - a wonderful gift to small group leaders who can pick and choose from these questions to get a conversation started. They're not easy yes or no, fill-in-the-blank queries, but are meant to help people share their thoughts, observations and experiences with one another. The final section of each session ("Going Forward") is designed to help people prayerfully apply what they've discussed in the session.

The book is a useful piece of curriculum for small group leaders who don't want to do the same old theme or book study. If they've got a bunch of people in their living room dedicated to gathering for prayer or serious Bible study, Faith and Pop Culture is most definitely not for them. But this tool might be a great starting place for a new group to begin discerning together how to walk in the way of Christ while watching Lost.

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NOTE: Trinity Bookstore, my on-again, off-again employer for 4 years, will now be run by an outside textbook management company, rather than by the university. The store, a hybrid of a typical college bookstore (lots of textbooks, T-shirts and candy bars) and a Christian bookstore for thinking people (few tchotchkes, lots of meaty theology and spiritual life books), was preparing for the management transition with the mother of all clearance sales. Though the store will continue - definitely a good thing - it will no longer be the quirky, delightful independent it has been for many years. I am so grateful for all that I learned during my employment there, as well as the terrific people with whom I worked, laughed, argued and occasionally...prayed.

Transition questions

This series of posts entitled "The Coming Evangelical Collapse" by one of my favorite internet teachers, Michael Spencer, a.k.a. The Internet Monk, has gotten a LOT of coverage from Christian media as well as being picked up by Drudge and the Christian Science Monitor. (If you haven't read these posts yet, please grab yourself a cup of coffee, sit down and read through all three in the series.)

There isn't anything new I can add to the conversation. Suffice it to say that I feel Spencer's analysis is spot on, cogent and should be understood as an invitation from the Head of the church to take a long, hard look in the mirror and do some serious repentance.

What do I see when I look in that mirror?

I see a consumer. I'm not using that phrase in the way it is typically used in the evangelical/charismatic world, which is "She's a church hopper, looking to meet her needs" or "She uses her mammon to buy the product the Christian subculture is selling" - but in a more basic manner. I am not giving my life away in ways that proclaim the gospel.

It is easy to criticize the unhealth of the institutional church. I have asked lots of questions about power, politics and structure - and don't see those questions stopping any time soon. Not long ago, someone I respect told me that I have a tendency to champion the underdog and go to the fringe. Though I'm not certain that observation was meant to be a compliment, I took it as one.

I only wish it were more true. Michael Spencer's posts are meant to challenge the once-radical, now-flabby institutions of evangelicalism, but they have had the effect of asking me to examine myself as a person in the same way. I would love to be characterized as someone with radical faith, but these days, I am not seeing it in action. To put it baldly, if I am not giving my life away, I am hoarding it like a consumer. There is no middle ground on this.

God, forgive me.

I am currently in a place of welcome transition in my life. I'm no longer employed at Trinity. I'm back in the hunt for freelance writing work and will also need to find a part-time job after Bill and I return from Israel trip number two next month. I am asking questions about what's next in ways I believe are Spirit-breathed.

How can my vocation of writing give my life away? After all, writing is such an inward sort of life, and gets remarkably self-indulgent the moment it disconnects from worship of God.
How am I to serve in a part-time job? And how am I to step into the kind of one-on-one, caring ministry to which I feel led?

Are these questions enough? Or are they too small? Is He asking something more, something bigger from me?

Lord Jesus, give me hearing eyes and seeing ears to comprehend Your answer to those questions.

Steps To Peace With God: The Sequel

"Steps To Peace With God", a variation of the "Four Spiritual Laws" tract so popular in the 1970's, was laying on the dining room table when 18 year-old Bill picked it up and began thumbing through it. His mom had recently started attending a neighborhood Bible study, and she'd occasionally drop a tract or two onto the table, perhaps hoping to spark a conversation with the fam about what she was learning.

The little tract's spare message spurred Bill to grab an old Bible off the shelf and begin reading the gospel of Matthew. Three days later, when he'd finished, he had surrendered to Christ. Eventually, each of Bill's siblings followed suit.

One of his sisters allowed her faith to go dormant as she entered adulthood. It didn't appear she'd walked away from her faith as much as she'd simply drifted away, busying herself with the pursuit of other things. She was single, and so had the time, drive and focus to work the long hours it took to build herself a successful career over the next couple of decades.

And then she lost her job. A long, scary unemployment forced her to re-evaluate her choices. The good life she'd built was a hollow facsimile of the abundant life promised her by her Savior. She repented, and began the search to connect with a church family - a daunting task for an older single. But she hung in there, and discovered a welcoming congregation not far from her home.

She'd been attending the church for a few years when a quiet gentleman who'd recommitted His life to the Lord not too long after she had began to notice her at church activities. She'd noticed him, too, and had begun praying for her new friend.

And yesterday, at age 49, this woman became a bride for the first time.

Though the wedding was a very simple "cake-and-punch-in-the-church-fellowship-hall" affair, there was nothing simple about it. It is a parable in the flesh; an extravagant story of unexpected blessing from the heart of the Father in the lives of two people who sought Him first and found each other.

And I couldn't help but think that the little tract tossed onto the Van Loon dining room table in the early 1970's was the real beginning of Georgina and Larry's love story.

and now...

and now...
there is time to sit on a swing next to a little one and listen for the sound of what comes next.

I'll let you know what I hear. Transition in progress. More to come.

Photo courtesy of my talented son Jacob Van Loon, photographer and illustrator extraordinare.

Liturgical people: a question for you

Intercessors who attend liturgical churches - this question is for you:

As part of our Sunday morning liturgy, we have a time for guided corporate prayer. A person from the congregation leads us in praying for the needs of leaders, the congregation, the nations of the world. The scripted prayers read by the leader are general, focusing us on a particular category. There is time immediately following each general prayer for people in the congregation to pray a brief prayer around that theme.

Some of the categories are easy for people in our church to grasp: "Comfort and heal all those who suffer in body, mind or spirit; give them courage and hope in your troubles, and bring them the joy of your salvation." This prayer request always brings specific intercession for those in distress or in need of healing.

However, some of the categories are have a bit of an awkward "God bless the whole world - and Toto, too" nature to them: "Guide the people of this land, and of all the nations, in the ways of justice and peace; that we may honor one another and serve the common good." (We don't always pray this one, but it has been part of the liturgy during Lent.) It is a nice, sing-a-longable Up With People kind of sentiment, but is this what sparks our shared intercession as we rehearse together our calling to be a house of prayer?

School me on this, please. I am in the learner's seat.

Int'l Women's Day Synchro-Blog

In honor of International Women's Day, uber-blogger Julie Clawson has invited faith bloggers to post something about the impact women in the Bible have had on the kingdom...on each one of us.

My story comes from my first book, Parablelife: Living the stories Jesus told in real time, and though this woman described below resides solely in a story Jesus told, she is as real to me as the couch on which I'm sitting as I type these words.


THE STORY OF A WOMAN WITH A ONE-TRACK MIND

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don't fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!’ ” And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” -Luke 18:1-8 (NIV)

“No matter where I go, there she is.” He sighed and took another long pull of his drink. He was safe inside the dark, smoky inn, a Cheers-like place where everyone knew his name and they were all glad he came. This was one place that was off-limits for a lady like her.
His buddy had to yell above the din in the place. “Hey, you think she’s a stalker? Maybe you could get a restraining order or something. Have one of your boys toss her in jail for a few nights. That’ll shake her up a little.”

He’d toyed with that very idea almost every day the last few weeks, when he saw her standing there like Stonehenge outside his courtroom, waiting for him.

“Judge…may I please speak with you? It’s about my case…” Her soft voice and mousy appearance didn’t command his attention – at first. In the culture of the time, she dressed the part of a poor young widow who knew she would probably never be asked to remarry. And apparently, her widowhood left her with nothing. No family to go home to. No kids to take her in. Without a familial safety net, this meant that her career choices were as slim as her bank account appeared to be. She could support herself by begging. She could sell herself into slavery.

Or she could become a hooker.

He’d learned over the past few weeks that a favorable decision in her court case would give her another option - financial independence. It seems that most of her deceased husband’s assets had been frozen by a business competitor who’d attempted a kind of ancient corporate takeover. The guy’s accountants and lawyers had frozen distribution of the estate under a mountain of complicated legal motions and requests for continuances that would keep the case tied up for years, if not decades. The guy had an army of legal talent working for him. The penniless widow had nothing except her conviction that if only a judge would really look at the case, he’d be able to unbury the truth. She was sure of it.

The judge took another long pull of his drink. “Nah, she’s not a stalker. She doesn’t want anything from me except for me to hear her case. I keep telling her she’s got to wait her turn, but she says that her turn needs to be now.”

It had been easy to ignore her at first. She’d stood unsmiling and somber outside of his courtroom every single day, calling out his name in a voice that was surprisingly childlike in quality. It was like a whisper in the cacophony of a busy courthouse complex.

“Please, sir…my case…”

The first few times, he’d ignored her. He had no recollection of her specific case, or when she’d first made an appearance in his courtroom. He was a busy guy, and couldn’t be expected to keep track of all of the shekel and dime civil cases that crossed his bench.

But he soon noticed that she was waiting for him outside of the courthouse every day. Every stinking day! “Sir, please. If you could just look at my case…”

He tried ignoring her. He said polite things to her, hoping she’d leave him alone: “I’ll have one of my assistants look into it next week, ma’am.” He had no intention of actually doing this, but he thought maybe this would placate her. He even tried telling her to just run along home, and he’d get back to her as soon as he could. She looked at him with those sad brown eyes and said in a quiet voice, “I’d go home if I had one, sir. The case…” He walked away before she could launch into her sorry story. Again.

She was right back in the same place the next day, waiting.

After a few weeks of this, he snapped and asked her for the case name and number. She said gravely, “Please don’t hand this on to one of your assistants, sir. I’d really appreciate it if you’d personally review the case. I know if you look at the facts, you’ll decide fairly.”

He pulled the documents for the case after that, flipping through it quickly. The case was small potatoes compared to most that came before him. She’ll get her hearing eventually, he thought. Her case will just have to work its way through the system. He tossed the file aside.
He decided to go back to his original plan of ignoring her, hoping she’d disappear until her day in court.

Shortly after that, she changed tactics. She was waiting outside the health club where he went twice a week for a steam and a massage. “Sir, did you get a chance to review my case?” She couldn’t have been more out of place, looking for all the world like she was a fragile bone china tea cup sitting someone had placed on the counter at McDonald’s.
She showed up at his house, tagging along behind a man delivering packages to the address. She delivered a singing telegram in her flat, sad monotone. She swept the floor of the courtroom one morning, trying to catch his eye. She positioned herself next to the beggar he always passed each day on his way to work.

She’d even started appearing at the edges of his dreams, teary-eyed, always saying the same thing: “My case, my case.”

The next morning, she was there waiting outside the courtroom. Again. After a night with her interrupting his dreams, it felt like he’d just spent 8 hours with a broken record.
He pulled out her file, and called her to the bench. “You know, once this case comes to trial, it may not go your way.”

She nodded gravely. “That’s a risk I’m willing to take. I think that the facts will speak for themselves. I want justice to be done.”

She stood there looking at him, unblinking. Waiting.

“If I cut through all the legal red tape your opponent has spun around this case, will you leave me alone?” he asked.

She burst into a huge smile and nodded yes.

He’d never seen her smile before.
(all rights reserved, Michelle Van Loon)

Selling short the Gospel

"These troubling economic times are an unprecedented opportunity for the Gospel."

This sentiment bugs me. And I think I have figured out why.

I have been hearing variations of these words for the last few months. It is true that as our culture's false gods of materialism, greed and pride are being exposed as modern-era golden calves, many people are asking different questions about God and life than they may have asked before. The recession (which appears likely to be headed into a full-scale depression) in which we find ourselves means that need - of work, of financial help, of direction and hope - takes center stage in many lives. It is equal-opportunity need, in fact. No one is immune - both believers and those not yet following Christ are facing need in ways we never have before. And most of us know that we're still in the early stages of this new reality.

It is an time of "opportunity", for sure. It is an opportunity for the Bride to be the Bride, to love the world the way the Bridegroom loves it, and to display the alt-reality of His kingdom. It is true that some who say that this time is an unprecedented time of opportunity for the Gospel mean precisely that.

But I hear a lot of the ickier side of evangelicalism in the use of these words, too. In some of the contexts in which I've heard this idea being hawked, I hear these words being used to motivate a sales force in order to merchandise a commodity. It feels a little Dunder-Mifflin-ish, perhaps, or at least regional sales meeting-ish. "Get in there and push the product, people. Strike while the iron is hot!" The words have a triumphalistic edge to them, and it isn't very attractive.

This time in our culture might be about evangelicals learning to embrace the victory that comes with discarding this triumphalistic way of shilling the Gospel-As-Commodity, and instead losing our lives and finding His. In this pursuit alone, we will become His beautiful Bride.

Has anyone else been cranked the wrong way by the way some have spoken about these times as an opportunity for the Gospel? Or (entirely possible) - am I just being contrarian here?

A sweet little story

I'd been driving around with the box for the last few days. It was a gray shoebox, imprinted with wedding words on the cover, and decorated with a sheer white wire ribbon. "Can you be there at 10 a.m. on Saturday, and give this box to her?"

I assured the focused young man that I was on mission. I'd be there.

The drop point was a deserted dog park near the Lake Michigan shore. I was one link in a day-long scavenger hunt chain that would lead to his marriage proposal, stop number two on a journey that would remind the young woman about the couple's shared past, rich present, and prayers and dreams of a wonderful future together.

I saw her car round the bend, and hopped out of mine so she would see me. She was teary, and stunned: "You're in on this?"

Are you kidding? I wouldn't have missed it for the world. I encouraged her to give herself over to the day, to enjoy the journey, and to let me know when she'd reached the day's destination at last. We prayed, laughed, and I sent her on her way to stop number 3. I couldn't stop smiling about the sweetness of it all - and the joy of being able to see her face on her way to meet her beloved, who was waiting (I believe) at stop number 12.

She left me a message later that evening. "I'm engaged!"

What fun to be a part of such a joyful beginning!